Health Performance Council Board

The fifth term membership of the HPC has now been appointed. Board members are:

  • Professor Stephen Duckett AM, Chair
  • Deputy Chair - Dr Melanie Smith, Deputy Chair
  • Dr Daniel Tyson
  • Dr Diane Watson
  • Kae Martin
  • Professor Martin Hensher
  • Mohammad Al-Khafaji
  • Tanya Lehmann
  • Dr Jeremy Wellwood
  • Dr Melanie Smith
  • Monique Bareham

See information on each of the board members below.

Meeting minutes

Professor Stephen Duckett AM

Chair term: 2 February 2021 to 1 February 2029
Membership term: 2 February 2021 to 1 February 2029 

Stephen is an Honorary Enterprise Professor in the School of Population and Global Health and in the Department of General Practice at the University of Melbourne. He also chairs the Board of Eastern Melbourne Primary Health network. Stephen was Director of Grattan Institute’s Health and Aged Care Program and has held senior health care leadership positions in Australia and Canada.

Stephen has a reputation for creativity, evidence-based innovation and reform in areas as diverse as hospital funding (introduction of activity-based funding for hospitals) and quality (new systems of measurement and accountability for safety of hospital care).

Stephen is an economist with a Masters and PhD in Health Administration from the University of New South Wales and a higher doctorate, the DSc, awarded on the basis of his scholarly contributions, from the Faculty of Medicine of the same University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences and the Institute of Company Directors.

Dr Melanie Smith

Deputy Chair term: 1 June 2025 until 30 November 2027
Membership term: 1 December 2023 until 30 November 2027

Dr Melanie Smith is a GP working in private practice in Southern Adelaide and also with the SA Virtual Care Service. She is a passionate advocate for primary care and general practice in particular. Melanie is a past president of General Practice Registrars Australia, and is the current Deputy Chair of the SA Faculty of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and a Director of the Adelaide Primary Health Network. From 2020 to 2023 she worked in public health in COVID response, initially in the USA and subsequently within SA Health.

As a clinician, Melanie has particular interests in urgent care, palliative care and adolescent health. Prior to commencing her medical studies, Melanie was a software engineer and continues to utilise her skills as a Certified Health Informatician Australasia with particular interest in digital health innovation and health systems improvement.

Dr Daniel Tyson

Membership term: 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2028

Dan is the General Manager, Business Development at Ninti One Limited, a wholly Indigenous owned and managed research and advisory firm. Previously, Dan was Chief Executive Officer of Desert Knowledge Australia and Managing Director of the Desert Knowledge Research Institute in Alice Springs. These organisations aim to improve the well-being of Desert Peoples, support economic development, and work towards environmental sustainability in the desert regions of Australia.

Prior to joining Desert Knowledge Australia, Dan was Chief Executive Officer of Aboriginal community-controlled Sunrise Health Service Aboriginal Corporation based in Katherine, which provides comprehensive primary health and related services to 4,000 Aboriginal people in a large area immediately south of Arnhem Land. Along with having been a director of the peak body Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance of the Northern Territory (AMSANT), Dan was Vice-Chair of Katherine Regional Aboriginal Health and Related Services.

Dan continues as an independent Indigenous Member of the AMSANT Research Sub-Committee. Dan is currently a non-executive director of the national NGO 'Act for Kids Limited', and non-executive director of 'Youthrive Integrated Therapy Services'.

Dr Diane Watson

Membership term: 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2029

Dr Diane Watson is the Chief Executive of the Bureau of Health Information in NSW. She has led the establishment of three reporting agencies in Australia that use big data to drive decisions on healthcare provision nationally and locally. Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Agency for Health Information between 2016 and 2018. She was the inaugural and only Chief Executive of the National Health Performance Authority, established by the Australian Government in 2012 to monitor, and report on, the performance of 1000+ public and private hospitals and 300+ health regions. Dr Watson was the inaugural Chief Executive of the Bureau of Health Information from 2009 to 2012. She has held senior management positions for more than 25 years measuring, monitoring and reporting on the performance of healthcare systems to drive improvements in health, patient care and productivity.

Dr Jeremy Wellwood

Membership term: 1 December 2023 until 30 November 2027

Dr Jeremy Wellwood is the Executive Director of Brisbane’s Princess Alexandra Hospital, a tertiary health care centre nationally recognised for its expertise in trauma management, and a major transplantation centre.

Jeremy draws on his 25 years of clinical experience to provide values-based leadership with a focus on improving staff and patient experience.

Jeremy has a background as a Clinical and Laboratory Haematologist and developed his passion for Health Leadership when he led the development of tertiary cancer services on the Gold Coast

He subsequently completed his fellowship with the Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators and has worked in various tertiary positions such as Executive Director of Medical Services and Chief Operations Officer, Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service and as the Acting Chief Executive, Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service.

As a previous Executive Director for Research, Jeremy has a strong commitment to developing health research and evidence-based practice capability.

Kae Martin

Membership term: 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2028 

Kae Martin has worked over 40 years within the health and community services areas and has included roles within clinical, management, policy at health service (rural and metropolitan), regional and corporate levels.

Kae’s leadership and management style stems from a philosophy that views the people of the organisation as its greatest asset, tempered by the belief that business and customer services must be effective, efficient and afforded within the parameters and resources available. 

Kae has had extensive experience in strategic, capital and clinical service planning for a range of health and community programs across the continuum of care for public and non-government sectors.  This has included working with a range of public, private and non-government organisations in the development of specific programs. 

Kae has had a strong emphasis on the delivery of patient / resident / consumer centred care.  This has included strategically managing and supporting the development of governance systems to support clinical governance processes, community and consumer participation, strategic priority directions, regional policies and procedures and achieving Accreditation through systems such as Corporate EQUiP.

Professor Martin Hensher

Membership term: 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2028

Martin Hensher is the Henry Baldwin Professorial Research Fellow in Health Systems Sustainability at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research of the University of Tasmania. His research focuses on integrating the economic, environmental, and societal dimensions of improving the sustainability of health care systems. During the COVID-19 pandemic he has led work on estimating the likely impact of Long COVID in Australia, the application of digital technologies, and the problems of privatising knowledge in a pandemic.

Professor Hensher has over thirty years’ experience in health economics, planning and financing in the UK, Australia, Africa, Europe and Central Asia. He was the senior economic adviser in the South African National Department of Health and in the Department of Health England, before moving to Australia where he spent seven years as a Director in the Tasmanian Department of Health. He is a member of the South Australian Health Performance Council, a board member of Glenview Community Services, and is a search and rescue specialist with the Tasmanian State Emergency Service

Mohammad Al-Khafaji

Membership term : 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2029

Mohammad Al-Khafaji is the Head of Strategic Partnerships at SBS, and the former CEO of the Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA).

Fluent in three languages, Mohammad’s personal experiences as a former refugee from Iraq and as a migrant also mean he can uniquely relate to so many issues facing multicultural communities.

Mohammad helped establish the Australian Multicultural Health Collaborative, the national peak for multicultural health. He had served on the AdStandards community panel and the Federal Government’s Multicultural Framework Review Reference panel, and the Medical Research Future Fund Consumer Reference Panel. He is currently a member of DFAT’s Council for Australia Arab Relations.

Monique Bareham

Membership term 1 December 2023 until 30 November 2027.

Monique lives with lymphoedema following cancer treatment and was named South Australian Local Hero 2022, also receiving the Joy Noble Medal for her patient advocacy. Specifically, Monique was recognised for her tireless work which led to the launch of the South Australian Lymphoedema Compression Garment Subsidy Scheme in 2020. Monique is the driving force behind the Federal Parliamentary Friends of Lymphoedema co-chaired by Ms Louise Miller-Frost MP and Dr Monique Ryan MP, which aims to improve data collection on the prevalence of lymphoedema in Australia and access to affordable, evidence-based lymphoedema care.

Monique’s patient and carer advocacy is based on her own lived experience and extends to cancer survivorship, mental health, palliative care, and women’s health. Monique regularly collaborates on translational health research projects, contributes to Australian and International peer-reviewed journals, and provides lived-experience insights at forums, conferences, and advisory bodies. Much of her time is devoted to providing peer support and care navigation to consumers.

Monique’s professional career spanned the education and public sector, including teaching, curriculum coordinator, team leader, and manager roles.

Tanya Lehmann

Membership term: 1 June 2021 to 31 May 2029

Tanya Lehmann is the founding Director of Aurora Meliora Pty Ltd, a consulting business specialising in leadership development, strategic change and regional development. A country girl by upbringing and choice, and Dietitian by background, Tanya has 25 years’ experience in the provision, design, leadership and governance of rural health and aged care services for rural South Australians.

An active advocate for rural health, allied health and leadership development at state and national levels, Tanya is former Chair of the National Rural Health Alliance and an active Associate of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. From 2015–2018, as Regional Director of health and aged care services serving a population of over 65,000 people in a South Australian region, Tanya was responsible for the strategic leadership and governance of 12 hospitals (including 11 integrated residential aged care facilities); community aged care, nursing and allied health services; and two medical practices.

Whilst Regional Director, Tanya also led the development and implementation of an integral Performance Framework for all of country South Australia, which was recognised with an SA Health Award and invitation to speak at an international Wisdom Economies conference in Iceland.