Program

The Honourable Pru Goward is a former Cabinet minister, Sex Discrimination Commissioner and was a pioneering television reporter with the ABC. Pru has a long history of promoting women’s rights, driving reform and getting it done and has frequently challenged institutional bullying and harassment.

Pru speaks across a range of subjects that reflect her decades of experience; women and leadership, leadership, trust and values, ageing and age discrimination, domestic violence, paid parental leave, workplace bullying and harassment and the implementation of reform. She also comments on current political challenges.

Kate completed three tours of duty in Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot, embedded in the British Royal Marine Commando’s Helicopter Force. There she captained missions day and night into some of the most hostile areas of the war torn country. Helmand Province was her home for almost 12 months. Day time temperatures exceeded 45 degrees, night time temperatures reached below -15 degrees, and throughout it all, Kate was expected to operate at the top of her mental and physical performance, lives depended on it. 

Being the only female amongst a workforce of over 150 aircrew at Commando Helicopter Force, living away from family and friends and working in close conditions in the pressure cooker environment of a war zone, were just some of the challenges she faced and successfully overcame.

Confronted with ever changing situations, Kate made critical decisions time and time again, day after day for months on end. This high tempo of operations taught her the skills of planning, prioritization, leadership and practical people management that contributed to three successful tours of Afghanistan.

Throughout her presentation, Kate will take you on a unique journey to places you have never been and through situations that will have you on the edge of your seat. Kate will inspire and motivate audiences to overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Lee Clout made history when she became the first paid female paramedic in NSW in 1979. Lee started her career at Wagga Wagga Station, and blazed a trail for thousands of women to follow in her footsteps in providing outstanding care for our communities.

Lee and the women who came after her have transformed NSW Ambulance over the last 40 years from a male-dominated service into the modern, inclusive workplace that it is today. 

Judith started her career in ambulance in 1997 with St John Ambulance in WA qualifying as a paramedic and also worked as a tutor, a student mentor and Shift Operations Manager.

Judith moved to Adelaide for family and joined SA Ambulance Service (SAAS) in 2003. At SAAS Judith qualified as an Intensive Care Paramedic and then continued to develop her career, working as an Area Clinical Team Leader, Operations Manager and Director over a period of 15 years. Following her last position at SAAS – Director of Service Performance and Improvement, Judith joins us today as the CEO of St John Ambulance Australia (NT). Judith is the first female CEO of St John Ambulance NT.

Along the way Judith has been involved in key ambulance and health projects including Transforming Health, a SA Health transformational project, sat on State Boards, represented her organisation on national and federal committees and commanded significant events including the Extreme Weather Event and Pinery Fires in South Australia. Judith has worked across areas such as Service Performance, Emergency Management, Emergency Operations Centre and IT Infrastructure.

Throughout her career she has invested in her education including earning a Bachelor in Health Science Management and a MBA.

In January 2020, Senior Assistant Commissioner Clare Beech was permanently appointed to the role of Executive Director Clinical Systems Integration at NSW Ambulance.

Since beginning her paramedic career in 2003, Clare has worked in rural and remote locations across Victoria, including a role in Melbourne, prior to joining NSW Ambulance in 2007.

At NSW Ambulance, Clare has performed a range of clinical, corporate and executive roles. As Director Clinical Operations (Sectors), Clare was responsible for the delivery of all land-based ambulance operations and providing senior clinical and cultural leadership to the 4,000 strong operational workforce. A career highlight included helping local staff build a model of care that was specifically tailored and culturally safe for remote Indigenous communities.

Clare is a strong and well-respected leader. She encourages ownership, participation and innovation from her teams, always returning the focus of actions and decisions to the needs of the patient and their experience in the out-of-hospital clinical setting.

Clare has had a distinguished career and is an ambassador for the paramedic profession. Clare was awarded the Ambulance Service Medal (ASM) in the 2020 Australia Day Honours Awards.

Tracey Tobias is the Director Complex Care, Ambulance Victoria.  Complex Care governs Air Ambulance Victoria (AAV), Adult Retrieval Victoria (ARV) and Victorian Stroke Telemedicine (VST).

Tracey’s passion is working collaboratively with clinicians to shape great patient experiences and clinical outcomes.  Tracey’s uniqueness lies in the depth and breadth of experience across the full cycle of patient care, leadership and operational management, both as an in-house manager as well as an external consultant and project manager.

Tracey’s clinical background is as an adult and pediatric critical care nurse. Tracey brings a wealth of experience from working within the health industry having held a range of senior management positions at Public and Private hospitals, Southern Melbourne Integrated Cancer Service and various agencies as a consultant.

Dr Paul Simpson is the Director of Paramedicine at Western Sydney University and the inaugural Chair of the Australasian Council of Paramedicine Deans. Paul spends most of his time in academia, but continues to practice when time permits as a registered paramedic in an intensive care role with NSW Ambulance and in the private paramedicine sector.

Mr Johnson is a health policy researcher. For ten years he practised as a speech pathologist across rural and remote Australia, predominantly working with people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. His PhD is focused on digital capacity-building in rural and remote communities, aims to develop sustainable, equitable, and person-centred service delivery models in the bush. He now consults on public health policy; is Co-Founder of Umbo (an online allied health service), and Adjunct Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine and Health at the University of Sydney. He is Non-Executive Director at SARRAH, and Councillor at the National Rural Health Alliance.

Ed is interested in the environmental impact that infectious and non-infectious diseases have on communities and human neurodevelopment, particularly relevant in a context of climate shift, emerging infectious and non-infectious diseases, and global population movements.

While investigating these issues, Mr Johnson continues to educate people on the importance of relationships between humans, animals, and the environment. In doing so, he is inspired by the words of everyone’s favourite Czech existential anarchist, Franz Kafka, who said “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.”

Ruth Barratt is a registered nurse, quality advisor and researcher. She holds a Masters in Infection Prevention and Control and is credentialed at expert level through the Australasian College for Infection Prevention and Control. Ruth has over 22 years of experience in this field across the private and public sectors in New Zealand and Australia. She has authored several IPC journal publications and represented infection prevention and control professionals on a number of Australasian committees and working parties. Ruth’s current role is the development and implementation of infection prevention and control protocols and procedures for the management of a patient with a High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) within the NSW state biocontainment facilities. Ruth is currently studying for her PhD through the University of Sydney, with her research focus on personal protective equipment practice among clinicians.