Where Health Education Meets Health Innovation
About us
Health Leaders Australia (HLA) is a not-for-profit, limited by guarantee health sector education and training focused public company, governed by a highly committed and experienced Board of Directors. The company is a registered health promotion charity.
Our mission is to provide quality, cost-effective programs, resources, and services that support health promotion initiatives and the health and well-being of the communities they serve. These programs, resources, and services include the provision of needs-based quality learning and teaching career opportunities designed to enhance the career development needs of healthcare sector workers, and to support the service providers that engage them.
HLA personnel are very experienced in the provision of quality education and training programs and services. For example:
- HLA staff have 16 years of experience in the provision of quality education and training for GP Registrars training under the Australian General Practice Training Program (AGPT), to the Accreditation Standards of the RACGP and the ACRRM medical specialty colleges.
- HLA’s Aged Care Education and Training (ACET) Business Portfolio Nurse educators and trainers have excellent experience in the provision of quality education and training for nurses and carers.
- HLA’s former Queensland Prevocational Medical Accreditation (QPMA) department, served as the Australian Medical Council (AMC) accredited Authority for the provision of Prevocational Medical Accreditation, for all Queensland Hospitals that provided training for their hospital junior doctors. These services were competently provided during 2015 to 2018 under a contract with Queensland Health, until Queensland Health transitioned this accreditation role to be undertaken with Queensland Health.
Our Board of Directors
Dr Nicki Murdock
HLA Board Chair
Dr. Nicki Murdock, an Executive MBA and experienced healthcare leader, currently serves as Executive Director Medical Services at West Moreton Hospital. With over 20 years of corporate governance experience, she has held prominent roles such as Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director, and board positions in various health organizations. Her expertise spans primary care, pediatrics, public policy, and health informatics.
Dr Nicki Murdock’s education and professional memberships background includes: Executive MBA Leadership (QUT); FRCPCH; FRACP; FRACMA; FRACGP; DRCOG; FAICD; EMBA; BM, Medicine (University of Southampton); Diploma of Community Paediatrics (University of Sheffield).
Dr Murdock is the Executive Director Medical Services at West Moreton Hospital and Health Service.
Her previous employment background includes service as: Chief Medical Officer of Western Health, a large Hospital & Health Service in Victoria, Australia; the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Clinical Information Officer of Hey Children’s Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Medical Director of the Adler Hay Children’s NHS Foundation Trust; Executive Director Medical Services; Executive Director Medical Services of the Cairns and Hinterland Hospital & Health Service; Executive Director of Gladstone Hospital within the CQHHS; and Acting Executive Director Medical Services of Queensland Health; and District Director Medical Services of the South West Hospital & Health Service of Queensland Health.
Nicki has extensive experience for over 20 years in corporate governance. This experience includes Dr Murdock’s role as Board Director and Chair of the Health Leaders Australia Board of Directors. Her other governance experience includes service as: Chair of the Child Death Review Panel of the Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Service; President of the Paediatrics and Child Health Division of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP); a Board Director of the former Central and Southern Qld Training Consortium (a large GP education and training organization), including service as the Board’s Company Secretary; a Member of the Accreditation Committee for the Postgraduate Medical Education Council of Queensland (PMCQ); and as a member of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Paediatric Indicator Group.
Nicki also served as Adjunct Associate Professor of James Cook University.
Dr Murdock’s clinical and other professional interests include: primary health care, specialist pediatric and internal medicine, emergency medicine & family medicine; health & public policy; clinical research; health promotion; patient safety; medical and nursing education and training; health informatics; healthcare information technology corporate and clinical governance. Her other professional interests include: her passion for quality governance with particular foci on leadership development and medical business strategy and strategic planning; quality improvement; and change management. She has been a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors since 2011.
Dr Kevin Arlett
HLA Board Director
Dr. Kevin Arlett, a seasoned GP and Practice Principal of Townsville & Suburban Medical Practice (TSMP), holds qualifications including MBBS, FRACGP, and FAICD. He has over 20 years of corporate governance experience and serves as Team Doctor for the Townsville Fire Basketball Team. Dr. Arlett is deeply involved in medical education, healthcare policy, and sports medicine.
Dr Arlett’s qualifications include: MBBS (QLD), FRACGP, FAICD, and he is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Kevin is Practice Principal of the Townsville & Suburban Medical Practice (TSMP) and is a longstanding GP in Townsville. He is Team Doctor for the Townsville Fire Basketball Team, and has served as the Team Physician of the North Queensland Cowboys for 17 years.
Dr Arlett has extensive experience for over 20 years in corporate governance. This experience includes Dr Arlett’s role as a Board Director of the Health Leaders Australia Board of Directors. His other governance experience includes service as: Board Director and Chair of GP Supervisors Australia; Board Director and Chair of the Northern Australia Primary Health Limited (NAPHL); Committee Member – Australian Institute of Company Directors; Board Director – SMARTArm Pty Ltd; Board Director – Townsville Hospital and Health Service Board; Board Chair – Townsville-Mackay Medicare Local (TMML); Board Director and Chair of General Practice Queensland (GPQ); a Member of the Health Workforce Queensland Board; and roles on the Boards of the Royal Australian College of General Practice and Sports Medicine Australia.
Kevin is heavily involved in medical education and training, and often speaks at conferences and events, especially around his experience as a high-level sports doctor. His other professional interests include: primary health care; nursing; ; pre-diabetes and diabetes; heart disease; weight loss; metabolic syndrome; chronic care management; pain management; clinical governance; corporate governance; emergency medicine & family medicine; health & public health policy; clinical research; practice management; health promotion; patient safety; health informatics; healthcare information technology; quality improvement and accreditation; strategic planning.
Dr Jim Finn
HLA Board Director
Dr. James (Jim) Finn is a Senior Staff Specialist in Addiction Medicine at the Melaleuca Clinic, Prince Charles Hospital, Queensland. With a background in General Practice and Rural Medicine, he has extensive corporate governance experience, serving on multiple boards. His clinical interests include addiction medicine, patient safety, and Aboriginal health. He holds degrees and memberships including MBBS, FRACGP, FACRRM, and FAChAM (RACP).
Dr James (Jim) Finn’s education and training memberships background includes: Dip.T., B.Ed., MBBS (Qld), FRACGP, FACRRM, FAChAM (RACP) He completed his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree at the University of Queensland.
Dr Finn is a Senior Staff Specialist in Addiction Medicine with the Melaleuca Clinic at the Prince Charles Hospital in Queensland’s Metro North Health Service, He is also a recognized specialist in General Practice and Rural and Remote Medicine.
Dr Finn’s previous employment background include service as: Medical Superintendent, Dirranbandi Hospital, Queensland Health; a secondary school teacher with the Queensland Department of Education.
Jim has extensive experience for over 20 years in corporate governance. This experience includes his current role as a Board Director of Health Leaders Australia. Formerly he was a Member of the Quality Assurance Committee of the Clinician’s Performance Support Service of Queensland Health. He was the State Secretary of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation of Queensland. His other governance experience includes service as: Board Director, Board Chair, and Board Deputy Chair – General Practice Training Queensland Ltd (GPTQ). (Formerly known as Central and Southern Qld Training Consortium Ltd (CSQTC); Vice President, Rural Doctors Association of Australia; President and Management Committee Member of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland; Board Director and Vice President of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland. He is the Qld Convenor of the Chapter of Addiction Medicine of the Royal Australian College of Physicians.
Dr Finn’s clinical and other professional interests include: patient safety; clinical governance; corporate governance; medical education and training; rural medicine; and Aboriginal health. His sub interests within addiction medicine include maintenance therapy for therapeutic and non-therapeutic opioid dependence, treatment of alcohol dependence, benzodiazepine dependence, cannabis dependence, and amphetamine dependence.
Mr Peter Harrison
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Peter Harrison holds degrees in Arts, Business, and Education, and has extensive senior executive experience in education, training, and business. He served as CEO of General Practice Training Queensland (GPTQ) for 14 years and has been CEO of Health Leaders Australia since 2012. His previous roles include senior positions in health sector organizations and extensive experience in education and training leadership.
Mr Peter Harrison (B.A., B.Bus., Grad. Dip.Ed.) has senior executive level leadership and management experience in a variety of education, training and business settings.
For 14 years Mr Harrison served as the CEO of a large General Practice regional training provider in Queensland, the former General Practice Training Queensland (GPTQ) not- for-profit Company that earlier traded as the Central and Southern Queensland Training Consortium Ltd (CSQTC), and he has been CEO of Health Leadership Australia since its incorporation in 2012.
Mr Harrison worked with the Board of Directors of both of these not-for-profit health sector companies to establish them from successful submissions.
Mr Harrison has also held previous health sector organisation senior position including as: CEO of General Practice Education and Training, the Commonwealth Government Company responsible for funding and oversight of the then network of 22 Australian General Practice Training Program regional training providers; and as the Queensland state-wide Regional Health Information Officer for the then Queensland Divisions of General Practice. He also
served as a Board Director of the Confederation of Postgraduate Medical Education Councils (CPMEC), and a Member of the former Commonwealth Government Medical Training Review Panel (MTRP).
Mr Harrison previously served for 12 years as the Principal of the Toowong State High School in Brisbane. His prior employment experience included service as: Head of Study Program (Business Management) of the Queensland Department of Employment, Vocational Education and Training; and for 12 years in roles that included: Officer-in-Charge, Head of School, and Senior Technical Teacher at various Queensland TAFE colleges. Mr Harrison has spent three years as a TAFE teacher training teacher and 15 years as a business studies teacher in the secondary schooling and vocational education and training sector.
Enhancing community healthcare outcomes
Our mission is to provide high quality programs, resources, and services that support health promotion, and the education and training of healthcare professionals, to improve healthcare outcomes for the community.
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