BUSHkids Annual Report | 2023-24

Annual Report • 2023–24

BOARD CHAIR MAKING ALL YEARS COUNT

Dr Neil J Bartels oam MBBS LL.M Grad.Cert.Leg.Med. FACRRM

Two-thirds of our way along the path plotted in BUSHkids’ 2021–26 Strategic Plan, we are making solid progress in reorientating the six key aspects of that document to the six “looking to the future” pillars set out in our 2024 Capability Statement, which enhance our forward focus from these established performance measures.

Partnerships , Academic Collaboration and BUSHkids’ well-proven Model of Care remain a foundational trio and, over the past year in particular, much time and effort has been given in these areas by my fellow Board members Emeritus Professor Deborah Theodoros ao and Dr Louise Cahill. I thank them for their efforts in supporting our frontline clinical and research teams and helping position our organisation as an explemplary, future-focused service provider. Our Workforce , foremost of the six pillars, is critical to the evolving work of BUSHkids, with enhancing and empowering skilled professionals in their own local communities key to deepening our embedded connections across Queensland. In this regard, we have been well served by the dedication of Board member Judy Peters oam, supported by the Friends of BUSHkids (FoBk) groups in Bundaberg, Emerald and Warwick. Trans-professional collaboration is an increasingly important element of our workforce development, with more seamless integration of different clinical disciplines and specialities further expanding BUSHkids’ credentials and telehealth capabilities. Our leading role in pre-pandemic telehealth, thanks to the passion of my Deputy Chair Carolyn Searle, is now our state-of-the-art telepractice with Deborah’s support; our Technology pillar continues to be skilfully driven by 15-year Board member Julian Martin in our Digital Strategy for secure remote services provision. Our sixth pillar is not really ‘new’ — its foundations stretch back tens of thousands of years — but is truly a significant one for BUSHkids, learning to mindfully understand and heartfully appreciate the shared learnings and insights of our First Nations Peoples . CEO Carlton will have more to say in his narrative about our successful completion of the initial “Reflect” stage of our ongoing Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and, as always, I pay particular tribute to his strategic vision and acute understanding of the landscapes which BUSHkids navigates. None of this would have been possible without the ongoing work of BUSHkids’ Honorary Treasurer Allison McLean.

Next year, in the approach to our organisation’s 90th birthday, will also mark Allison’s 20th year of voluntary Board service as the custodian of BUSHkids’ financial governance and structural wellbeing: a remarkable achievement and one about which it is increasingly difficult for me to find suitable words of thanks. Thank-you, Allison, and all my Board colleagues. To BUSHkids volunteers, CEO, leadership teams and frontline staff, thank-you also, for another progressive year supporting Queensland families. In plain terms, BUSHkids’ service ethos has long been ‘equity of access regardless of postcode’ and this continues to be an underpinning passion of not only the Board but also the increasingly diverse peoples of our organisation too. But I can never overlook the postcode much closer to home and I remain indebted to my wife Annette and to our growing families for their love and support for what I do. Indeed, it is the connection to home which is part of the reason why this year will be the last of Judy Peters’ time on the Board of BUSHkids and, on behalf of us all, I extend special thanks and gratitude to Judy for her six years of Board service. Although post-pandemic technology has made virtual workplace (and Board meeting) participation unremarkable, Judy believes her stated “100 percent commitment” to BUSHkids will be better delivered via her long-established community connections in Bundaberg and as Chair of our FoBk group there. So, with the continuing renewal of our organisation, we look forward to welcoming new Board members in 2025 as we begin to quietly start celebrating BUSHkids’ astonishing 90 years of service to the children and families of Queensland. I know this imminent anniversary will be deeply felt by our Patron, Her Excellency Dr Jeanette Young ac psm , with the role of the Queensland Governor continuing to represent that of our founder, Sir Leslie Orme Wilson since 1935, and I thank Her Excellency for her warm engagement and close interest in our work. With my warmest regards and best wishes for 2025, our 89th year ahead! Neil

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