Tag: Governance
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Food Ministers urged to prioritise health over industry interests
Damian Maganja, Veronica Le Nevez, Andrea Schmidtke and Sally Witchalls Walk into any supermarket and you will be accosted by shelf upon shelf of unhealthy foods, from soft drinks that contain up to 14 teaspoons of sugar to whole aisles of confectionery, chips and biscuits. Even foods we might think…
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There’s more to PHAA membership than tax deductions
Penelope Smith The value of a Public Health Association of Australia (PHAA) membership, particularly if you are a student like me, is significant; but for a very long time, my engagement with the Association was little to none. Despite being a member since 2017, it’s only within the last year…
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Three current or former PHAA Branch Presidents reflect on successes and challenges
Introduction by PHAA National Office Are you a public health professional looking to take on a leadership role at an organisation committed to equity, prevention, and evidence? Or are you interested to learn about the policy and advocacy activities our Branch Presidents are involved in week-by-week? Hear from three former…
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Leveraging COVID-19 disruptions to reorient governmental systems toward health equity
Michelle Morgan, PHAA member, Healthy Communities Officer at the Tasmanian Department of Health, and PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania Over the past few years, we have all experienced major disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. But our experiences have not been equal. The pandemic has exposed and worsened…
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Burning questions at ‘fireside chat’: three state public health chiefs provide insights
Melanie Parker, PHAA Three of Australia’s public health chiefs explored the past, present and future of public health in Australia during this year’s Population Health Congress 2022 in Adelaide. New South Wales Chief Health Officers Dr Kerry Chant PSM, Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton, and Tasmanian Director of…
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‘Who are we?’ Highlights from the Opening Plenary of Population Health Congress 2022
Melanie Parker, PHAA Renowned researchers, public health chiefs, population health students and professionals, and prominent politicians from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand attended last week’s Population Health Congress 2022. Hosted in hybrid format by the Public Health Association of Australia, Australian Health Promotion Association, Australasian Epidemiological Association, and Australasian…
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Social science must be key component of future Australian Centres for Disease Control
Kerrie Wiley, Jane Frawley, Catherine King, Nicole Batten, Katie Attwell, Maryke Steffens and Julie Leask on behalf of the Collaboration on Social Science in Immunisation The Federal Labor government is committed to establishing what we’re calling an Australian Centres for Disease Control (ACDC)*. The Collaboration on Social Science in…
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Next steps to the design principles for an Australian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
PHAA CEO, Adj Prof Terry Slevin The establishment of the Australian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ACDPC) is the most important change in public health architecture in Australia for a generation. Our CDPC Corner has so far primarily focused on what the agency should include and prioritise. Here we’ll…
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Rethinking traditional structures: a proposal for an Australian Distributed Network for Disease Prevention and Control
Jane Heller and Richard Heller We support many of the ideas that others have posted on the CDPC Corner about the development of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC), a pre-election commitment made by the Australian Labor Party. Our contribution builds on these previous submissions by calling for this…
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Should ACDC go global?
Meru Sheel and Joel Negin The new government’s proposed Australian Centre for Disease Control (and Prevention) faces a daunting task coordinating across eight states and territories and providing national leadership. And yet, there is an important discussion required about adding a further, extremely complicated element of scope to the initiative:…
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A Centre for Disease Prevention and Control – let’s work together to be clear on the problems it must solve
Professor Andrew Wilson and Professor Lucie Rychetnik The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre Co-Directors With apologies to Acca Dacca fans – we encourage resisting the temptation to get too excited about an ACDC (Australian Centre for Disease Control) and champion the focus on an Australian CDPC (Centre for Disease Prevention…
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Q&A: Indigenous Peoples’ Inclusion in Food Governance
This piece was first published by the Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney. Read the original article. For NAIDOC Week, Dr Mark Lock speaks to Dr Belinda Reeve about championing health equity for First Nations Australians and their meaningful inclusion in all dimensions of food governance. By Dr Mark J Lock, University of Technology Sydney & Deakin…
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Why Australia needs a National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (NCDPC)
OzSAGE Independent Expert Panel OzSAGE has convened an independent expert panel to produce a report on an Australian Centre for Disease Prevention and Control by July 1 2022. The panel has expertise in public and occupational health and prevention, and includes past chief health officers and others with substantial depth of…
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Questions of scope and governance: A northern Queensland perspective on the proposed Centre for Disease Control
Stephanie Topp1, Alexandra Edelman1, Sue Devine1, Tammy Allen1, Paul Horwood1, Julie Mudd2, Emma McBryde3, Jeff Warner1 College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville and Cairns, Queensland. College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville and Cairns, Queensland. Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine,…
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Strengthening Australia’s chemical regulation: an opportunity for the new government
Peter W. Tait, PHAA member In the past five years Australia’s agricultural, veterinary (agvet) and industrial chemical regulation has undergone a series of reviews and reforms. The purpose of these has been to reduce the regulatory burden on manufacturers, importers, and industry while retaining protection of the environment and human…
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Pandemic-era Health Minister Greg Hunt retires
Malcolm Baalman, PHAA As happens at every federal election, several long-serving Members of Parliament have retired. Two in particular have influenced public health in Australia. Today we profile the Hon. Greg Hunt, former Member for Flinders, and Minister for Health 2016-2022. Elected to the House of Representatives in 2001, Hunt…
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Australia fails adaption to climate change
Honorary Associate Professor Liz Hanna Australia’s abject failure to mitigate or adapt to climate change was a key topic at last week’s Global Public Health Week. Hosted by the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA) from 4 – 8 April 2022, the Global Public Health Week initiative was a…
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Discerning discussion at ‘Design principles of an Australian CDC’ webinar
Melanie Parker – PHAA With a 50/50 chance of an Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) being formed after the federal election on 21 May, discussing the scope and structure of this centre was key to PHAA’s webinar on 11 April 2022. Presenters are leading figures at their respective…
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South Australian Public Health Consortium State Election Forum: A summary
Melanie Parker, Mary Brushe and Professor Jacquie Bowden – PHAA Almost 100 people joined the South Australian Public Health Consortium‘s Virtual Forum on 23 February to hear political parties’ public health priorities ahead of the upcoming state election. The Consortium comprises the SA branch of Public Health Association of Australia,…
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Before hitting the brakes on unhealthy products, let’s take our foot off the accelerator
Adjunct Professor Terry Slevin, CEO PHAA This post is the fourth in our series of articles exploring the PHAA’s 2022-23 pre-Budget submission, The Public Health Crisis Budget. Read the first post here, the second, and the third. “The commercial determinants of health are defined as factors that influence health which…
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Yes, words can harm young trans people. Here’s what we can do to help
Cristyn Davies, University of Sydney; Alessandra Chinsen, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Ken Pang, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Kerry H. Robinson, Western Sydney University, and Rachel Skinner, University of Sydney All children and adolescents have the right to live free from discrimination. However, the public debate last week around the proposed…
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Former PHAA Queensland President, Letitia Del Fabbro, to run in federal election
Jeremy Lasek – PHAA As regular readers of Intouch are aware, the PHAA is using the upcoming federal election as an opportunity to campaign for, among other things, a significantly bigger slice of the budget pie for public health. Fascinatingly, the first of our public health workforce profiles for 2022…
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“As Australia slips toward fascism, where does the public health community stand?”
The fires, floods and COVID-19 pandemic have shown the fragility of industrial civilisation and the strength and resilience of people and community.