Speak Out December 2017

From the President

Board Chair, Suze Leitão; and the Ethics Board, for their strategic proactive work supporting our members to maintain their ethical practices. Thanks to the 2017, 2018 and 2019 conference planning committees. Thank you to our newly formed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee members, Tara Lewis, Eddie Ong and Alice Robbins. Thank you to all the reference groups that provide us with advice; the Aged Care Reference Group, the Early Career Reference Group, the members who are linked as representatives on their Primary Health Network committees, rural and remote representatives, the school-aged expert reference group; and the members who have provided us with advice on the many activities that the Association is engaged with; whether that is providing feedback on the NDIS, or input to a clinical guideline or other documents. And, I would like to thank the Directors of the Association (Chyrisse Heine, Belinda Hill, Tim Kittel, Lee McGovern, Brooke Sanderson, and Marleen Westerveld) for their work in steering the direction of the organisation. 2018 promises to be another busy but successful year – don’t forget to renew your membership! As you budget for 2018, don’t forget to include the conference in Adelaide. The program is looking to be thought-provoking and cutting-edge. I hope that I can meet you there! In the meantime, I hope that you have a safe and restorative holiday period, and I look forward to continuing to work with and for you next year.

WITH THE END of the year approaching, I don’t know about you, but it always feels like a bit of a sprint to the finish line. Trying to complete activities that I wanted to tie up in 2017, starting to unwrap the activities for 2018, and then of course there are those activities that last more than just this year. I hope that in the busyness of this time of year you can find a few minutes to sit down and enjoy this edition of Speak Out . This edition will showcase some of the activities that your Association has been involved with over the last year; through both our paid positions and our volunteers. As I reflect on the successes of the Association this year, I would like to thank Gail Mulcair, our CEO, and the very hard- working, dedicated National Office team for their commitment and effort this year. It is exciting to see the Association’s opinion sought in media and policy, and to see our steps on the road towards achieving our 2030 aspirations. I would like to particularly note the contributions of Chris Lyons, Ronelle Hutchinson and Rebecca Faltyn, who have left the Association this year to pursue other opportunities. The work of these three staff members in advocacy, professional advice and publications, together with the current staff, has set the Association on a strong path. I would also like to thank all the member volunteers across the Association for their contributions this year; the Branch Chairs and the Branch executives. I would particularly like to thank outgoing chairs Alison Smith (Queensland) and Rosie Martin (Tasmania) for your service for a number of years – and I look forward to continuing to work with you in other capacities! Thanks to our Ethics

Gaenor Dixon

Gaenor Dixon National President

Speech Pathology Australia would like to wish you all a merry festive season and a safe and Happy New Year. Please note that the Speech Pathology Australia National Office will be closed from 22 December 2017 until 2 January 2018.

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December 2017 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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