Former NRL player is Fairfield City's Australia Day Ambassador

Published on 18 January 2022

Corey Payne, Founder of the Future Direction Network and a former NRL player, has been announced as Fairfield City’s Australia Day Ambassador for 2022.

Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone said it was fitting to have a person committed to improving young people’s lives, especially disadvantaged youth, for Fairfield City.

“It is our pleasure to have Corey as our ambassador to help us celebrate our Australia Day community awards and see residents take out Australian citizenship,” Mayor Carbone said.

Corey is a passionate advocate for further education and has been recognised for his work in this field on multiple occasions.

In 2013, he was awarded the NSW Young Australian of the Year for his work in helping young people from disadvantaged backgrounds continue their education at university.

In 2012, he was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to conduct global research into how sport is used as a platform to engage disadvantaged youth into further education.

Prior to this Corey spent over a decade as a professional sportsman in the NRL, playing more than 130 matches with Canterbury Bulldogs, Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra Dragons.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Master of Commerce with Merit from the University of Sydney, an MBA from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and is a graduate of the HPI School of Design Thinking and the Australian Institute of Company Directors.