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16 May 2024
Health Ministers, as the Ministerial Council for the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, have announced 40 new appointments and reappointments of Chairs and Board members to fill vacancies across nine National Boards.
An extensive recruitment process was undertaken over the past 13 months that saw 122 applications received for advertised vacancies across National Boards. The vacancies were mainly the result of Chairs, practitioner members and community members reaching the scheduled expiry of their three-year terms.
Other vacancies on National Boards have also been filled through this process. The vacancies were advertised in national metropolitan newspapers and on the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency and respective National Board websites.
Three new Board Chairs have been appointed. They are:
Ms Raye has been appointed for her first term as Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia until 12 March 2025, the end of her practitioner member appointment. She replaces Mrs Renee Owen who was first appointed Chair in 2017.
Ms Raye, a Bardi Jabirr Jabirr woman, is employed by Northern Territory Health as the Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner. Her career in health began in 1982, with most of her work conducted in rural and remote Aboriginal communities throughout the Northern Territory, including oral health, education and training, leadership and management, research, and as a generalist practicing Aboriginal Health Worker and Practitioner.
She is the sister of Dr Simone Raye, Aboriginal doctor and current President of the Australian Indigenous Doctors' Association.
Ms Singh has been appointed Chair of the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia for her first term and has been reappointed for a second term as a practitioner member from South Australia for a period of three years from 19 March 2024. She replaces Ms Julie Brayshaw who was the Board chair since 2016.
Ms Singh is a director of a private allied health practice in Adelaide. Prior to that, she was the Director of the Integrum program at the Royal District Nursing Service in South Australia which provided support to people with complex chronic condition management at risk of hospital admission. She was also the Director Services at the Lifetime Support Authority which supports people who have sustained catastrophic injuries in vehicle accidents.
Mr Aamodt has been the Presiding Member of the Optometry Board of Australia after the previous Chair, Judy Hannan, stepped down in March 2023 to become a Member of Parliament in the NSW Legislative Assembly.
Mr Aamodt works in an independent optometry practice in Perth. Previously, he worked for Lions Outback Vision in Yawuru country, a not-for-profit optometry clinic, where he provided outreach and optometric services for the local communities in and around the Kimberley. His role involved working closely with the local ophthalmology team, providing pre-clinical work ups, post operative care and triaging urgent cases when the ophthalmology team were on outreach.
A total of 15 new National Board members were appointed, including three members who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Peoples. There are 13 outgoing members.
Ahpra CEO Martin Fletcher welcomed the appointments and acknowledged the contribution of the retiring Board members.
‘I welcome all the appointments but in particular the 15 new National Board members who I am certain will make a significant impact to the regulatory work of the Boards and the National Scheme,’ he said.
‘In realising our strategic commitment to increase the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples on National Boards I feel privileged to listen and learn from three new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board appointees, who join the 10 existing Indigenous National Board members.’
‘There are now 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as senior members in the National Scheme who are on the Ahpra Board, National Boards, State and Territory Boards and on committees. Indigenous perspectives and lived experiences in decision-making on Board matters helps to foster self-determination.
‘I would like to acknowledge the service of all the retiring board members and in particular the two outgoing Board chairs for their contributions to health practitioner regulation in Australia.’
There are two vacancies remaining on the following National Boards that have been further advertised:
For a full list of the appointments, please visit the Health Ministers’ Meeting Communique
‘‘I welcome all the appointments but in particular the 15 new National Board members who I am certain will make a significant impact to the regulatory work of the Boards and the National Scheme,’ Ahpra CEO Martin Fletcher.