The Tim Fairfax Family Foundation (TFFF) has been a supporter of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation’s (ARLF) Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP) for many years now, typically sponsoring two scholarships annually.
The ARLP is Australia’s longest and most in-depth experiential leadership development program giving participants a valuable opportunity to grow their leadership and create a network of change-makers to positively influence their organisations, industries, and communities across rural, regional and remote Australia. The iconic 15-month leadership development course builds leadership capacity and instils a set of values-based practices for individuals committed and ready to respond to regional, rural and remote Australia’s most complex challenges and biggest opportunities.
Each year’s program of activities is delivered across four sessions that are tailored to the cohort by considering the participant group’s demographics, their individual leadership objectives and current issues and events affecting their communities. The ARLF Fellowship that follows provides invaluable opportunities to connect and work with a professional network of more than 2,000 peers across the country.
Applications are now open for the Australian Rural Leadership Program — Course 30, closing 5 August with the cohort announced in February 2023.
Erin Lew Fatt lives in Darwin where she is the Chief Operating Officer of the not-for-profit Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT). Her responsibilities include representing AMSANT and its members at a local, regional and national level. Erin has been involved in the Aboriginal health sector for over 20 years and believes that by developing her leadership capabilities she will have a greater impact in her work and community.
“I am very passionate about advocacy and giving Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people a voice and being heard to make positive changes for our communities in the health and wellbeing space… Whilst I identify as an Aboriginal woman, I am also aware of my rich multicultural heritage through my bloodlines and that I am who I am because of my own experiences and upbringing. Working in Aboriginal health I have had the privilege to be amongst a diverse range of individuals and communities and learnt something from every one of them.”
Eugene Wong is the Director of Medical Services at Bundaberg Hospital where he is responsible for supporting front line staff. He previously worked in a similar role in Emerald and prior to that was the Assistant Director of Clinical Services for Apunimpima Cape York Health Community. He has worked as a rural doctor in Katherine, Longreach, Thursday Island and for the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Eugene sits on the Queensland Doctors Health Program Board.
“Rural, regional and remote Australians often have reduced access to health care relative to the city… My goal would be to have a long-term impact within the health system. Not just to make it more accessible and equitable, but a system that is safer for staff and more healing for patients… The impact of the COVID pandemic… has increased my conviction that we are overdue for healthcare to be done differently.
