Conference Speakers

Martin Dolan, Acting Chief Executive Officer, Comcare

Martin is Comcare’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and currently Acting CEO.  A public servant since 1980, he has particular responsibility for Comcare’s research and policy functions and for the regulation of workplace health and safety and of workers’ compensation self insurance.

Before joining Comcare, Martin was CEO at the Australian Energy Market Commission. He was responsible for setting up the organisation that sets the rules for the operation of Australia’s electricity and gas markets.

From 2001-2005 he was the Executive Director of Aviation and Airports, at the Department of Transport and Regional Services, with responsibility for airport sales and regulation, aviation security, aviation safety policy and international aviation negotiations.
 

Dr Jan White, Chief Executive Officer, Accident Compensation Corporation, New Zealand

Dr White took over the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Chief Executive role at the end of October 2005 after six years as Chief Executive of the Waikato District Health Board.

Dr White's career began with clinical practice at Royal Perth Hospital in 1976.  An unexpected opportunity to move into health services management in 1985 led to various management roles in the health sector, including extensive experience in state health policy and planning.

Dr White has a Masters degree in health planning and health administration.

Adam McInerney – Director of Management of Better Practice, Australian Public Service Commission

Adam's role within the Commission is to support performance improvement across the Australian Public Service, particularly through better people management practices.

He works collaboratively with agencies to identify areas where sustainable change can be acheived, to design and promote learning opportunities for Human Resource professionals and to develop tools and frameworks that facilitate the improvment of people management practices.

Adam has been involved in the development of the APS HR Capability model, accompanying 360-feedback and survey tools, and the HR Capability Development Programme.  He worked on the ANAO People Management Benchmarking study and was responsible for the 'Get it Right - recruitment kit for managers'.

In 2006 Adam's team released a range of guidance material and practical tools aimed at assisting agencies and line managers address the key people management challenges of performance management, workplace absence and workforce planning.

Prue Hardiman – Management Consultant, Noel Arnold and Associates

Prue has expertise in the area of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management systems, ergonomics, hazard management, training and auditing. 

Prior to Prue joining NAA five years ago, she had been the OHS Coordinator with the Women’s and Children’s Health Care Network in Melbourne for eight Years.  

Prue has conducted numerous management systems audits using a variety of auditing protocols and specifications standards.  Training of organisations in relation to ergonomics, manual handling, OHS management systems, Health and Safety Representative (HSR) training and contractor management is also a strong focus of her work.
 

Dr Mary Wyatt – Occupational Physician, Resworks

Dr Wyatt is an Occupational Physician with special interests in back pain and return to work management.  Time within the workers compensation industry has included work as a treating practitioner, assessing practitioner, work as a mediator, research, and an ongoing active role in teaching Occupational Medicine at Monash University.

System factors that help employers and employees take a positive approach to offer the best opportunities to reduce work place disability, and are the objectives of the non-for-profit ResWorks established in 2004 and chaired by Mary.
 

Keynote Presentation - David Diment, Assistant Commissioner, Australian Taxation Office

David has over 20 years experience in the tax administration including leadership roles in the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Compliance and Operations sub plans.

In that role he has responsibility for a broad range of HR services covering employee and industrial relations, health and people management, corporate recruitment, corporate systems, payroll, ATO Concern and employee services.

He sees the ‘People’ role in the ATO as an important part of their business.
 

Helen Marks – Director of Alternative Resolution and Equity Fairness & Resolution Branch, Department of Defence

Helen served as a legal officer in the Royal Australian Navy for 29 years in a range of legal and personnel related positions.  She joined the Australian Public Service (APS) in 2005. She is directly responsible for managing the dispute resolution and conflict management program and the delivery of equity and diversity training and support.

Helen is currently establishing six new regional Fairness and Resolution Centres in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin, staffed by an equity and diversity coordinator and a dispute resolution practitioner to deliver these services to the Defence community.

Helen has been awarded a Bachelor and Masters degree in Law, a Bachelors degree in Science (psychology), a Graduate Diploma in Criminology, and a Graduate Certificate in Family Mediation and has completed many courses in mediation, conflict coaching, workplace conferencing and negotiation and communication skills.
 

Linda Hutchen - National Manager of Workers Compensation, National Australia Bank

Linda has been with National Australia Bank (NAB) for 16 years in various roles within NAB's HR business for both the Group and Australian segments. In October 2003 Linda was appointed to manage the seriously ailing self insurance and related workers comp and injury management functions for the Australian segment.

In that time Linda has been the driving force behind a significant turnaround in NAB’s performance in all jurisdictions, with major achievements such as;

• implementing early intervention strategies delivering a 68% reduction in claims with greater than 5 days lost in year one
• a 37% reduction in total days lost
• a 25% reduction in new claims pa
• $6m reduction in outstanding liabilities.

Suffering a mid life crisis, Dominic returned to university as a mature age student where he completed a Post Graduate Diploma and Masters Degree in Business Management (HR).

Since completing his studies, Dominic has again returned to university as a sessional lecturer at the under graduate, post graduate and masters level in HR management, Industrial Relations and Organisational Change.

In addition he currently holds a ministerial appointment on the Kangan Batman Institute of TAFE Board as President of Council, and has held a number of other ministerial appointments in the past and Committee member of a number of Labour market programmes.

Don has over 25 years experience in Human Resources, particularly in industrial relations and OHS.  He worked in the former Commonwealth Public Service Board and Department of Industrial Relations (now DEWR) before joining the ABC in 1989.  Don was Industrial Relations Manager for the Radio and Television Divisions and from 1995 to 2001 the Human Resources Manager for the NSW TV Branch, the largest TV Production House in Australia.  Don has been Head of Workplace Relations with national responsibility for OH&S and Industrial Relations for the ABC since 2001.  He was a trainee engineer at the BHP Port Kembla Steelworks before specialising in HR/IR.

Don has overseen a major reform of the ABC’s OHS Management system since 2002. He has led teams involved in enterprise bargaining and has implemented many major work practice change projects at the ABC over the last 15 years.  Don has a BA (Comm) and an MBA.

Anthony Vane – Business Manager, National Workplace Health, Centrelink

Anthony Vane leads a small multidisciplinary team of practitioners covering Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and Injury Management programs.

Anthony developed and executed Centrelink’s Workplace Health Plan and OHS/Injury Management Performance Program and has extensive background in human resource management, rehabilitation management, injury prevention and workplace health and safety.

Lyn Agnew is responsible for leading Centrelink’s Strategic People Plan that incorporates workplace health, safety and rehabilitation.

Lyn has broad management experience through her various roles within Centrelink’s business units.

Alex O'Shea - Director SRC Policy, Comcare

Alex O’Shea has a background in business management, regulation and policy development within the health and safety jurisdiction.  He joined Comcare in 1990 and has been actively involved in the development, implementation and refinement of Comcare’s successful rehabilitation model.

Alex is currently the Director of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act Policy section in which he is responsible for, amongst other duties, Comcare’s rehabilitation guidelines and the regulation of approved rehabilitation providers.
 

John Walsh, Partner, Price Waterhouse Coopers

John Walsh is a partner in the Health Actuarial practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which he joined at the end of 1991.  During the past 15 years he has worked in a variety of roles as a consulting actuary in general insurance, accident compensation and the health industry, including Scheme actuary to NSW WorkCover from 1992 to 1995, and again from 2002 to the present. He advised the NSW Rating Bureau from 1997 to 2001.

John’s experience in these industries has led to a great deal of both professional and committee work with government in discussing options for future accident compensation and health financing and delivery models. He was named by The Institute of Actuaries of Australia as “Actuary of the Year” in 2001 in recognition of this work.

Kate Carnell, Chief Executive Officer, Australian General Practice Network

Australian General Practice Network (AGPN) represents 126 Divisions of General Practice and State based organisations which are community based organisations located throughout Australia that support general practitioners and their practice teams.

A pharmacist by profession, Kate was the first female to become the National Vice-President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

Kate was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly in 1992, and became leader of the ACT Liberal Party in 1993.  She was elected Chief Minister in 1995 and re-elected in 1998 becoming the first Liberal women to be elected as Chief Minister or Premier in Australian Political history.

Kate was honoured on Australia Day 2006 with an Officer of the Order of Australia for her services to community through contributions to economic development and support for the business sector, knowledge industries, the medical sector and medical technology advances.

Paul has a background in general practice.  Since 1991 he has been involved in the development of clinical guidelines for occupational stress, chronic pain and back pain.  He has developed and delivered training programs in occupational injury management for general practitioners, Government and private employers, insurance claims agents and occupational rehabilitation providers. 

Paul has provided advice to a range of  corporate, Government and university clients in Australia, New Zealand and US in the areas of work injury management, claims management re-engineering, performance based provider contracting and duration benchmarks development and training.  He has a special interest in structured communication strategies that can be used by a wide range of stakeholders including employers, return to work coordinators and medical providers.

Dr David Allen - Occupational Physician, Quality Occupational Health

Dr Allen MBBS(Hons), DPH, FAFOM is a senior occupational physician who has been a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal Australian College of Physicians since 1992, and is a WorkCover Injury Management Consultant.

In 1996, David started his own practice, Quality Occupational Health (QOH).  QOH has become a large multidisciplinary team of occupational physicians, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, rehabilitation counsellors, occupational health nurses and psychologists servicing over 500 organisations.

Dr Allen  is committed to the principles of quality assurance, risk management and evidence-based medicine and has used these principles to assist a wide range of organisations to achieve improved health outcomes.

He speaks widely on topics such as evidence-based injury management, dealing with yellow flags, negotiation theory in workers compensation, drug and alcohol testing and managing difficult workers compensation cases.
 

Barbara Munn - State Manager of South Australia, Recovre Pty Ltd

Barbara has over 20 years experience in health service delivery and occupational rehabilitation, gaining significant experience in injury management in both the acute and rehabilitation setting. 

Over the last 13 years she has worked as a senior manager for national insurers and national occupational providers in the Workers Compensation Industry.  This experience provides her with significant understanding of the entire injury management spectrum including the development of best practice claims management models through to ensuring the provision of high quality rehabilitation services. 

Barbara is now responsible for overseeing the specialist Comcare Team within Recovre ensuring Recovre continues to offer best practice, innovative injury management services to the Comcare market.

Steve Kibble - Acting Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Comcare

Steve supports the Comcare CEO and the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission in discharging their respective regulatory functions in the Commonwealth workers’ compensation, rehabilitation and OHS scheme.  In 2007, Steve has been directly involved in the development and implementation of key policy changes in the Commonwealth system.  Steve also leads Comcare’s broader research and analysis program on issues that affect the jurisdiction and provides performance reports to the Australian Government.
 

David Cooke - Director Rehabilitation and Compensation Policy, Occupational Health and Safety Branch, Defence Personnel Executive

David has extensive experience in the development, implementation and administration of Commonwealth workers’ compensation, rehabilitation and prevention policy and legislation.  He joined Defence as Director Rehabilitation and Compensation Policy in February 2002 and has responsibility for the development of Defence policy and programs in relation to the prevention and management of work-related injury and illness, including in-service arrangements for Australian Defence Force members.

David moved to Defence from Comcare’s Regulatory Services Division where he managed the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission governance arrangements.  Previously David was a senior member of the successful Workplace Injury Prevention and Management Team in the ACT Chief Minister’s Department which achieved industry recognition for delivering improvements in the ACT’s management of its public sector workers’ compensation premium.

His previous appointments include provision of premium management consultancy services on behalf of Comcare, claims management, review and appeals and the delivery of rehabilitation case management advice to Commonwealth agencies.

Melissa Lehmann– Organisational Psychologist, Worksolutions, Health Services Australia

Dr Lehmann holds a background in organisational and clinical psychology, she consults to a range of Government and private organisations on issues affecting workplace health and safety.  Specifically, Dr Lehmann focuses on assisting organisations to manage psychological difficulties and promotes the effective use of early intervention, supportive leadership and optimal team practices.

With Colleague, Dr Peter Cotton, Dr Lehmann has developed a range of Leadership, Peer Support and Employee Resilience programs designed to improve individual wellbeing, mental health literacy, management capabilities, internal support systems and key components in the provision of a positive workplace and the reduction of workers compensation costs.
 

She is the President for the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine, and has been an office bearer for the Australian Faculty of Occupational Medicine.  She has given papers on rehabilitation, occupational stress, OOS and/or cervicobrachial syndrome, manual handling and multiple chemical sensitivity.

Associate Professor Greg Murphy - La Trobe University

As an Associate Professor in the School of Public Health, La Trobe University, Victoria, Dr Murphy has had a long-standing interest in the application of psychology to areas of work, rehabilitation and human resource management.  He has acted as a consultant to both private and Government rehabilitation agencies.

Most recently his research has concentrated on vocational rehabilitation following disabling injury.  Dr Murphy is the author of over 100 scientific and professional papers, and his current research projects include an investigation of post injury vocational trajectories and a series of studies that isolate the relative contribution to rehabilitation outcome of injury factors, individual attributes and social -environment characteristics, including particularly the role of social support as an influence on rehabilitation outcomes.

Toni Green - Physiotherapy Lecturer, Division of Health Science & Design, University of Canberra

Toni is well positioned to understand the challenges of providing an integrated early response to workplace injury. Toni Green is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy, School of Health Sciences, Division of Health, Design and Science, University of Canberra, and is an Independent Physiotherapy Consultant appointed by Workcover NSW, the NSW Registration Board and Australian Physiotherapy Association.

Toni's interests as a physiotherapist includes clinical practice, teaching and research in the areas of Physiotherapy Legislation and Ethics, Clinical reasoning, Quality and Safety in Physiotherapy, Chronic pain, Low Back Pain and Acute Musculoskeletal injuries.

She has a Bachelor of Science (Anatomy), Grad Dip in Physiotherapy, Graduate Diploma in Manipulative Physiotherapy and a Master of Physiotherapy (Research).

She is a titled member of her professional association and an elected member of the ACT Physiotherapists Registration Board and Australian Examination Council of Overseas Physiotherapists (AECOP).
 

Clare Page - Group Manager,  Better Practice,  Australian Public Service Commission (APSC)

The Better Practice Group has responsibility for the development and implementation of service wide initiatives around strategic people management, Indigenous employment and the employment of people with disability.

With regard to strategic people management, Ms Page’s recent initiatives include;

• Service wide advice on absence management and performance management.
• Service wide recruitment initiatives focusing on the recruitment of particular specialist skills, advising external applicants on public service recruitment processes, and investigating strategies for the attraction and retention of staff.
• Delivery of a service –wide strategy for the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Progressing initiatives to increase the employment of people with disability in the Australian Public Service.

Samantha French - Senior Consultant, Australian Employers Network on Disability

Samantha French has worked in the disability field for close to 15 years and has an extensive background in disability policy across a broad range of areas. She is a person with disability and has a Degree in Social Work and a Masters Degree in Industrial Relations. Sam is currently working as a Senior Consultant with the Australian Employer’s Network on Disability and has responsibility for member services to ACT employers, including a number of Commonwealth Public Sector Agencies. 

Prior to this role Sam worked as a Senior Policy and Education Office at People with Disability Australia where she was involved in the development of the United Nations International Convention on the Rights of People with Disability, which included co-presenting a panel discussion to UN delegates on employment with the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

Sam is a Board Member of the NSW Discrimination Legal Centre.

Dr Anthony Hogan - Assistant Director of Research, Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council

Dr Hogan is Principal Epidemiologist (Research) in the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council (OASCC).

Dr Hogan holds a Master’s Degree in Science (Honours), his thesis was on the rehabilitation of workers with industrial deafness.  Dr Hogan also has a PhD in health sociology. Following his PhD, Dr Hogan undertook advanced epidemiological training on the NSW Health Department's Public Health Office Training Program before he then undertook a 4 year post-doctoral fellowship in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney, where he developed advanced methods for assessing health outcomes from program interventions.

Dr Hogan has worked extensively on the management and prevention of noise induced hearing loss and was involved in the launch of the original Australian noise standard. He is a well published author with three books and more than 30 refereed papers to his name.
 

Sue Read - Consultant Psychologist, Davidson, Trahaire, Corpsych

Sue Read is a Registered Psychologist who works as a Counselling Psychologist and Human Resources Consultant with Davidson Trahaire Corpsych, a leading national Employee Assistance Provider.  Sue has a particular interest in assisting individuals and organisations to attain optimal health, and achieves these aims by providing targeted interventions to address issues such as psychological injury, workplace conflict, and prevention and management of stress-related symptoms.

Sue has assisted many Australian Public Service Departments and Agencies and private organisations to achieve outcomes through individual and group programs in managing self, people and performance. She has conducted workshops and implemented interventions to address a range of issues such as stress management, emotional intelligence, change management, work/life balance and trauma management.

John Jenner - Director, Reed Group Asia Pacific

Since leaving the Royal Australian Navy in 1984 with the rank of Commander, John has held various executive appointments in the Information Technology and Telecommunications and Insurance Industries.

Since 1994 John been increasingly involved in Insurance broking – as Managing Principal and senior executive in Insurance Brokerages that specialised in Life Insurance, Superannuation, and Professional Indemnity Insurance for clients in the Health Care and Information Technology industries.

John is a founder Director of The Reed Group Asia Pacific and has specialised in Medical Indemnity and Workers Compensation Insurance areas

John is a Certified Insurance Professional CIP, holds a Diploma of Financial Services (Insurance Broking), is a Senior Associate of the Australia and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance and Member of NIBA.