Welcome from the SLAM Chair

Welcome to the first edition of the Section of Leadership and Management (SLAM) newsletter for 2025. In this issue, you will find:

• Introductions and background on the SLAM bi-national committee
• An obituary honouring Associate Professor Peter McGeorge
• Jurisdictional updates including an update on the NSW Psychiatrist workforce crisis
• Exciting news on the Victorian Psychiatrist Leadership Framework going bi-national
• Recommendations for books, reports, films, TV series and podcasts about leadership

A special thanks to Dr Nick O’Connor for stepping in as editor of the SLAM newsletter, and to all committee members for their valuable contributions.

Currently, the SLAM committee is focussed on engaging our members in all aspects of leadership and management through this newsletter, local events, podcasts and preparations for 2026 Congress. We are also collaborating with the Section of Early Career Psychiatrists – so stay tuned! We are thrilled to be taking the Victorian Psychiatrist Leadership Framework to the bi-national membership and look forward to working with the VIC Branch through this transition. 

I am always keen to hear from you so please reach out if you would like to get more involved or if you would like to let us know what else SLAM could be doing for its members.

Lyn Chiem
SLAM Chair

The SLAM Chair can be contacted via - membership@ranzcp.org

The SLAM Bi-national Committee

Matt Brittain

Matt Brittain is a strategist and advocate with more than 20 years’ experience across health, mental health, government, and community sectors. He has held senior and principal advisor roles in Aotearoa and the Pacific, leading national service design initiatives and complex change programmes across mental health, social services, and housing. Most recently, he served as National Manager of Lived Experience at Emerge Aotearoa, one of New Zealand’s largest NGOs, where he led a national team focused on systemic advocacy, policy influence, and service improvement. His governance experience includes roles with Atareira, Balance Aotearoa, and the Neighbourhood Support Trust, with a consistent focus on equity, mental health, and community wellbeing. As Director of Neurodivergent Ltd., Matt designs and delivers tailored coaching, facilitation, and service design for organisations seeking to build capability, and values-based innovation. He also contributes a lived experience perspective to several RANZCP committees and working groups. 

Matt’s important leadership learning?

“There’s a difference between ordained and authentic leadership – true leadership doesn’t rely on authority.”

Helen McGowan
    
Helen is Head of Service for the Mother Baby Unit at King Edward Memorial Hospital, Perth and WA representative on the national AMA Mental Health Committee.

Helen’s previous roles include statewide WA Clinical Lead for the WA Mental Health Network (2014-2021) and Clinical Director for Older Adult Mental Health Services in North Metro Health Service (2005-2022). During the past 20 years Helen has been a keen advocate for better and more integrated mental health services for consumers and their families in WA and worked on multiple senior advisory groups for WA and national Mental Health groups.  Helen has been on the WA Branch RANZCP executive including Chair and on a number of binational RANZCP committees and advisory groups.  

Helen’s important leadership learning?

“I worked with a senior Business academic (Prof Fran Ackermann), and we researched the value of high-quality networks. I also learned from Fran the value of novel software and facilitation approaches that support collaboration with diverse stakeholder groups. When key stakeholders (including carer, consumers, NGOs, public sector and different professions) develop a shared and nuanced understanding of a complex system (like mental health) and work together to identify strategic priorities, the system becomes much more aligned, collaborative and effective.”

Associate Professor Robert Parker

Associate Professor Robert Parker is the Director of Psychiatry for Top End Mental Health services in the Northern Territory as well as being the Consultation Liaison Psychiatrist for Royal Darwin Hospital. He is a previous Chair of SLAM. He has had a number of previous roles in the RANZCP being the Chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health Committee and the Chair of the Board of the Professional and Community Relations. Robert has had an active role in the Australian Medical Association over many years and was President of the NT Branch of the Association from 2014 to 2025. 

Rob’s important leadership learning?

Bob Marley, syphilis and the power of letters: Professor Robert Parker on a decade leading doctors in the NT embed link to Aus Doc article 7 July 2025. 

Vale Associate Professor Peter McGeorge

It was with deep sadness that we learnt of the passing of Associate Professor Peter McGeorge QSO on 27 March 2025.

As one of the most visionary and compassionate leaders in mental health care across Australasia, Peter dedicated his life to transforming services for some of the most vulnerable populations in both New Zealand and Australia. He was the Chair of the New Zealand Mental Health Commission from 2008 to 2010, Director of the St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney Inner City Health Program from 2010 to 2016, the inaugural Medical Director of Uspace at St Vincent’s Private Hospital from 2011 to 2013, Clinical Lead for the NSW Health Pathways to Community Living Initiative between 2014 and 2018 and then Medical Director of Mental Health and Addiction Services for the Mid-Central District Health Board from 2020 to 2023. He was also affiliated with several NGOs – in New Zealand, as Chair and Patron of the New Zealand Mental Health Foundation and as founder and Chair of the Youth Horizons Trust and in Australia, a board member of the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (now Flourish) and the Wayside Chapel. Internationally, he was a board member and Oceania Regional Vice-President of the World Federation for Mental Health, a board member of the International Mental Health Collaborating Network and a Senior Associate of the International Foundation for Integrated Care.

Peter’s legacy is etched into the very fabric of the systems he helped shape. He led with heart and intellect, combining clinical brilliance with rare humility and kindness. His extraordinary ability to connect with consumers and their families, professionals and policymakers alike made him a beloved and trusted figure across many communities and led to his influence stretching far beyond his formal roles.  He was a man of both vision and action, whose work continues to touch lives daily through the programs and services he championed. Above all, Peter will be remembered not only for what he accomplished, but for how he made people feel valued, heard and cared for. His warm presence and unwavering commitment to justice made him not just a great psychiatrist and leader, but a remarkable human – one of a kind. 

The Victorian Psychiatrist Leadership Program Framework is going bi-national

Psychiatrist Leadership Framework – Purpose and Structure

The Victorian Psychiatrist Leadership Framework (VPLF) defines the skills, behaviours, and values essential for leadership in psychiatry, from early career through to senior roles. Co-designed with lived experience partners and psychiatrists across Victoria, the framework supports reflective, inclusive, and ethical leadership across complex systems. At its core is Leading Self, surrounded by three key domains: Co-Leadership (empathy, collaboration, cultural humility), Leading Ethically (medical expertise, ethics, and legal literacy), and Leading Complex Systems (team leadership, governance, strategy, and change). Five supporting practices - reflective learning, experiential learning, feedback, mentoring, and self-care – underpin all aspects. The framework is available online alongside CPD-accredited learning modules and is being positioned for national use through SLAM.

SLAM WA session - June 2025

The Victorian Psychiatry Leadership Framework (VPLF) was presented at the SLAM WA meeting in Perth and online in June 2025. The session drew strong attendance and engagement from SLAM members across jurisdictions. It generated robust discussion about the future of psychiatric leadership and the importance of values-based, inclusive approaches to leading in complex systems. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with participants affirming the framework’s relevance beyond Victoria. Read more.

Progress toward a bi-national framework

Following a request by the Victorian branch and endorsement by SLAM at the AGM in 2024, the VPLF is now being positioned as a bi-national leadership framework for psychiatrists across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. SLAM has formally taken carriage of the framework’s stewardship, with a view to supporting its continuous improvement and implementation across training, CPD, and leadership development.

Integration into the Fellowship Program

Conversations are underway between SLAM and the College’s Education Committee to explore how the framework aligns with the CanMEDS Leader role and could support curriculum renewal. The initial focus is on how trainees and early-career psychiatrists can use the framework to guide reflective practice and shape their leadership development.

Next steps and how SLAM members can get involved

Implementation is being supported by a new CPD-accredited learning pathway: Effective Leadership in Psychiatry (8 hours), which includes modules on empathetic and collaborative leadership and a downloadable learning journal. SLAM members interested in piloting the framework locally, particularly with advanced trainees or early-career psychiatrists, are encouraged to reach out. Your insights will help test and refine its application across different settings. Two companion Psych Matters podcasts are also in the pipeline, exploring power, privilege, and ethical leadership.

Jurisdictional updates

An update on the NSW public psychiatry workforce crisis

The College has been voicing concerns about the lack of funding and development of NSW Mental Health Services for more than 10 years. In March 2023 the RANZCP NSW Branch published the report NSW Mental Health System on the brink. This survey of more than 1,200 frontline mental health workers described a system in crisis due to workforce vacancies, underfunding of community mental health, fragmented services and unmet need. In October 2023 the RANZCP NSW Branch, the AMA and ASMOF wrote a joint letter to the Minister for Health and the Minister for Mental Health advising of the deteriorating situation and proposing a number of urgently required actions. NSW psychiatrists were increasingly frustrated with the relentless progression of the psychiatric workforce crisis and the lack of response from NSW Health and the Government. The Branch collected and monitored data including the vacancy rates in LHDs and the escalation of VMO contractor use to the point of bidding wars between LHDs.

This workforce crisis had arisen due to a confluence of circumstances but most importantly due to: the wage cap on health service salaries imposed over 10 years by NSW Liberal governments; a lack of central workforce planning and complete abrogation of responsibility and leadership by NSW Health; and the lack of commitment to properly fund mental health services according to population need, especially community mental health services. NSW has not implemented a comprehensive strategic development plan for mental health services for more than 15 years.

Despite repeated attempts by the NSW Branch to engage in genuine dialogue with NSW Health, the government made several lame and inflammatory offers for resolution which were duplicitously presented to the media as reasonable. These included claiming that the State could not afford to meet one of the psychiatrists’ demands, a 25% pay increase, when NSW Health was paying out more than this to prop up the system with VMO locums. The government stated that they had offered the psychiatrists a 10.5% pay rise but this had been rejected. They were disingenuously referring to an offer to all staff specialists to be paid over 3 years. This had been roundly rejected by staff specialists across all specialties. The Premier then made allegations about the high level of salary enjoyed by psychiatrists in an attempt to paint psychiatrists as a bunch of greedy doctors. The Premier also incorrectly stated that the RANZCP had been controlling and capping the number of new registrar training positions.

The matter was then referred to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) for determination, the Government saying that it would accept “the referee’s decision”. At the initial directions hearing in January 2025, the Ministry of Health lawyers despite several weeks’ notice were not prepared and requested a delay. A full bench hearing was set to commence in mid-March.

At Budget Estimates on 14 March 2025 NSW Health and Minister Jackson were unable to provide the cost of using VMO locums to cover the gaps in services due to vacancies and resignations, although it is inconceivable that NSW Health had not at least made estimates. Yet when NSW Health was subsequently questioned in the IRC hearings about the relative cost of the VMO workforce compared with that of staff specialists they again prevaricated and refused to provide answers. When the Commission asked the Ministry’s Director of Finance the same question he responded to the Commission that the matter was “cabinet in confidence”.

At the IRC hearing to listen to expert witness testimony, legal counsel for NSW Health dragged out a lengthy and ultimately pointless attack on the credentials and expertise of Professor John Buchanan, health economist and workforce industrial relations expert, and beyond doubt the foremost authority on health professional wage claims in NSW. We also heard from a NSW Treasury economist that meeting the staff specialist psychiatrist pay rise would be immaterial to the State budget. 

At the IRC hearing for summations on 19 June, the Ministry’s legal counsel failed to convincingly rebut ASMOF’s case and made no substantive argument other than the psychiatry workforce crisis being a national phenomenon and that the pay rise sought was not within the NSW Government’s budgetary capacity. There had been an ABC 4 Corners documentary on the NSW Psychiatry workforce crisis after the expert testimony session but prior to the summations session. After some legal argument, reference to the Chief Psychiatrist saying to 4 Corners that he supported the psychiatrists’ pay claim was deemed inadmissible.

The IRC is now working to produce its findings. 

Whatever the determination of the IRC, the behaviour of NSW Health, the Minister and the Premier has undermined trust and goodwill. By its actions in responding to the crisis and its rhetoric at the Commission hearings, NSW Health has shown a failure to understand its own labour market and the vital role it has in building and developing the current and future health professional workforce. 

The ripples from these failures will continue to impact everything from registrar training to patient safety and public confidence until the issues are resolved. 

We are hoping for a fair determination from the Industrial Relations Commission, but for resolution of this crisis, a new response from the Ministry will also be required. If the Ministry and Government want psychiatrists to stay and new, young and committed psychiatrists to enter the system, there will need to be a healing of relations, restoration of respect and trust, and commitment to investing in services.

Nick O’Connor, Victor Storm, Beth Kotze, Lyn Chiem, Scott Clark
July 2025

Jurisdictional update – Aotearoa New Zealand

New Zealand is currently progressing the repeal and replacement of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992—an important shift toward rights-based, person-centred care. The new Bill has a proposed commencement date of 1 July 2027.  From a lived experience perspective, this is a rare and significant opportunity to reshape the mental health system in ways that honour dignity, choice, and cultural safety. Central to this transformation is a commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the leadership of Māori in designing systems that reflect the aspirations of whānau, hapū, and iwi. 

Jurisdictional update – Western Australia

WA SLAM organised a recent symposium and networking event on Saturday June 7th which was organised and facilitated by Dr Helen McGowan (WA SLAM representative). More than 30 people attended in person or online and included Psychiatrists with significant breadth and depth of leadership experience. Many thanks to our distinguished panellists and presenters - A/Prof Simon Stafrace (Victorian RANZCP Branch Chair), Dr Astha Tomar (RANZCP President), Dr Elizabeth Moore (immediate past RANZCP President), Dr Nathan Gibson (WA Chief Psychiatrist), Dr Sophie Davison (Australian CMO - Mental Health), Dr Muru Nidyananda (WA Branch Chair for RANZCP) and Dr Matt Coleman (recently awarded the RANZCP Margaret Tobin Award for his significant contribution to leadership and management in psychiatry). The focus was on leadership in Psychiatry that supports current and emerging leaders that is ethical, collaborative, collective and distributed with the aim of improving influence of Psychiatry and quality of mental health care for the community. 
 
The Victorian Psychiatry Leadership Framework was presented by Simon and Astha and provided a focus for consideration of best practice leadership and practical ways to utilise and implement these principles. It was heartening to engage with such a diverse, passionate and distinguished group who shared their experience so generously and value excellence in leadership. All of the attendees are already making important contributions to leadership in mental health in a diversity of roles and jurisdictions. Their contributions are greatly appreciated, and we hope that SLAM can find better ways to support excellence in leadership and help our colleagues find satisfaction and a sense of purpose when taking on or supporting leadership roles.

Books, Films and Podcasts

If you would like to recommend a book/report, film/TV series, or a podcast that casts light on leadership, management or organisational culture, drop a line to the Editor SLAM Newsletter: njxoconnor37@gmail.com 

Have you listened to this?

The RACMA Safeguarding Healthcare podcast series.

Atul Gawande: The Global Health Crisis on The Rest is Politics Leading podcast.

Marc Lipsitch: Are We Prepared for the Next Pandemic? On Sam Harris’ Making Sense podcast.

Have you seen this?

The Psychiatry Supply and Demand Study (Australian Government Department of Health Disability and Ageing). The Psychiatry Supply and Demand Study is a health workforce model that projects the supply and demand of Australia's psychiatrists over a 25-year period from 2024 to 2048. The study also produces a level of unmet demand using the National Mental Health Service Planning Framework v4.3 (NMHSPF). The model has been designed to simulate complex scenarios to support planning and analysis of the psychiatry workforce. 

Have you read this?

The AI Con. How to Fight Big Tech and Create the Future We Want. Emily Bender and Alex Hanna 2025 Penguin. This book is a detailed account of the impact and implications of big tech moving into health, education and politics.

Next Edition

Keep in touch and any contributions to the newsletter (articles, news, reading, films or photographs) much appreciated and wanted!

Contact: Dr Nick O’Connor, Editor
njxoconnor37@gmail.com