John Allwright Memorial Address

Mr John Allwright AO, was a man of vision, determination and courage. He was one of the founders of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and President of the National Farmers’ Federation. He was also a fighter who strongly believed in the future of agriculture and in its ability to play an even greater role in the national economy.

John Allwright had the vision to become involved in instigating a Foundation that worked to develop and inspire leaders to make a difference in their communities and industries, at local national and international levels. He passed away on 5 March 1994.

Townsville Leadership in the Tropics

The John Allwright Memorial Address was delivered by Professor Sandra Harding, Vice Chancellor James Cook University on Friday 16 September 2011 in Townsville as part of the Australian Rural Leadership Program's graduation.

Sandra Harding

Thank you for the opportunity to present the John Allwright Memorial Address for 2011.

I suppose I did what most would do when invited to deliver an address named after a distinguished Australian. I looked to John’s example. I learnt about his commitment to rural Australia. I could easily admire his determination to ensure that Australia was served well through his own rural leadership and his support of others’. John Allwright was a great Australian and it is appropriate that we honor his memory through an occasion such as this.

Of course, my next challenge was to consider what I might say to you. Many of you will have had a very much longer and deeper experience with rural, regional and remote Australia than I have. You will have well-formed views about the challenges and opportunities, the possibilities and the potentials, the risks and the irrelevancies for regional Australia.

Now, I'm originally a Melbourne girl who left Melbourne at age 17 to study at the Australian National University in Canberra. From there I went to Brisbane, from Brisbane to the United States, from United States - with time undertaking research in Europe from that base, back to Brisbane and from Brisbane to Townsville and Cairns. You would be quite correct to conclude that my regional leadership credentials, if I have any at all, feature wet paint - though rapidly drying, I'd like to think.

That said, here we are and all I can do is share with you my views, such as they are.

I will first tell you a little about James Cook University, positioning this personally, to make the case for high quality, regionally based, higher education. I realize that, on this, I am probably speaking to the converted, but there is a tendency in the general debate to imagine that world class education and research can somehow only reside in capital cities – a notion peculiar to Australia – think about elite colleges and universities in the US, with the vast majority located in regional towns. With our peculiar Australian assumption, we risk setting a low bar for regional education and research and this puts the future of regional Australia at risk.

Then I will speak of a related challenge for us - about what it will take to achieve the development of 21^st century regional economies.

My views on these things have been forged here in northern Queensland, but I hope they may be relevant beyond this particular geography.

Alice Springs - Keynote Address

The John Allwright Memorial Address was delivered by Associate Professor Sabina Knight on Friday 17 September 2010 in Alice Springs as part of the Auatralian Rural Leadership Program's graduation.

Sabina Knight

Sabina Knight has been recognised by academic and professional colleagues, and by the Government, as a pre-eminent leader of national and international standing in the field of remote and rural health.

Evidence of this includes her appointment as one of only ten commissioners to the National Health and Hospital Remote Commission tasked with re engineering the health system of Australia’s future.

Sabina was the only remote health representative, the only nurse, and the only Northern Territorian on this commission. She also has a sustained leadership track record in her profession, past president of the Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia, now CRANA plus the national professional body for remote health. She was the convener of the Central Australian Remote Practitioners Association (CARPA), is a Director of the Rural Health Education Foundation, and was a member of the Deputy Prime Minister’s Regional Woman’s Advisory Council.

Sabina was appointed to the Australian Government’s Rural and Remote Advisory Committee, the Australian Government’s Rural and Remote Nurse Scholarship Advisory Committee, the NT Minister’s Health Advisory Committee and was invited to participate in the Australia 2020 Summit in the long term health strategy stream.

Sabina is a Fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, holds a Nursing Certificate, a Master of Tropical Health from the University of Queensland, and has been the recipient of a Centenary Medal and two awards for excellence and leadership – the Ariotti Award and the CRANA Aurora Award.

Sabina is passionate about rural vitality, social justice issues broadly, and reconciliation in particular.

Social Inclusion & Leadership

Written by Wendy McCarthy AO

This address was delivered by Wendy McCarthy AO in the House of Representatives Chamber, Old Parliament House Canberra for the gala event of the International Leadership Alumni Conference 2008.

Wendy McCarthy AO runs her own corporate advisory practice McCarthy Management specialising in providing mentors to major corporations and the public sector, assisting these organisations with issues around diversity, leadership and work life balance. She has published many articles and is the author of five books, she enjoys public speaking and is an experienced speaker and facilitator.

Thank you for that warm welcome Paul. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land here in Canberra, the Ngunnawal people and put on the record how much I learned when Chancellor of University of Canberra of their importance to their local community. Without their leadership and advocacy we wouldn't have a Ngunnawal Centre which helps us ensure that we graduate instead of just recruiting Indigenous students.

Let me also acknowledge John Allwright and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. When I read his story I thought what an iconic piece of writing it was about one person deciding to make changes. And perhaps many of you would not know that the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation was the model for the Australian Indigenous Leadership Program (AILP). I was responsible for raising the financial support from Citibank for AILP whose objective was and is to produce the next generation of Indigenous leaders in Australia. One of the Rural Foundation graduates, Russell Taylor, was one of the driving forces in establishing the Indigenous Leadership program. John Allwright may have been surprised to know how far his influence spread.

Tonight I am going to talk about social inclusion and leadership in communities. Leadership comes in all ways if communities make it possible. I will begin with a story of leadership denied. It is a precious story connected to this building we now call Old Parliament House.

Fear of Flying: Living in the Leadership Leap

This address was delivered by JD Dunbar at the 2007 ARLF/AVCLP Leadership Forum 'Doing Leadership Differently' in Beechworth.

JD Dunbar is the Chief Executive Officer of the Pennsylvania State Rural Leadership Program. She has held that position for 18 years.

Robert Frost: “I am not a teacher. I am an awakener.”
Consider me your Yankee wake up call, the token conference accent.
Good day, great day, immense leaders, stellar leaders, advocates for agriculture and rural Australia. It is raining, blessedly. This is my third adventure somewhere over the rainbow. My virgin voyage was in 1999, on the cusp of the millennium, when you expanded my worldview commensurate with a cataclysmic cultural awakening. I am peacock proud and hyena happy to be in Australia with you.

Crying Out For Leadership

This address was delivered by Keith deLacy (Former Chairman, Queensland Sugar) at the Foundation Network Conference in Cairns, August 2006.

CRYING OUT FOR LEADERSHIP
Free Trade – where good politics and good sense go their separate ways

It is my pleasure to present to the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation. In Australia, and around the world, there is always someone there, but are they leaders?

There is so much difference between a politician and a leader. A politician may be able to read the political tea leaves, and remain in power. But a leader makes a difference.

Everywhere we are crying out for leaders. That’s why I have chosen this topic. If there was anywhere that we needed leadership, it is in global trade negotiations. Yet sadly, it has been taken over by politicians.

The great enigma in the free trade debate, and by that I mean the case for the liberalisation of trade and opening up of economies, is that it is so easy to make in an intellectual sense, yet so hard in a political sense. That’s why we need leadership.

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John Allwright Memorial Address

Townsville Leadership in the Tropics

Alice Springs - Keynote Address

Sabina Knight

Social Inclusion & Leadership

Fear of Flying: Living in the Leadership Leap

Crying Out For Leadership

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