Building a resilient organization
Tribunals can be intense places to work. Members and staff are under pressure to deal with complex matters, quickly and fairly. Tribunal hearings often involve difficult subject matter, and the end results will significantly impact the lives of those involved.
In light of these pressures, how can Tribunals protect the wellbeing of staff and members?
Walkley award winning journalist Monica Attard will lead a conversation with Resilience Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and Lead Magistrate for the Victorian Magistrates Wellbeing Committee, Fiona Hayes. Together they will draw on the science and their own experience of how to make organisations safe, strong, and resilient.
Shane Fitzsimmons AFSM
Commissioner of Resilience NSW and former Commissioner NSW Rural Fire Service
Shane Fitzsimmons was appointed as the inaugural Commissioner for Resilience NSW and Deputy Secretary, Emergency Management with the Department of Premier and Cabinet from 1 May 2020.
He is currently the chair of the State Emergency Management Committee (SEMC), the State Recovery Committee (SRC), Board of Commissioners (BOC) and the National Emergency Medal Committee (NEMC).
This appointment followed a distinguished career with the NSW Rural Fire Service of over 35 years, serving as both a volunteer and salaried member.
In 1998 he was appointed an Assistant Commissioner with the RFS and has held portfolio responsibilities for Operations, Strategic Development and Regional Management. In 2004, he was appointed the inaugural Australasian Fire Authorities Council (AFAC) Visiting Fellow to the Australian Institute of Police Management (AIPM) for a period of 12-months, developing and delivering programs in management and leadership.
During the period of September 2007 – April 2020 he was the Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service and was also the Chair of the NSW RFS Bushfire Coordinating Committee and the Rural Fire Service Advisory Council. He was also a member of the NSW State Emergency Management Committee and the NSW State Rescue Board (SRB) and was Chair of SRB from 2008 to November 2015. In July 2012, he was appointed a Board Member of the NSW Government Telecommunications Authority.
He was appointed a Director of the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) in March 2008 and was the Chair of the NAFC Board from 2009 to 2013. He was a Director on the Bushfire Co-operative Research Centre from 2009 to 2014.
He was a member of the Australasian Fire and Emergency Services Authority Council from 2007 and was a member of its Board from November 2016 to November 2019 and held the position of Deputy President upon retirement from the Board.
In January 2016 he was appointed as a Councillor of the Royal Humane Society of NSW Inc.
Additionally, he is a patron of two charities – Kids Xpress and Coffee 4 Kids.
Commissioner Fitzsimmons has been awarded the Rural Fire Service Long-Service Medal for more than 30 years, the National Medal in recognition of more than 35 years, and the Australian Fire Service Medal (AFSM).
He has also been acknowledged with a Paul Harris Fellow and a Paul Harris Fellow Sapphire through Rotary Clubs of Berowra and Sydney.
He has most recently been announced as the 2021 NSW Australian of the Year, and the Australian Father of the Year 2020 through The Shepherd Centre.
Magistrate Fiona Hayes
Victorian Magistrates Wellbeing Committee
Magistrate Fiona Hayes graduated from Monash University with an Arts/Law degree in 1990. She worked as a solicitor in criminal law, disability discrimination law, refugee, civil and mental health law. From 1998 to 2005, Fiona worked in government policy. In 2005, Fiona worked as a Judicial Registrar at the Federal Court of Australia until her appointment in 2007 as a Victorian Magistrate. For 10 years, Fiona worked in Gippsland, in Eastern Victoria with roles including Lead Family Violence Magistrate and Regional Co-ordinating Magistrate. In 2018, she returned to the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court and commenced in the role as Supervising Magistrate for the Victims of Crime Assistance Tribunal. Fiona was appointed to the newly established role of Lead Magistrate for Wellbeing in 2020. In that role, she sit on the MCV Health and Wellbeing Committee and the Chief Magistrate’s Advisory Board.
Professor Monica Attard OAM
Walkley award winning journalist
Professor Monica Attard OAM spent 28 years at the ABC, working across radio and television. Monica holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Law, Order of Australia for services to journalism and is the winner of 5 Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism (including gold).
She is best-known for hosting some of the ABC’s flagship programs, including PM, The World Today and Media Watch, and being a reporter and foreign correspondent for AM. A journalist for 35 years, she has also been a TV and radio reporter, including for Four Corners and Lateline, a foreign correspondent and was the foundation editor of the website, The Global Mail.
She was the ABC’s Russia correspondent at possibly the best time in modern history to be a Russia correspondent. She reported on the coup against Mikhail Gorbachev, the collapse of Soviet communism, the rise of Boris Yeltsin and his peculiar brand of capitalism and democracy, the first Chechen war and she covered civil wars across the old Soviet Union. Four years of covering the revolution left her with just enough energy to pump out a book about the events – Russia, Which Way Paradise?
She is a professor of journalism and co-director of the centre for media transition at University of Technology, Sydney.