Jeff Kennett: Gillard ideal for beyondblue’s next chapter
BEYONDBLUE is entering a new phase and former prime minister Julia Gillard is the ideal person to guide the organisation into the future, writes Jeff Kennett.
Opinion
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ON TUESDAY I announced the beyondblue board had decided unanimously that former prime minister Julia Gillard would succeed me as chair from July 1. The decision completes three years of preparation for the leadership succession at beyondblue.
JULIA GILLARD TO TAKE OVER AS CHAIR OF BEYONDBLUE
The organisation was established as a result of a question my then university student daughter Amy asked me in 1997 after two of her male friends in the Western District of Victoria had taken their own lives.
What could I do to prevent such deaths, she asked me. Not a bad question from a daughter to a father who had some influence at the time as premier of Victoria.
So began a search to find out more about suicide’s contributing factors — overwhelmingly depression, either emotional or clinical. In those days, not much focus was given to mental health. Those who worked in the sector were not given the recognition they deserved. Mental health was not treated equally with other components of health portfolios. So, in 2000, beyondblue was born.
Over the past 17 years the national discussion about mental health has change. Governments have given mental health a higher priority and many have created ministers for mental health.
All governments have allocated considerable funding to mental health and, as a result, we now have more open public discussion about stress, anxiety, depression, suicide and mental health issues.
The stigma around the subject has been greatly reduced. There is a lot more work to be done, of course, particularly on suicide prevention. It will take a long time to address decades of neglect of mental health issues, but we are making a good start.
Among the reasons for beyondblue’s success has been bipartisanship and high governance standards. That has given it access to political leaders, regardless of their politics, as well as industry and the public.
Beyondblue has become part of my DNA but about three years ago I realised it was time for a change of leadership. My board and I wanted a person committed to the mental health sector, someone who opposes discrimination, with a national standing and profile, one who could knock on any door in the country and have that door open and, of course, who is a good communicator.
Julia Gillard joined our board in mid-2014 and, having been raised by a father committed to his work as a psychiatric nurse, she has a natural attachment to the mental health sector and as prime minister introduced the National Disability Insurance Scheme, which is increasingly providing assistance and dignity to thousands.
Julia has been an important contributor to beyondblue, to the point that last year I asked her to succeed me as chair. She will become the first former prime minister to head a major community organisation since Malcolm Fraser launched CARE Australia in 1987. Leadership of beyondblue is not a nominal role, but a very active one that I know Julia will discharge with great vigour and dignity.
Importantly, her appointment reinforces the bipartisanship of beyondblue. It belongs to no one individual or political interest. It seeks only to serve.
I am excited about this appointment and what lies ahead for beyondblue. While there will be a transition period of three months before I stand down, I want to thank the many governments and politicians I have worked with over the past 17 years.
I want to thank the public and the media for how they have supported beyondblue to open our eyes to issues of stigma and discrimination that can cause and exacerbate mental health issues.
Specifically, I want to thank the board members who have assisted with their frank and constructive contributions — in particular, my deputy chair, Tim Marney, who has overseen so much of the detail that underscores our high level of governance.
I AM indebted, as is the community, to the four CEOs I have worked with and to beyondblue’s hundreds of dedicated staff members.
As I have often said, people on their own achieve nothing, or little; teams can, and beyondblue is the embodiment of that. It is a team of people who have come together and served those whose circumstances have not been given the attention they deserved.
Finally, on behalf of the tens of thousands beyondblue has helped, and those whose lives have been saved, I thank my daughter, Amy. Without her question, beyondblue would not exist.
A new chapter is about to begin for an organisation I am proud of and which is the most important role in my adult life to date, outside of family, and I am proud that of all the invitations Julia has received to join community organisations, she has chosen to lead beyondblue.
I am indebted to her and I thank my board for having the foresight to give beyondblue — and the community — such strong and committed leadership.
Have a good day.
Jeff Kennett is chair of beyondblue and a former premier of Victoria.
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