Australian Health Promotion Association - QLD Branch

I took over the role of President of the Queensland Branch of the Australian Health Promotion Association in August 2006 due to the resignation of the previous incumbent, Jenny Austin. Jenny reluctantly relinquished the role of President due to family, study, and work commitments. I would like to once again thank Jenny for the contribution she made to the State Executive in the time she was President.

As most of you would know, I live and work in Townsville, North Queensland. In the history of the Queensland Branch, all previous president's lived and worked either in Brisbane (Melissa Stoneham, Rachelle Foreman) or just north of Brisbane on the Sunshine Coast (Lily O'Hara, Jenny Austin), so I was curious to see if this geographic difference would throw up any difficulties. I am happy to say that so far there has been no negative effect. This is due to the highly efficient, enthusiastic, reliable and professional members of the State Executive. The people who made up the 2006 Queensland State Executive were:

• Lily O'Hara – Vice-President
• Kirsty Pickering – Secretary
• Tobias Dow – Treasurer
• Alison Abbott
• Christine Armit
• Rachel Hull
• Michael Langdon
• Alison Marshall
• Lisa Naumann
• Craig Osborne
• Anneline Padayachee
• Karen Power, and
• Kirsten Ward

The members of the State Executive give their time voluntarily to ensure that Queensland Branch members are provided with Queensland Branch newsletter four times a year, health promotion vacancies, interesting and relevant professional development sessions, and networking opportunities.

On behalf of all members, I would like to thank you all for your commitment to the Queensland Branch of the Australian Health Promotion Association and encourage you all to continue the great work that you do.

As at January 2007, there were 173 members in the Queensland Branch. This number is similar to the number of members at the same time in 2006. Full individual members make up the majority, with student membership the second most popular, followed by a small number of corporate members. As in previous years, the majority of members live in the south east corner, while a growing number reside in North Queensland.

Achievements for 2006

• Development of the 2006-2008 Strategic Plan
• Four primary action areas have been identified
• Communication and Advocacy
• Professional Development and Membership
• Newsletter; and
• State Conference

Each of these action areas are addressed by a committee made up of members of the State Executive. Reports on three of these action areas Communication and Advocacy, Professional Development and Membership, will be provided to you as part of the AGM.

There are a small number of copies of the Strategic Plan available for you today. The strategic plan will also be available from the AHPA website (Queensland section) www.healthpromotion.org.au

A number of high quality Professional Development events were held in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Townsville during the year. All of these events were well supported by both members and non-members and resulted in a number of people joining the association. I would like to thank the members of the Professional Development committee, Lisa Nauman (Chair), Rachel Hull, Craig Osborne, and Alison Abbott for the time and effort they have put in to planning and staging these first rate events.

The State Quarterly Newsletter continues to be highly regarded by all members and this is in no small part due to the highly skilled members of the Newsletter committee – Alison Marshall (Chair), Karen Power, Anneline Padayachee and Kirsten Ward. Putting together a newsletter isn't the easiest job in the world, but these ladies manage to do it well and I would like to pay tribute to this work.

The Advocacy and Communication committee (Tobias Dow, Chair; Christine Armit; and Kirsten Ward) continue to implement the objectives set out in the Strategic Plan. Their work has led to an increase in the profile of the Australian Health Promotion Association by identifying and participating in network opportunities throughout 2006. Thank you for the significant work you have undertaken in 2006.

I would also like to take the time to make special mention of the contribution made by other members of the State Executive. Firstly, Kirsty Pickering, our very hard working State Secretary. Kirsty's ability to keep us all on track has been invaluable, and certainly makes the role of President much easier. Thank you Kirsty. Tobias Dow has been the treasurer for the past 3 years. I can speak from experience that the role of treasurer is not always an easy role as there are specific financial reporting requirements that must be completed on a regular basis. Thank you Tobias for you contribution. I would also like to make special thanks to June Redman and June Davies for the ongoing support provided to all state treasurers and especially the National Treasurer.

The final thank you has been left for one of the longest serving members of the Queensland Branch of AHPA – Ms Lily O'Hara. Over the past years Lily has held a number of roles both at a National and State level. Lily was the State President from 1995 - 1997, and the National President from 1997- 2000. In 2006, Lily was the Vice-President of the Queensland Branch, represented the branch on the Queensland Public Health Forum, the QPHF Workforce Development Working Group, and the Queensland Centre for Public Health Consultative committee – and also managed to find the time to lecture in Health Promotion at the Sunshine Coast University, and be a great mum to Allegra, Jonte & Freddy and partner to Paul, and friend and mentor to many others. In 2006, the Australian Health Promotion Association endowed Lily with Life Membership of the Association in recognition of her contribution. Lily has decided not to nominate for any position on the State Executive this year and consequently relinquish her positions on the fore mentioned committees. I would like to thank Lily for the significant contribution she has made to the Australian Health Promotion Association and wish her all the best in her future endeavours.

This brings me to the close of my Presidents report. In 2007, the State Executive will continue to build on the achievements of 2006, and to source out new opportunities for members. It is going to be an exciting journey and I look forward to being part of it.