Shepparton Villages were good enough to host the group at the Rodney Park Activity & Social Centre in Mooroopna. The Cohort heard from:

Kevin Bertram – CEO, Shepparton Villages
Jeanette Ryan – Executive Manager Care Services, Shepparton Villages
Leigh Rhodes – Director Community & Integrated Care, Goulburn Valley Health
Paul Stolz – CEO, Evolve at Typo Station
Beth Wilson – Victorian Health Services Commissioner
Bill Brown – Area Manager, Goulburn Valley Area Mental Health Services

The Academy of Sport, Health and Education (with the University of Melbourne) hosted the group in Shepparton yesterday, starting with:

Justin Mohamed (FF’97) – Chairman, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative and Director, Academy of Sports, Health and Education, University of Melbourne
Adrian Appo (FF’97), Executive Officer, Ganbina
Cynthia Scott, GV Health
Meagan O’Shannessy via Ganbina
David Murray via Ganbina

This was followed by the Fairley Leadership 2nd Annual Indigenous Dinner. Guest speaker Paul Briggs (President, Rumbalara Football Netball Club, Co Chair Indigenous Leadership Network Victoria, CEO Koori Resource and Information Centre, Council Fellow, University of Melbourne) discussed the challenges faced by the region’s Indigenous communities and how these things create challenges for the region’s community as a whole. He advocated building trust and working together to create a future we’d all be happy to share.

Goulburn-Murray Water hosted the group in Tatura today. The Cohort heard from:
Professor Snow Barlow – Professor of Horticulture and Viticulture, Associate Dean (Strategic Relationships), School of Land & Environment, University of Melbourne
John Pettigrew – Environmental Farmers Network & Ambassador for Al Gore’s Climate Change Project
Bill O’Kane – CEO, Goulburn Broken Catchment Management Authority
Dr Anne Graesser – Manager of Natural Resources, Goulburn-Murray Water

This year Leadership Victoria again invited us to spend our first day on the Melbourne trip in the company of 10 other leadership programs from all over Victoria. We spent the second day on our own. Day One was held at the MCG and made up of speakers and panels consisting of:

The Hon Peter Batchelor MP – Minister for Community Development, Minister for Energy and Resources, Manager of Government Business (Legislative Assembly)
The Hon John Brumby MP – Premier of Victoria
Paul Ramadge – Editor-in-Chief, The Age
Justin Hanney – Chief Executive, Regional & Rural Development Victoria, Department of Industry, Innovation & Rural Development
Melissa Noonan – Executive Officer, Limbs4Life
Lindsay Gaze OAM – Member-Australian Basketball Hall of Fame, Associate Member-Sport Australia Hall of Fame
Simon McKeon - Executive Chairman Melbourne Office, Macquarie Group Limited

We left the other programs behind to visit Mission Australia’s Charcoal Lane Restaurant in Fitzroy end ended the day by sharing dinner with Loddon Murray Community Leadership.

On day two we struck out on our own, starting with Parliament House:
The Hon Wendy Lovell MP – Member for Northern Victoria, Shadow Minister for Country Victoria, Housing and Children & Early Childhood Development, Manager of Opposition Business, Deputy Leader of the Parliamentary Liberal Party (Legislative Council)
Ted Baillieu MP – Leader of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party and the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition, Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister for the Arts
Julian Burnside QC – Advocate for Human Rights
Bernie Geary OAM – Child Safety Commissioner

The Shire of Strathbogie were today’s hosts in the Nagambie Region.

Kevin Hannagan – CEO, Strathbogie Shire Council
Claire Penniceard – Owner, The Pig Pen
Catherine Macmillan (FF’05) – Manager Tourism and Events, Strathbogie Shire
Adam Sangster – Owner, Swettenham Stud (with a tour)
Tour of Tahbilk Winery Museum & guided tasting
Neil Coulson – Chairman Jayco & Nagambie Lakes Leisure Park
Ron Loccisano - Owner, Lockland Group

Today the group were hosted by Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE at Benalla. The idea was to assess the state of education and employability across the region. We heard from:

Paul Culpan (FF’07) – CEO, Goulburn Ovens Institute of TAFE
Liz Lavender – Executive Director, Shepparton campus, Latrobe University
Jim O’Connor (FF’99) – CEO, Worktrainers Group
Stephen Brown – Regional Director, Department of Education (Hume Region)

Powercor were good enough to host a day for some self assessment. Formerly known to many Fellows as the “mid-year review”, today was a time to consider learnings from the first half of the Program and look forward to what may be. Today, between discussions on what we’ve done so far, we heard from three speakers who have seen an opportunity and decided to step up:

Frank Purcell - Shepparton Region Reconciliation Group and St. Mel’s Conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society
Howard Myers (FF’08) – Mayor, Strathbogie Shire
Ian Christoe (FF’08) – Solar Valley Goes Solar project

Day Three was spent in Parliament House hearing from:
Warren Truss MP – Leader of the Nationals, Member for Wide Bay
Michelle Grattan AO – Political Editor, The Age
The Hon Dr Sharman Stone MP – Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, Member for Murray
The Hon Malcolm Turnbull MP – Leader of the Federal Opposition, Member for Wentworth
Harry Jenkins MP, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Member for Scullin

and Day Four was hosted by DAFF, followed by the drive home. At DAFF the Cohort heard from:
Adrian Beresford-Wylie, CEO, Australian Local Government Association
Dr Conall O’Connell – Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
David Masters, Account Manager, Parker & Partners (Public Affairs)

Swine Flu prevented this year’s Cohort from visiting the AIS, so they stretched their legs after the drive to Canberra at the Australian War Memorial.

Day two was hosted by the Murray-Darling Basin Authority. The group heard from
Geoff Haberfeld – Executive Director Engagement Secretariat and Communications, Murray-Darling Basin Authority
Richard Towle – Regional Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Bishop Stuart Robinson – Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Canberra & Goulburn
Vice Admiral Matt Tripovich – Chief Capability Development, Department of Defence
Prof Ian Chubb AO – Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University
Dr David Ugalde (FF’99), Director, Adaptation & Research Department of Climate Change
Dr Stephen Ellis – Assistant Director General of Operations and Preservations, National Archive of Australia
Don Blackmore - Director, The International Centre of Excellence in Water Resources Management

Longtime supporters the Shepparton News hosted the media day at their offices in Kialla yesterday.

The Cohort heard from
Ross McPherson – Executive Chairman, McPherson Media Group
Richard Bryce – Editor, The Shepparton News
Justine Longmore – Senior Journalist, ABC Goulburn Murray
Wes Cusworth – Bureau Chief, Win TV Shepparton
Samantha Bell – New Media Business Consultant