What are Australia’s health futures?

The NFAW, in association with Manning Clark House, asks the question:

What are Australia’s health futures?

There is now extensive public concern and discussion about the future of Australia’s health system and its financing. In particular, the issue of changes to the current responsibilities of the State and Territory Governments, and of the Commonwealth Government are being mooted by some as solutions.

Particular public concern has arisen about mental health and aged care. As well there are other concerns about cost-shifting between governments, and the potential for cost escalation in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Political leaders at State and Commonwealth level will discuss options for change at the Council of Australian Governments meeting in July 2005. There is a need for well informed assessment of the options which may be pursued by governments.

The NFAW, in association with Manning Clark House, and with financial support from the Commonwealth Office for Women through the WomenSpeak Network, a national peak secretariat for women’s organisations, will host a workshop on 27 April 2005 to enable discussion of the health issues facing Australia, and the ways public policy ought to address them. The workshop will be held at Manning Clark House, 12 Tasmania Circle, Forrest ACT.

In May 2005 NFAW will distribute a resource kit comprising background papers and a summary of the workshop discussion to women’s organisations Australia wide through WomenSpeak, Security for Women, the Australian Women’s Coalition, and the National Rural Women’s Coalition.

NFAW anticipates that the women’s organisations, in their turn, will disseminate the resource kit to their members, and encourage discussion and feed-back.

Speakers at the workshop will be: Dr Emily Banks, Professor Graham Vimpani, Dr Peggy Brown, Dr Marjorie Cross, and Professor John McCallum.
Discussion will be moderated by NFAW’s Marie Coleman.

Dr Emily Banks

Dr Banks is a medically trained epidemiologist with interest and expertise in large scale cohort studies, women’s health, and healthy ageing. The main emphasis of her work has been in using cohort study methodology to identify modifiable factors affecting individual and population health in different settings and in quantifying their effects. She has recently returned from nine years in the UK where she was Deputy Director of the Cancer Research UK Epidemiology Unit at the University of Oxford and joint Principal Investigator of the Million Women Study. She is currently the Scientific Director of the NSW 45 and Up Study and an NHMRC Fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health. In 2000 she was awarded the UK National Woman of Achievement in Science and Technology. She has served as an advisor to the World Health Organisation, International Agency for Research on Cancer and the UK National Health Service Breast Screening Programme. She is also a member of the Collaborative Group on Hormonal Factors in Breast Cancer, the UK Medical Research Council Advisory Board and the Quality Advisory Committee, BreastScreen ACT and South East New South Wales.

Dr Peggy Brown

• Graduated from University of Queensland in 1983 with Honours
• Completed Psychiatry Training in 1990
• Awarded the Maddison Medal by the RANZCP in 1991
• Staff psychiatrist at The Prince Charles Hospital from 1991 – 1994
• Director of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry and Acting Director of the Mental Health Centre at Royal Brisbane Hospital 1995-96
• Chief Psychiatrist and Acting Director of Mental Health, Queensland Health 1997 –1999
• Director of Mental Health, Queensland 2000 – 2004
• NHS International Fellow in United Kingdom 2003-2004
• Multiple roles within the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists including Chair, Queensland Branch Training Committee, Chair, Queensland Rotational Training Program, and Member of the Committee for Examinations
• Member of the National Mental Health Working Group 2000 – 2003; 2004- current
• Chair, Information Strategy Committee for NMHWG 2001- 2003
• Chair, Forensic Principles Working Party for NMHWG 2002-2003
• Member of the Psychiatry Workforce Working Group for AMWAC (Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee)
• Queensland Telstra Business Woman of the Year for 2000

Professor John McCallum

Professor McCallum is the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education Programs) and Director TAFE at the Victoria University. He has wide experience in academic life and more generally in national and international committees and activities –

• selected for National Service officer training in 1971 and was appointed as Second-in-Command of the Arms and Services Company, Pacific Island Regiment in Goldie River Papua New Guinea;
• Employment Officer at Bougainville Copper, Bougainville Island in Papua New Guinea;
• completed Economics and Psychology and won the University medal at the University of Queensland;
• completed Bachelor, Masters and Doctoral studies at Nuffield College in Oxford University UK;
• worked at Griffith University, the Research School of Social Sciences and the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health at the Australian National University, the Andrus Gerontology Center at the University of Southern California, Nanzan University in Nagoya and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology both in Japan;
• major research publications and projects in the areas of ageing, health services research, health outcome measures and Vietnam Veteran’s health and works regularly in Japan, China, ASEAN countries and USA;
• major activities in ageing research and has been director of the Dubbo Longitudinal Study for 15 years as well as a other national projects including the Australia-Japan Collaboration in Aged Care and the international Asset and Health Dynamics of the ‘Old’ Old (AHEAD) project;
• a member of the NHMRC Australian Health Ethics Committee for the last two terms as well as a member of the NHMRC Health Advisory Committee and many other national and international committees;
• in 2003 he was a member of the group who wrote the Myer Foundation Report 2020 A Vision for Aged Care in Australia. He is a widely reported spokesperson on health and ageing in Australia and makes regular national and international contributions to academic and policy debates in this area
• in 2003 he was awarded a Federation Medal ‘for outstanding service as a researcher to ageing and aged care issues’.
• In 2004 he received the Campbelltown Council Community Service Award for dedication and commitment to the people of Campbelltown in his role as Campus Provost.

Professor Graham Vimpani

Professor Vimpani is Professor of Paediatric Medicine at the University of Newcastle, and the Community Paediatrician for the Hunter Health Region in the NSW Department of Health

Dr Marjorie Cross

Dr Cross is a General Practitioner in medical practice at Braidwood, NSW.