Eileen is the Business Development Manager forNTEX, her family-owned construction and demolition business that provides cutting-edge solutions in recycling and remanufacturing waste concrete and asphalt. She is also the co-founder of ecotourism venture Clove Tree Hill in Bali, Indonesia.
Eileen has an interest in circular economies and business sustainability initiatives and is currently completing a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Enterprise at Charles Darwin University as a pathway to an MBA. It’s already been a busy year for Eileen: winning the NT AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award and NTEX being shortlisted in the 2023 Australian Financial Review’s Sustainability Leaders roundup.
Clive works with the remote Warlpiri community of Lajamanu in the northern Tanami Desert. As a community development program manager, he oversees the delivery of youth diversion activities which are aligned with the Closing the Gap targets in health, education, and quality of life.
In applying to the ARLP, Clive said “… as a non-Indigenous person working in the remote Indigenous sector, I believe that leadership must strike a balance between advocacy, action and knowing when to step back to ensure there is space for Indigenous leaders to lead in their own right.”
The ARLP is the flagship program of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF). Completed over fifteen months, it is the most in-depth, cross-sectoral, national leadership program for rural, regional and remote Australians and produces leaders who can influence and advocate in authentic and ethical ways. With over 2000 alumni, the ARLP is building a network of people who are committed to fostering thriving communities and industries, where people work with one another and the environment around them; respectfully, boldly and intuitively.
Applications for the next intake, ARLP Course 31, open on 2 June and close 16 July 2023. Head to the ARLF website to register your interest, or shoulder tap a deserving colleague or friend for consideration. An Applicant Q&A Webinar will be held on 14 June (12.00pm-1.00pm AEST), featuring ARLP alumni and hosted by Matt Linnegar, ARLF Chief Executive. Register now.
TFFF is one of 26 scholarship partners making the program possible and accessible in 2023. If your organisation is interested in supporting a future untied ARLP scholarship, please visit the ARLF website.
In 2020, the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) quickly became concerned about the immediate and enduring impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and young people, particularly those already experiencing disadvantage. It moved to initiate the Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership (TQKP), a cross-sectoral coalition of not-for-profit, philanthropic, tertiary and government bodies all committed to improving health, education and family services systems that shape young lives.
TQKP systems change approach is catalysing much-needed change by bringing people and knowledge together for the benefit of all children and young people across Queensland.
“TQKP is bringing together organisations and leaders to translate experience and science, and draw on local wisdom and innovation in policy, programs and practice, while supporting capacity building across our diverse Queensland communities and workforces.”
— Michael Hogan
Convenor, TQKP
One initiative of TQKP is the Thriving Country Queensland Kids Collaborative, delivered with partners James Cook University (JCU) and Central Queensland University (CQU), and initially resourced by the TFFF and JVT. The Country Qld Kids Collaborative exists to support leaders, organisations and practitioners delivering child, youth and family health, development and wellbeing services and initiatives in rural, regional and remote Queensland.
Philanthropic support from TFFF and JVT includes funding for a dedicated Country Partnerships Officer, Jacinta Perry (pictured), who is based in Cairns and working from JCU. Jacinta is a community development professional with a passion for projects centred on community engagement, strong partnerships and local capacity building. She is an advocate for community-led solutions and has previously worked to support economic participation for refugees, youth and First Nations communities.
The John Villiers Trust CEO, Lea-Anne Bradley, said the Country Partnerships Officer was an important role as it would “put boots on the ground to connect regionally based organisations and communities with all that the Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership has to offer.”
Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership is working to ensure vulnerable children and youth can access the right supports, at the right time and in the right way, to break cycles of disadvantage in Queensland communities.
Feature photo by Russell Shakespeare.
The trip started with a morning visit to the Department of Education, before heading to Bulmba-ja Arts Centre to meet JUTE Theatre Company’s Chair Gillian Townsend, Artistic Director and CEO Suellen Maunder, and the whole office staff. The TFFF has been supporting JUTE’s Dare to Dream touring program since its pilot in 2016, and it was a welcome opportunity to reflect on the growth and success of the program over the past seven years.
After lunch, we ventured up to Kuranda to Youth Link’s drop-in centre which runs the TFFF-funded ‘Youth Cre8’ program. With operations impacted by COVID earlier in the year, it was wonderful to see the centre alive with young people and activity again — after even a quick visit it was apparent that Youth Link continues to play an important role in the remote community.
In August this year, TFFF was proud to approve three-year pilot funding for Queensland’s world-renowned Circa Contemporary Circus, to launch a First Nations-led regional imprint of the company called Circa Cairns. The evening of 2 November 2022 marked the official in-person launch of Circa Cairns and the world premiere of its inaugural production From Old Things, the invention of Creative Lead Harley Mann (Wakka Wakka) and Circa Cairns ensemble artists Ally Humphris, Crystal Stacey and Margot Mansfield. TFFF was touched to be acknowledged as part of the Welcome to Country and extends our thanks the Traditional Custodians of Gimuy (Cairns) and Circa Cairns for their hospitality.
Day two began with a drive along the coastline to Wangetti Beach, where Cape York Girl Academy is located. A previous grant recipient of Ningana Trust, the Academy is Australia’s first boarding high school designed for young Indigenous mothers and their babies to live and learn together. It is an initiative of Cape York Partnership, which has 10 entities working on the ground in the Cape and Cairns to empower First Nations families and communities to break the cycle of disadvantage. Over tea and coffee served by students completing hospitality training, CEO Fiona Jose explained the Partnership’s strategy to create an ecosystem that ensures Indigenous young people have a life of opportunity to look forward to.
TFFF’s last meeting was with Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth-led not-for-profit with a mission to inspire, equip and empower young people to take action and change the world.
As our final instra-state visit for 2022, it was a pleasure to spend time in the tropics, reconnect with organisations that we share a rich history with, and make some new and inspiring connections.
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.
