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The National Committee is the key governance body of UnitingCare Australia and is appointed by the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia.
The Committee's functions are informed by a range of national networks and working groups.
The role and responsibilities of the National Committee as delegated by the Assembly are to:
- develop and ensure the implementation of strategic directions for UnitingCare Australia
- discern and determine key priorities
- give oversight to the work of UnitingCare Australia, including the National Office and national working groups and networks
The National Committee membership comprises:
Peter Bicknell
Peter Bicknell is currently the Chair of UnitingCare Australia. He is also the chair of UnitingCare Wesley Port Adelaide, Council for the Care of Children, Portway Housing Association and Adelaide Brighton Cement Community Liaison Group. Peter was the Chief Executive Officer of UnitingCare Wesley Port Adelaide for fifteen years and has previously worked for the Department for Family and Community Services in Director roles.
Glenda Blakefield
Glenda is the Associate General Secretary of the National Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia. She comes to the role with varied experiences across the church; from working as a Presbytery minister with the responsibility for ministers, congregations and strategic planning needs of a region to the work of a congregation minister, concerned the pastoral, missional and life needs of people locally. Glenda has held a number of roles in the life of the church from the local level to the national level including Synod Mission funding committees, Standing committees of Synods and being a member of Synod and National Ministerial Education Boards. She presently sits on a number of committees throughout the church, including the body responsible for overseas Aid and Mission in the Uniting church and the Doctrine commission of the National Uniting Church.
Lin Hatfield Dodds
Lin Hatfield Dodds is the National Director of UnitingCare Australia. UnitingCare is the community service network of the Uniting Church. It is Australia's largest non-government provider of community services, providing support and services to children, young people and families, people with disabilities, and older Australians, in urban, rural and remote communities. Lin is President of the Australian Council of Social Service, and chairs the ACT Community Inclusion Board. She serves on the Boards of the Australia Institute and the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.Her contribution to the community was recognised by an International Women's Day Award in 2002, and in 2003 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study anti-poverty strategies and the delivery of welfare services in North America and Europe.
Anne Cross
Anne Cross is the Chief Executive Officer of UnitingCare Queensland. Prior to her appointment as CEO in November 2003, Anne was involved in various service development and change projects in disability and aged care across Australia and in Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand. She has over 30 years experience in health and community services and has worked for many years in senior positions in government and non-government organisations that provide rehabilitation and community services. Anne has served on various government and non-government boards, councils and committees. While most of her work has been Queensland based, Anne has also been in involved in projects, teaching and giving conference papers throughout Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Ireland, USA and Canada.
Harry Herbert
Rev. Harry Herbert is Executive Director of UnitingCare NSW.ACT which is the Synod Board in the Division of Social Responsibility. UnitingCare NSW.ACT is responsible for the work of social justice advocacy, community services, and chaplaincy within the NSW Synod. It manages some 70% of the total work in this area within the Synod and in 2006/7 had a financial turnover of $395 million. It also acts as the peak organisation for all other community service/social justice organisations within the Synod, including Lifeline, Wesley Mission, Parramatta Mission and the Exodus Foundation.
Harry also serves as the Chair of the NSW Responsible Gambling Fund, is a member of the board of the Legal Aid Commission of NSW, is Co-Chair of the AGL Customer Council, and recently served as a member of the Electricity Privatisation Committee of the NSW Government.
Raoul Spackman-Williams
Raoul has been in the position of Director, UnitingCare Victoria and Tasmania for 4 years and was formerly Community Services Co-ordinator with UCV&T. He has worked as coordinator of a neighbourhood house, a Uniting Church minister, project worker on a Uniting Church inner city project on poverty with parish mission and agencies. At Hotham Parish Mission as Mission Coordinator he was responsible for early childhood, youth and community aged services. With the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress he was responsible to the State Co-ordinator for the management of Congress business and outreach activities and coordinated work with church agencies on the Stolen Generation. He has served on Boards and committees of Macaulay Community Credit Cooperative, Kildonan Child and Family Services, emergency relief coalitions, community housing bodies, social planning coalitions, youth support schemes, supporting people with mental illness in the community and working on a better deal for asylum seekers.
Michaela Tiller
Michaela is currently the UnitingCare Synod Director in SA, a position she has held since 2005. Prior to taking up this position she was UnitingCare Synod Director in WA for 5 years from 2000-2004 and before this Minister at Kwinana Parish Mission for 3 years. Michaela has had a long involvement in Uniting Church committees at a state and national level as well as involvement in committees beyond the church. She has been a member of the UnitingCare Australia National Committee (and its predecessors) since 2000, was a member of the last National Assembly and is currently a member of the Assembly Church Polity Reference Committee.
John Dunn
Rev John Dunn is the Executive-Chairperson of the UnitingCare WA Board. The WA Board provides an opportunity for Synod Agencies to coordinate their work and to plan for future development of community service activities throughout Western Australia.John is a retired Minister of the Word who in retirement has worked for the past 4+ year as a counsellor and program manager within the alcohol and other drug area. He is a past Moderator of the Synod of WA; a past member of Assembly Standing Committee and various Assembly Committees. John has experience in ministry as a Synod Consultant (Mission and Justice); and in rural, remote, suburban and CBD based (Canberra and Darwin) congregational ministry. For 12 years John was an RAAF Chaplain and during that time worked in Defence Staff positions developing welfare policy and family sensitive programs for defence families. Throughout his ministry John has been involved in supporting and developing community & congregational based community service activities.
Daphne Read
Northern Territory Synod
Chris Hall
Chris is the CEO of West, based in Perth. UnitingCare West is a diverse organisation delivering services across the Perth metro area and beyond with a focus on providing supports and services to those who need them most. Chris has a long history of significant contribution to the community sector across Australia including as the first Director of the Uniting Missions Network and the CEO of Relationships Australia WA. Chris is President of the Western Australian Council of Social Services (WACOSS); Deputy Chair, WA Human Services Industry Round Table; Member, WA Social Inclusion Reference Group; Member, Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) Board of Governors; Member, Director General Department for Child Protection Community Sector Child Protection Advisory Group; Member, Director General Disability Services Commission Chief Executive Officers' Round Table; and Member, UnitingCare Western Australia Board.
Sue Park
Sue has been Chief Executive Officer of UnitingCare Wesley Adelaide since 2001. As CEO, Sue leads an organisation with an excellent record for service delivery and advocacy, across a wide range of the most challenging areas in SA. These include homelessness, violence and abuse, issues facing remote aboriginal communities, addictions, and poverty. Sue has been Chair of the Australian Council of Marriage Counselling Organisations, President of Family Services Australia, Chair of the (SA) Domestic Violence Service Advisory Committee, Member of the (SA) Ministerial Forum for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, Member of the (SA) Children's Protection Advisory Council, Member of the Board of SACOSS, and Chair of the SACOSS Debt Committee.
Keith Garner
Keith had a twenty-five year career in the Methodist Church in the UK before emigrating to Australia in 2004 to became the Superintendent/CEO of Wesley Mission Sydney. His links with Wesley Mission Sydney go back to working in mission projects in the UK with Sir Alan Walker. Keith was actively involved in supporting the initiative "Mission alongside the Poor" and "Churches Action against Poverty" in the UK. He chaired the North-West of England response to "Make Poverty History". Keith was minister at Elm Ridge in Darlington. Keith also hosts a weekly television program on Channel 9.
Vaughan Harding
Vaughan Harding was appointed as the Chief Executive of Uniting Church Homes (UCH) in 1992 following three years work to integrate nine separate aged care activities of the Uniting Church into one agency. UCH is one of the largest aged care organisations in WA, providing care and support services to 2,500 residents and clients in a variety of services in metropolitan and country Western Australia. Prior to this, Vaughan worked for the Commonwealth Government and undertook a variety of roles in Aviation, Industrial Relations, Foreign Affairs and Health and Ageing. Amongst other things, he was a key participant in the introduction of the Child Care Reforms in the 1980's and the Aged Care Reforms that followed a major review in 1986. Vaughan is currently chair of the Health and Community Policy forum for the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and a member of its General Council. He has been chair of Aged and Community Services WA as well as Vice President of Aged and Community Services Australia, the national peak body. He maintains an extensive network of key contacts both under the UnitingCare umbrella and across the aged care industry.
Jill Wilson
Jill Wilson has a strong national and international profile as a researcher and academic in social work and human service practice. An inaugural member of the Queensland Synod Commission for Community Service established at Union in 1977, Jill chaired the Commission for 10 years from 1996 to 2006. Jill is a Professor in the School of Social Work and Applied Human Sciences at the University of Queensland. Jill was recently appointed UnitingCare Chair in Social Policy & Research (a joint appointment with the University of Queensland). She has significant understanding of governance within the Church, having been Chair of the UnitingCare Board and previous commissions for about 15 years in the Queensland Synod. She has served on both Council of Synod and Synod in Session.
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