Final planning is under way for the 2013 Catholic Health Australia national conference, to be held from August 26-28 at the Pullman Melbourne Albert Park. With the theme "Meeting the Challenge", we are excited to already have commitments from a number of outstanding speakers, including leaders in health care from across the globe. Click here to view a preliminary program for the conference.

Exhibitors and sponsors are scrambling for their chance to be involved with the conference, so make sure you get in quick to avoid being disappointed. The Catholic Health Australia National Conference is a unique event -- the only time each year when all the Catholic health, aged and community care providers come together in one place.

Click here to find out more about CHA and the Catholic Health Australia network

Click here to view sponsorship opportunities

Click here to download an intention to exhibit form

Click here to view an exhibition area floor plan of the Pullman

For more information on the 2013 CHA National Conference, please feel free to contact me on 02 6203 2777 or via the website

-- Angela Lowe, CHA Meetings & Events Manager

Welcome to the 2013 CHA Governance Conference

Trustees, board directors, sponsors and senior executive staff of Catholic health, aged care and human service organisations are the guardians and stewards of the healing ministry of Jesus.

Following on from the success of our 2011 Governance Conference, Catholic Health Australia (CHA) is pleased to invite these guardians and stewards to an important gathering to continue our examination of how Catholic organisations are governed now and into the future.

Catholic Health Australia's two-day conference, themed "Stewards of the Mission", is being held at Sydney's famous Manly beach. It will explore the evolving governance structures of health and human service organisations within the Catholic Church in Australia, and especially look ahead to the next 10 years and seek to provide valuable opportunities to consider how those organisations will develop over that period.

The conference will hear from speakers who include leaders from within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, the Catholic health and aged care community, the Catholic social service and Catholic education sectors, as well as experienced experts in governing and running Catholic organisations.

We are very excited to be able to announce that His Excellency Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, the president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers, will attend and address the gathering. Canon lawyer Sr Mary Wright, IVBM, of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, will also share her wisdom with conference delegates.

The conference is suited to lay, religious and clergy alike who work in or are interested in the governance of small or large Catholic human service organisations. The conference is particularly relevant to those working in Catholic services beyond the boundaries of health and aged care.

Please join us in Manly on April 15 and 16, 2013. As stewards of this very important mission, our time together is sure to be a helpful tool as we look ahead to the next 10 years of governance and leadership.

-- Martin Laverty, Catholic Health Australia CEO

Conference presentations

To read the discussion paper that informed conference proceedings, click here.

Click on the links below to access copies of the PowerPoint presentations of speakers at the conference:

Sr Annette Cunliffe

Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski

Fr Joe Parkinson

Fr Gerry Arbuckle

Fr Noel Connolly

Sr Mary Wright

Susan Pascoe

Br John Henry Thornber

Panel Session One

Panel Session Two

Message from the Conference Manager...

We have just completed another successful Catholic Health Australia national conference, welcoming more than 300 delegates to Perth. We are pleased to have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from those who were able to attend, and planning is already underway for the 2013 national conference, which will be held in Melbourne from August 26 to 28. Mark your calendars now!

Many of the speakers who gave presentation at the conference have provided material they used in their address to share with those who attended and those who weren't able to attend. Click here to access the presentations below.

-- Angela Lowe, Meetings & Events Manager

Leading change in health care services: Dr Fiona Wood

Leading quality improvement in community aged care: Marise Goddard-Jones, Iain Scott, Tina Magennis

Fostering research that leads to clinical improvements: Prof Peter Leedman

Leading staff to embrace Gospel values: Sue Ash, Tony Pietropiccolo

Leading care for older Australians: Barbara Horner, Glenn Rees

Leading the role of performance, measurement and reporting: Michael Greco

Leading the pastoral dimension -- do we care enough?: Sr Maryanne Confoy

Strategies for becoming leading first-choice providers: Pat Sparrow, Graeme Prior, Stephen Besci 1, Stephen Becsi 2

Leading edge hospital projects: Brad Sebbes, Basil Vogas

Leading the pastoral dimension of care: Making the vision concrete: Jan Horsnell, Eleanor Roderick

Leading innovation in mental health care: Margo Lydon, Assoc Prof Caroline Zanetti

Who's leading the way in new media? Melissa Sweet, Ian Grisold, Fiona Clark

Leading for justice in health care: Fr Frank Brennan, Catherine Garner, Julie Morgan

Leading innovations in Catholic residential care construction and design: Stephen Cornelissen, Paul Walsh & Ian Sanders

How leaders of health and aged care can tackle efficient pricing: James Downie, Cam Ansell

Leading discernment in the mission of service: Chris Lowney, Maria Harries

Experts in aged care from government, Catholic Health Australia, the CHA membership and other aged care organisations will be among those speaking at "Countdown to reform -- residential and community care", an aged care forum being hosted by Catholic Health Australia in Sydney on July 17 and 18. The forum will cover a range of issues CHA members will need to understand ahead of the implementation of aged care reforms, including accommodation payment guidelines, the Workforce Supplement, the new fees and charges regime, the Gateway and consumer-directed care operating guidelines. Click here to view the program for the two days and to register for the forum.

Please note: This forum was originally scheduled for June 3-4, but was postponed due to the unexpected delay in progress of aged care legislation currently before Parliament. Those who registered for the June dates will be automatically registered for the dates in July.