Episoder
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Angus Mitchell Oration 2021
ADJUCT PROFESSOR JOHN SKERRITT
Deputy Secretary, Health Products Division (NTGA, Office of Drug Control)
"The COVID-19 pandemic response in Australia and the region: vaccines, medicines and masks…where to from here?"
Dr Skerritt has a high national profile dealing with the pandemic and generously agreed to fly down to deliver the 2021 Angus Mitchell Oration. Not only is he an eminent public servant but he has strong personal links with Rotary making him doubly suitable to be our Centenary Angus Mitchell Orator.
He was awarded a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship (then known as a Rotary Foundation Fellowship) for post-doctoral work in pharmacology and neurology at the University of Michigan, USA to build on his PhD from The University of Sydney. In 2012 he was honoured internationally by Rotary International being the world wide winner of the ”Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award” for his contribution to greater understanding and peace through service to humanity. Only one other Australian has been so recognised – our former member Dr Alex Buchanan. John’s Global Alumni Service award was made for two streams of contribution – contributions in research in health, agricultural and environmental sciences plus achievements as a leader of Australia’s overseas development assistance (aid) program.
While Deputy Secretary in the Victorian Government from 2009-2012 – overseeing emergency management, biosecurity, fisheries, and regional economic development through agribusiness in the former Department of Primary Industries, he was a member of Hampton Rotary Club. Effectively he remains an Honorary Member of that Club, as while he works in Canberra during the week, his weekend home is in Melbourne. He comes down for a number of weekend Rotary activities, including their popular monthly Farmers Markets. His wife, Amanda Hill is current President of the Rotary Club of Hampton.
He has an extraordinarily broad range of experience in medical, agricultural and environmental policy as well as regulation, research management, technology application and commercialisation. In the 1990’s he held senior management positions in CSIRO and Cooperative Research Centres. Dr Skerritt has been involved in international development assistance projects from the mid-1980s until the present, and from 1999-2009 he was Deputy CEO of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, and had overall management of about $2 billion in international aid projects.
He has significant experience on boards of international and national organisations. From 2005-2012 he was Board member and then Chair of the International Water Management Institute, and he is currently Vice Chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Centre for Innovation in Regulatory Science.
As well as his PhD in Pharmacology from Sydney University where he was the first University Medallist in that discipline in 150 years, he is an adjunct Professor of the Universities of Sydney, Queensland and Canberra – in medicine, agriculture/food and pharmacy respectively. He was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration (Victoria).
With such an extraordinary range of skills, experience and plus his sustained connections to Rotary, we are privileged that John Skerritt is the Centenary Angus Mitchell Orator. -
"Adolescent mental health, school failure and the juvenile justice system: where are the integrated support services?"
Dr Magdalena Simonis, President, Australian Federation of Medical Women (AFMW), MBBS FRACGP DRANZCOG MHHS
Magdalena Simonis is a GP, government health advisor, primary care researcher with the University of Melbourne, and a leading women's health expert and advocate.
Magdalena holds positions on several not-for-profit organisations, bridging gaps across the health sector, whilst informing their health initiatives. She is on the Expert Committee of Quality Care for the RACGP, President and National Coordinator of the Australian Federation of Medical Women, Medical Women's international Association (MWIA) Scientific and Research Subcommittee co-Chair and chair of the MWIA Mentoring group.
Magdalena's interests are in community health, chronic disease prevention, and the development of sustainable, equitable healthcare services. -
Manglende episoder?
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Rosie is a passionate advocate for human rights, gender equality and universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene. She has two decades of international development experience, having lived and worked in Indonesia for six years before joining WaterAid Australia at its inception in 2004. She was Director of International Programs prior to becoming Chief Executive in 2016. Rosie’s leadership manifesto focuses on being an authentic, servant leader who always pushes herself beyond her comfort zone; this is where Rosie believes she learns most and performs at her best.
Rosie serves on the Board of the THREE Foundation, ACFID and is a Founder and Committee Member of Not in My Workplace, a group of executive leaders working to address workplace harassment and abuse across all industries in Victoria. Rosie has recently discovered obstacle racing and electric bikes, which keep her sane and healthy. She is a shamelessly proud mother of two boys. -
Andrew Crisp, Emergency Management Commissioner
2019/20 Victorian Bushfires - One year on - Partnering with East Gippsland Rotary Clubs.
Andrew Crisp APM is Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner. The Emergency Management Commissioner has responsibility for coordination before, during and after major emergencies, including the management of consequences of an emergency.
During his career, which includes experience in senior emergency management and policing leadership positions, Andrew has developed a passion for community safety across metropolitan and regional Victoria and while working overseas in Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste.
He has been involved in responses to a number of major incidents, such as the Ash Wednesday Bushfires, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires, Christchurch earthquake, Queensland floods and the 2017 Bourke Street Tragedy.
Andrew has, and continues to, work closely with emergency management organisations, agencies, government departments, and communities, focusing on building and maintaining strong relationships and capability across the emergency management sector.
He is passionate about connecting communities, with a focus on building an emergency management sector that is sustainable, and reflects and meets the needs of communities.
Advocating for people and communities has, and will always be, a priority for him. Andrew believes everyone has valued perspectives and a positive contribution to make. He is committed to learning and listening so our emergency management sector and communities can work together to keep people safe.
Andrew Crisp APM @CommissionerEMV -
The Journey to the Toilet: How Mark Balla is getting girls to school by solving a problem no one else saw.
Mark Balla, Vice Chair at Water and Sanitation Rotary Action Group, is President of Rotary Box Hil, a philanthropist, TED speaker and Author. -
Dr Tania Miletic Assistant Director Centre for Peacebuilding at University of Melbourne.
Recently appointed Assistant Director working to establish a new interdisciplinary Centre for Peace building at Melbourne University. Dr Tania Miletic is an experienced academic and practitioner with a commitment to working collaboratively on real-world challenges from conflict prevention, social cohesion to good governance, with an ambition to influence positive change.
Since May 2015 she has been engaged on the Australian International Conflict Resolution Project, which seeks to enhance the role of conflict prevention and peace building in Australian foreign policy with the School of Social and Political Sciences, formerly with the Melbourne School of Government, University of Melbourne. She also teaches and supervises students on postgraduate peace and conflict studies programs with Victoria University and the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, based in Cambodia.
Tania has been engaged as a consultant and facilitator to a range of government and non-government organisations and stakeholders in the areas of peace building, political affairs and community engagement. -
Cassandra Goodman, Thrive Global Facilitator, Coach and Author.
In addition to running her own business focused on helping people in organisations and their leaders understand that true success and happiness in life flows from being who we are, not changing who we are. She also works with Thrive Global, an organisation founded and led by Arianna Huffington with the mission to end the global epidemic of stress and burnout.
Cassandra will speak on the importance of social connection and how the practice of self-fidelity can improve individual and community welfare. -
"The Ethical Advantage: The Economic and Social Benefits of Ethics in Australia"
Dr Simon Longstaff, AO, Executive Director, The Ethic Centre, Sydney
If ethics is defined as “a way of structuring human reasoning to help choose what is right or best”, how ethical is Australia? Only 56% of Australians think that most people can be trusted. In 2019, Australia achieved an overall score of +37 on a scale of -100 to +100 (‘somewhat ethical’) on the Governance Institute of Australia’s Ethics Index survey. A 2018 review found that while most ASX200 companies disclosed a code of practice, only six percent had leading practice.
The recent scandalous allegations surrounding Australia Post, the Badgery Creek land transaction, branch stacking, ASIC, sexual misconduct within Federal Parliament House and many others have shone the spotlight on the lack of ethics within the public service.
Australia faces many significant challenges in the post-COVID era. Navigating the health and economic impacts, responding to emerging issues around the future of work and introduction of new technologies, preparing for an increasingly risky geopolitical environment and addressing long-standing social and environmental challenges including climate change and reconciliation with Indigenous Australians are some of them. Improving trust and social capital allows for smoother functioning of markets and reduces the cost of regulation and compliance.
A recent report by Deloitte Access Economics projects an increase in GDP of AUD 45 billion if Australia lifts its trust level to that of global leaders.
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Dr. Simon Longstaff, Executive Director of the Ethics Centre, discusses the economic and social benefits of ethics to Australia.
Simon Longstaff began his working life on Groote Eylandt in the Northern Territory of Australia. He is proud of his kinship ties to the Anindilyakwa people. After a period studying law in Sydney and teaching in Tasmania, he pursued postgraduate studies as a Member of Magdalene College, Cambridge. Simon has been Executive Director of The Ethics Centre for 30 years.
In 2013, he was made an officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “distinguished service to the community through the promotion of ethical standards in governance and business, to improving corporate responsibility, and to philosophy.” Simon is an Honorary Professor at the Australian National University, a Fellow of CPA Australia, the Royal Society of NSW and the Australian Risk Policy Institute. -
"Is it detrimental to Australia's strategic national interests?"
Salvatore Babones is 'Australia’s globalization expert'. He is an associate professor at the University of Sydney whose research takes a long-term approach to interpreting the structure of the global economy, with a particular focus on China.
He is a fortnightly columnist for Foreign Policy and a regular contributor to The National Interest. His new 'Philistine' column for Quadrant magazine debuted this year. Salvatore is an elected member of the National Committee on US-China Relations.
The proposed Australian Foreign Relations Bill (AFRB) will establish "a legislative scheme for Commonwealth engagement with arrangements between State or Territory governments and foreign governments" -- and is clearly targeted at Victoria's state-level Belt & Road diplomacy with China. Sub-national diplomacy is a unique feature of China's international relations.
While other countries negotiate almost exclusively at the national level, China has no qualms about going down a level or two if it does not get its way at the top. It does this both through centrally-negotiated agreements (like the Victorian Belt & Road compact) and by directing sub-national Chinese entities like provinces, cities, universities, and corporations to pursue national goals in their relationships with peers in other countries.
Australia has many institutional mechanisms for addressing these Chinese diplomatic incursions, but they have often acted at cross-purposes, with the 2015 Darwin port fiasco illustrating the shortcomings in Australia's approach.
The AFRB would allow the Commonwealth to abrogate Victoria's Belt & Road deal, but it won't fix the bigger flaws in Australia's management of its complex relationship with China. -
"Teen Mental Health First Aid - A program to train adolescents to better support their peers."
Teen Mental Health First Aid is an age-appropriate training program for teaching secondary school students how to help their friends with mental health problems. Young people prefer to seek help for mental health problems from their peers, and teen MHFA was developed with this in mind, from scientific research on barriers to help-seeking in young people, suicide prevention and effective stigma reduction. The program is now available across Australia and internationally and owes much of its’ success to early research funding to Australian Rotary Health.
Dr. Laura Hart is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health within the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at the University of Melbourne. Dr. Hart has been working in population mental health for over a decade. Her research focuses on developing, evaluating and disseminating training programs for the public to improve prevention, awareness and help-seeking for mental illness. Her research has been recognized with multiple awards, including a 2019 Society for Mental Health Research and Australian Rotary Health Research Impact Award, and a 2017 Australia Endeavour Award to spend 6-months working with Harvard University’s Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders in Boston, USA.
She is currently working on two programs. Confident Body, Confident Child is a parenting program to promote body satisfaction, balanced eating patterns and physical activity in children aged 2-6 years. The teen Mental Health First Aid program is training course for secondary school students to learn how to assist a peer who is developing a mental health problem or experiencing a mental health crisis, such as thinking about suicide. Laura is also a mum to two young boys who are constantly teaching her about child development. -
The COVID 19 pandemic poses a fundamental threat to higher education in Australia. It has left a big hole in University finances which could see a significant reduction in the research capacity of the higher education sector for many years to come, and threaten Australia’s global competitiveness. However, the crisis also creates an opportunity for Universities to reinvent themselves. Not just in how they do things, but to ensure that they remain relevant and valued institutions who are vital contributors to economic recovery and the development of human capital.Professor Dewar is the Vice-Chancellor and President of La Trobe University, since January 2012. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where he was also a Fellow of Hertford College from 1990-1995. He taught at the Universities of Lancaster and Warwick in the UK, and worked for the London law firms Allen & Overy and Farrer & Co. He came to Australia in 1995, and held senior leadership positions at Griffith University and the University of Melbourne, where he was Provost, before taking up the position of Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe.A Deputy Chair of Universities Australia, UA Lead Vice-Chancellor on Health workforce issues and a member of the AHEIA Executive Committee.Other Directorships include; Education Australia Pty Ltd, The Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, AARNet, The Committee for Melbourne, and the Foundation for Australian Studies in China. He is a member of the University of Lincoln’s 21st Century Lab Higher Education Reference Group, and a Male Champion of Change. He is an Honorary Fellow of Hertford College, Oxford, an Adjunct Professor in the Melbourne Law School and the La Trobe Law School, and a Visiting Professor at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University. In the 2020 Australia Day Honours List, Professor Dewar was made an Officer of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his distinguished service to education.His previous appointments include; member of the Attorney-General’s Family Law Pathways Advisory Group (2000-1), Chair of the Family Law Council (2001-4), Chair of the Queensland College of Teachers (2006-9), member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2007-11), Chair of the Victorian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee (2014-5), Chair of the Innovative Research Universities (2014-6), and Chair of the Victorian Student Planning Advisory Group for the Victorian Department of Health (2016-7).He was a member of the Advisory Board for the Centre for Ethical Leadership at the Melbourne Business School and Ormond College from 2010-2016. In 2014, he chaired the Legislation and Finance Working Group for the Federal Education Minister.
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We are pleased to present our guest speaker, Professor Brett Sutton, Victoria's Chief Health Officer. Prof Sutton discusses the challenges of COVID-19, Victoria's response, and how he is coping with this daunting crisis.
To celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand, we’ve teamed up with UNICEF to give life-saving vaccines to 100,000 children across the Pacific. Please help by donating at: https://www.givenow.com.au/everychildafuturecom -
The Impact of the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement on Australian Businesses
Phil Turtle is the National President of the Australia Indonesia Business Council and Director of Engenesis Pty Ltd, a boutique consultancy focusing on developing business opportunities in Indonesia.
Phil has over 25 years’ experience in a broad range of industries, having spent his early career as an Engineer and Project Manager on a large number of resources projects in the region. He has a passion for Asian countries, and has worked in China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia, and has made Indonesia a particular focus. There he has been involved in business development in Mining, Energy, Education, Infrastructure, Tourism, Healthcare, Technology and other fields.
He has served as a Board Member of the Australia Indonesia Business Council for the last 7 years, and is in his second term as National President. -
Kerry Cue, Humourist, Mathematician, Journalist and Author.
She is the author of 20 humorous and eductional books. Her satirical novel about US Gun Culture, TARGET 91, Penmore Press Tucson, Arizona) was published in 2019.
Kerry is also the maths blogger, her blog is called Mathspig, https://mathspig.wordpress.com
She has written columns for every major newspaper in Australia. Following the popularity of her humorous maths blog – over 1,300,000 hits – she spoke at the International Congress of Mathematical Education in Hamburg in 2016.
Kerry Cue studied Science/Engineering at Melbourne University and taught maths and science for 10 demanding years before becoming a best selling author of 20 humorous and education books including Life On a G-String, Australia Unbuttoned, I Left My Heart in Chinkapook and my knickers in New York. -
Martin Forrest is the Health Promotion Programs Manager at Hepatitis Victoria.
Martin is committed to the elimination of viral hepatitis and has seen the toll that the disease has on the community. Martin has worked supporting primary health in Victoria as well as many years in the Northern Territory, particularly with Aboriginal and remote communities.
For elimination to be successful, the whole community needs to be engaged. Martin is privileged to be able to contribute to this outcome and save lives in the process. -
As the world faces the largest global pandemic since the Spanish flu, amidst other humanitarian crises, conflicts and disasters, the work of humanitarians has never been more valuable. Kirsten Sayers, CEO of RedR Australia will discuss at the Rotary Club Melbourne meeting on the 22nd July, how RedR Australia is helping during COVID-19. She will discuss how local community engagement is crucial in providing an effective humanitarian response, and how businesses can play their part to help build future resilience.
Former lawyer and diplomat, Kirsten Sayers, is CEO of international humanitarian response agency, RedR Australia. RedR Australia is the only United Nations Standby Partner in the Southern Hemisphere and Asia Pacific and is the sole delivery partner of the Australia Government’s civilian humanitarian deployment program, Australia Assists.
Kirsten has previously held senior diplomatic and commercial appointments in Paris, Bangkok and Taipei. She was Australia’s Chief Negotiator and Delegation Leader to the Asia Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) Women Leaders’ Network meeting and APEC Gender Focal Point Network in 2009, and managed Australia’s delegation to the APEC CEO Summit the same year.
Kirsten has successfully established RedR Australia as the preferred deployment partner and mechanism before, during, and after crises and conflict. Kirsten leverages international business leadership and humanitarian diplomacy to put Australia’s people and skills at the forefront of international response to build national and community resilience. -
Sarah Meredith is Global Citizen's Australian Country Director, overseeing the movement's efforts in Australia. She is a passionate advocate for gender equality, investment in universal health care, access to clean water and basic sanitation, breaking the taboo on menstrual hygiene, Australia’s role in the world and the delivery of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Sarah comes to the role with more than 13 years experience advising a number of Australia's federal and state government Cabinet Ministers on environment, water, climate change, youth affairs, education and training, alcohol and drugs, and mental health policy.
Sarah has been an active member of the community and was named as the City of Casey's Young Citizen of the Year in 2002 as part of the Australia Day honours. Sarah has represented Australia at a number of local and national forums, including as one of 50 young Australians selected to be a member of the Australian Government's National Youth Roundtable and one of Australia's representatives to the 'Young People Can Change the World' World Youth Forum in Wales in 2001.
Sarah currently sits on a number of advisory committees including Melbourne’s bid for the 2022 Women Deliver Conference and Netball Australia’s World Cup bid.
Sarah has completed a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Melbourne and a Master of International and Community Development at Deakin University. -
An eyewitness to six decades of News. A journey behind the headlines that shaped the News and the life of a Newsman.
Author, Broadcaster and veteran Newsman - Mal Walden
Mal Walden's career spanned six decades in broadcasting and television. On his retirement in 2013 he was reported to be the longest ‘continually’ serving face on Melbourne television.
He began his media career in 1961 at Warrnambool radio station 3YB. From Warrnambool he moved across Bass Strait to Tasmania where he joined 7EX and later TNT Channel 9, also in Launceston. Between 1966 and 1969 Mal was a general announcer and news reporter for Melbourne's 3DB.
In 1969 he based himself in the Middle East spending six months on a kibbutz in Israel from where he filed news reports to Melbourne’s radio 3DB talk back host Gerald Lions.
Mal returned to Melbourne in 1970 and joined HSV-7 where he hosted a number of shows, including the popular program Jeopardy. In 1970 he also read his first news bulletin on Melbourne television before beginning a journalism cadetship with Seven.
One of the highlights of Mal's early career was a world scoop as the first reporter to file from the scene of Cyclone Tracey in Darwin in 1974.
In 1978 Mal became the first working journalist to be appointed a senior television news presenter, a trend that has since been adopted by most other Networks.
In April 1987 Mal not only read the news, he made the news. His controversial sacking from HSV7 by the Fairfax Sydney Television Group led to public protests, staff walkouts and a plunge in news ratings to an unprecedented zero. His immediate move to the TEN Network brought a record news rating of 40% market share - the equivalent of one million viewers a night.
At Network TEN Mal presented the news bulletin with David Johnston along with a new innovative segment called "Mal's Melbourne" which covered a wide variety of human- interest stories.
This segment would become the genesis of his second successful book ‘Good News’ published 30 years later.
In December 1995 Mal was appointed senior co-presenter of Network Ten's 5pm Melbourne News a position he held until his retirement at the end of 2013.
Such was the respect in the eyes of Victorians the Premier Denis Napthine hosted a State Reception at Parliament House. Several weeks later he was awarded the Quill Life Time Achievement Award by the Victorian Press Council.
He was 17 years of age when he applied for his first job and retired at the age of 70 (on the day of his choosing) something very rare in the television industry. Over six decades there was not a news headline or major news event that Mal had not read or reported.
Since his retirement Mal has written three children’s books and published his memoir 'The Newsman’ and ‘Good News’ a selection of stories that helped shape Melbourne.
His third book published by Brolga - ‘Don’t piss in my pocket and tell me it’s raining’- a selection of unforgettable and inspirational quotes, was released in December 2018. -
‘Working in isolation – what’s been occupying Australia’s Chief Scientist in 2020?’
Dr Finkel will present an overview of his work so far in 2020 – supporting the government’s response to COVID-19 including convening the Rapid Research Information Forum to provide rapid responses to questions arising from the pandemic; chairing the Expert Advisory Panel for the CSIRO Report on Climate and Disaster Resilience; and chairing the Technology Investment Roadmap Ministerial Reference Group.
Chair of the Day, our Honorary Member, Nobel Peace Laureate Dr Tilman Ruff AO, public health and infectious diseases physician will introduce Australia’s Chief Scientist. - Vis mere
