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Find out about the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing (MACA) members.
Joan Hughes has been a CEO in the not for profit sector for 30 years for national and NSW statewide organisations and charities to improve the recognition, policies and services for specific groups of people including older people and their family carers. Joan has managed Federal and State Government relations for many organisations resulting in legislation, programs and services. Her advice has been sought by organisations in NZ, USA, UK and Sweden.
Joan finished paid employment in March 2021. Her current Board roles include: Deputy Chair NSW Ageing and Disability Commission. She is the immediate Past President of Council on the Ageing (COTA) NSW and immediate Board Director of COTA Australia.
Joan is a Life Member of COTA NSW and is a Churchill Fellow.
Joan believes that all older people need to stay connected in a meaningful way with friends, family and their community. No matter where older people live they need access to this support as well as affordable services that allow them to age with dignity, respect and choice.
Moving to a regional area from Sydney has given Joan a better understanding of the needs of older people especially the lack of accessible and affordable transport, access to health services and affordable housing especially for older women and those on pensions.
Margie is a retired CEO with over 30 years’ experience managing not for profit professional associations, primarily with health and community sectors and local government. She has proven success in change and project management portfolios; as well as engagement, partnerships, representation and policy advice, with a wide range of stakeholders, community, government and industry, at local, state and national levels.
Margie is a strategically focused expert facilitator, with extensive experience facilitating boards, stakeholder forums, planning sessions, team meetings and community consultations. Margie is independent chair of Headspace and was chair of The Circle Foundation Cooperative both in the Eurobodalla region of Southern NSW.
Margie has general interests in seniors living well in place and in community, health, broad social justice and equity issues and regional development.
Adrienne leads the Ageing at the Margins Group at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in the School of Psychology, with a focus on equity and digital innovation in health and cognitive assessments. Her expertise is on young onset dementia, particularly promoting brain health for populations at risk of accelerated cognitive decline. She teaches in undergraduate and postgraduate clinical training programs in psychology, particularly around ageing, mental health, and cultural responsiveness.
Dr Withall is a proud Aboriginal and Angloceltic woman. She is a Chief Investigator on a number of NHMRC-funded studies of older justice-involved people and also on two NHMRC Centres of Research Excellence; one on Aboriginal Brain Health and the other on Violence Prediction, Profiling and Prevention. She is also an Investigator within the UNSW Ageing Futures Institute where she leads research examining frailty and the microbiome.
Adrienne considers herself to be an advocate for diverse and marginalised older people, ensuring that their views and experiences are represented in health and wellbeing services and policies. Her aim is for all older people to have the opportunity to age well.
Beverly Baker has spent all of her adult life working with and for the not for profit sector. Currently she is the President of the National Older Women’s Network, Chair of the Older Women’s Network NSW, and the CEO of the Aboriginal Education Council (NSW). She is a member of OPAN’s National Older Persons Reference Group, a founding member of ROPA (Rights of Older Persons’ Australia) and the Co-Chair of GAROP’s (the Global Alliance for the Rights of Older People) National Advocacy Work group.
She was instrumental in the establish the Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD) Global Research Foundation which is currently driving the search for a cure for this, the most common form of muscular dystrophy.
Bev brings with her a wealth of knowledge, a fighting spirit and a commitment to social justice and a fairer society. Bev previously served on the NCOSS Board during 2002 – 2004 after serving for a short time as the relieving secretary to the office manager and then again from 2020 -2023.
As older women are the fastest growing demography facing poverty, homelessness and elder abuse, especially in aged care, Bev brings a voice to this often invisible part of our community.
Donna is Board President of Bucketts Way Neighbourhood Group, based in Gloucester which has been providing community and social services for 30 years. Under Donna’s leadership the Neighourhood Group has also become an aged care provider.
Donna has undertaken training in dementia care, palliative care, mental health, grief and loss counselling, Indigenous mental health and cultural protocols informed by her personal experience of managing the care process for elder relatives, and her son who died of pulmonary hypotension. Donna was also a foundation member of the Heart Lung Transport Support Group in Newcastle.
Donna is a member of her local Indigenous Lands Council, a recognised Elder in her local Community, and undertaking studies in the revitalisation and reclamation of Indigenous language doing a Cert111 in Gathang Language, with the goal of becoming a community language holder and speaker/teacher .
Donna has attained diploma and certificate level training, in Governance, Management (Staff), Board Governance and Community Organisation Management.
Donna is a sitting member of Country Women’s Association (CWA) of NSW Social Issues Committee dealing with many of the issues facing ageing and older people in Regional, Rural, Remote areas of the State. Donna is also a member of the Primary Health Network Strategic Engagement Advisory Group for Hunter New England Central Coast Health Area.
Hakan has Master of Public Administration and Bachelor of Commerce qualifications. He is highly regarded in his field, being acknowledged as a Fellow of CPA Australia, a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia.
Hakan's profound understanding of the importance of public institutions, coupled with his unwavering dedication to effective governance, leadership, and operational management, has equipped him with the knowledge and skills necessary to achieve social, economic, and cultural outcomes.
Currently, Hakan is the Chief Operating Officer of the Art Gallery of New South Wales. In addition to this role, he assumes the responsibilities of Chair of Seniors Rights Services Limited and serves as a member of the Macquarie Street East steering committee. Furthermore, Hakan takes on the role of executive sponsor for the Art Gallery Sustainability and Diversity and Inclusion steering committees, which highlights his extensive knowledge of and commitment to promoting sustainability and diversity.
Throughout his career, Hakan has held significant positions, including Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Multicultural NSW, Chief Operating Officer of the State Library of New South Wales, Chair of the NSW Settlement Immigration Planning Committee, and NSW Government representative on both the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters and the Commonwealth Senior Officials Settlement Outcomes group.
Hakan's expertise extends beyond a single sector, as he has cultivated partnerships with a strong emphasis on human rights, social cohesion and equitable access. His profound understanding of demographic and socio-economic indicators has enabled him to identify gaps and advocate for resources to address social inequity. Moreover, Hakan's extensive experience in governance, commercial, strategic, and operational leadership has equipped him with the skills necessary to oversee state significant assets and manage substantial operating and capital budgets including the recent successful expansion of the Art Gallery of New South Wales through the Sydney Modern Project.
Joanna is: Project Director, Age Research and Director, Human Rights Team at the Australian Human Rights Commission. In this role she considers a wide range of issues that affect older Australians, such as workplace discrimination, elder abuse, homelessness, isolation and intergenerational connection.
Joanna has also authored Rethink Your Career in your 40s, 50s and 60s (ABC Books/HarperCollins 2017) which won the Royal Society (Australian and New Zealand) inaugural Career Book of the Year award for 2018, and is being published in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom in 2020.
Joanna’s memberships have included: National Seniors, COTA, GAP Standing Committee on Productive Ageing, Inner West Council Seniors Working Group and work subgroup for the EveryAGECounts steering committee.
Joanna describes herself as: an experienced speaker and facilitator; a collaborative worker who enjoys the chance to contribute to team projects as well as initiating her own work. She relishes opportunities to work with others of diverse backgrounds and opinions, and has excellent connections throughout the community, from local council level to state and federal peak bodies, community organisations and stakeholder groups.
John Ward is the NSW Seniors Australian of the Year 2024 and has devoted his life to providing outstanding medical care for disadvantaged people and ageing Australians – often at personal cost and with little recognition.
As director of the Prison Medical Service, he provided care to inmates – despite few resources – and advocated for prison reform to protect this vulnerable group.
Focusing on geriatric medicine and aged care since the mid-1980s, he advocates for older Australians and the importance of social determinants of health such as social connection, exercise and accessible environments.
His integrated, collaborative approach to dementia care for patients and their carers has made the Hunter region a leader in this field.
John also co-founded the Hunter Ageing Alliance, which calls for governments, businesses and organisations to better focus on older people’s needs. The organisation has eight programs in planning or implementation stage to create age-friendly communities, tackle elder abuse and end social isolation of older people.
Dr Kristy Robson PhD is a registered allied health professional, academic, and rural health researcher. She has nearly 30 years of experience working in regional NSW, regularly engaging with diverse community members, community groups and government organisations within a rural/regional context to improve the health and wellbeing of communities. Kristy has a particular interest in research translation in the context of ageing, with the focus of her doctoral studies investigating falls risks in older people living in regional Australia. She is currently involved in a range of rural-focused collaborative research projects that centre on evaluating chronic disease models of care, health service delivery, telehealth, and strengths-based approaches to empower older people to age well.
As a non-executive director, Kristy has significant experience from a broad range of boards and committees, at a local, state, and national level. She has extensive health regulation and policy experience with current roles on the Podiatry Board of Australia, under the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), and the NSW Falls Prevention & Health Ageing Network, funded through the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission.
Kristy is highly skilled in the critical analysis and interpretation of complex data to identify emerging trends and risks, aligned to strategic intent and policy. With a strong focus on rural advocacy, her skills and experience support the ability to focus on ensuring high quality health and wellbeing outcomes for older consumers, that are not only person-centred but future facing. Kristy enjoys learning from others through strong meaningful relationships while working on complex issues and finding innovative solutions.
Lynda Holden is a proud Dunghutti woman and holds university qualifications in law, health and education. She is deeply passionate about social justice and the rights of all humans to equality under the law, access to health care and education.
Lynda has worked as a registered nurse and midwife for over forty years, moving into academic and lecturer in mental health, human rights, law and social justice and actively advocates for better outcomes not only for Aboriginal people in these areas but for anyone who demonstrates a need.
Lynda is a published author and raised awareness of forced adoptions by publication of her own experiences in her book “This is where you have to go” to raise awareness of the impact of the lack of legal advice and full and frank disclosure.
Lynda is a member of the NSW Law Society Indigenous Issues Committee as a reviewer and advisor on legislation and policy that impact on Indigenous people.
Lynda is also a reviewer and advisor to the Cancer Institute NSW regarding the Cancer NSW Plan for all people.
Lynda has been described as a ‘change agent’ making changes at the request of communities and organisations such as Australian Red Cross NSW where she assisted in the development and implementation of the ‘Train the Trainer’ education program to assist rural and remote communities with first aid. Under the Australian Red Cross NSW Lynda established the first Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Aid Detachment to provide first aid assistance and training to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in NSW. As the white shirt of the uniform for first aid was not culturally appropriate for Aboriginal people, with approval from Red Cross International guidelines, Lynda changed the white shirt for pale a yellow colour which Indigenous and non-Indigenous members wore.
Lynda is passionate about human rights, especially the rights of children to have contact with parents who are not able to care for them and Aboriginal women and their children who are facing removal into state care. Lynda has enabled mental facilities to accommodate visits safely for children with their parents currently in mental health institutions.
Education has played a big part in Lynda’s life, and she has used her education to teach Aboriginal women in Mulawa Prison first aid to achieve a certificate in first aid whilst they were inmates. For these twenty-five women it was the first certificate that they had achieved.
Lynda has been a volunteer with Ku-ring-gai State Emergency Service for fifteen years and assisted in the recovery at Thredbo Landslide and also assisted with damage from major storms in Sydney and floods in rural areas as well as assisting firefighters with support around NSW. Lynda has also been a director of a NGO called Dragon Claw and now as a member provides cultural advice for Dragon Claw’s video projects with Aboriginal and Tiwi Island people for medication adherence in their own languages to enable better health outcomes for Aboriginal and Tiwi people when they know why they are being prescribed that medication.
Margaret has over 20 years’ experience in strategic policy and advocacy in community care, residential aged care and ageing. Most recently, working with Local Government NSW (LGNSW) Margaret’s role included researching, developing and implementing policies to support local government to enable people to remain living in their local community as they age, and enhancing the participation of older people.
As a Town Planner and social policy expert, with strong connections to local government, Margaret’s particular interest is in developing appropriate housing and local environments which enable older people to live the life they choose. She is a member of her local council’s Access and Inclusion Committee.
Margaret is a former Director of Your Side Australia, a not-for-profit community care provider and an active member of the Centre for Universal Design Australia. She previously represented local government on the Inter Departmental Committee on the NSW Ageing Strategy.
Margaret considers herself a team player and project manager who can build and maintain effective relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders in a political environment, including senior management, staff, elected representatives, and external parties.
Paul Sadler runs the aged care consultancy business Paul Sadler Consultancy since 2021. In November 2023 he joined Roland Naufal to launch Invox, a new voice for the Support at Home sector. He was CEO Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA) from September 2021 to October 2022 and was instrumental in the establishment of the new Aged & Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA). From June to October 2022, he was ACCPA Interim CEO.
Paul is the Chair Meals on Wheels Australia and a Director Meaningful Ageing Australia. He is a Committee member and past President of the NSW Division of the Australian Association of Gerontology. In January 2024 Paul joins the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council on Ageing.
Paul was CEO of Presbyterian Aged Care NSW & ACT from April 2007 to March 2021. Presbyterian Aged Care served around 4,000 older people through residential aged care, home care and retirement housing across metropolitan and regional areas of NSW and ACT. Paul was former Board Chairperson and Chair NSW/ACT Divisional Council of ACSA, as well as a former member of the Australian Minister for Aged Care’s Aged Care Quality & Safety Advisory Council.
From 2000 to 2007 Paul was CEO of Aged & Community Services NSW & ACT. He held various positions in the NSW Government between 1992 to 2000, including Manager of HACC (Home and Community Care) and Ageing Programs and Manager, Planning with the Ageing and Disability Department and Policy Manager with the Office on Ageing. Before this he worked for six years as a social worker with the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Rehabilitation & Aged Care Service (including two years with the Aged Care Assessment Team).
Paul has Master of Social Work degree with the University Medal on the topic of abuse of older people, and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) majoring in Government and Public Administration. He is a Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology.
Roy Starkey recently retired following over 50 years of community engagement and support work.
Roy’s experiences range from general nursing, to funeral industry, counselling, prison support, care coordination and industry training in ageing, mental health, sexuality and ageing, LGBTI Ageing, aboriginal mental health and support as well as working with injecting drug users. Advocating for client rights and acceptance for the diverse communities in which he has worked, he unintentionally he became an activist for the rights of those living with HIV and the broader LGBT communities in both urban and rural/regional areas. He has presented at national and international conferences on ageing, HIV and care co-ordination.
Living in the Northern Rivers for over a decade and being engaged personally and professionally across the varied communities gives an insight into the differences between rural/regional ageing issues and those experienced by our urban seniors.
Despite retirement he remains engaged in Communities of Practice in Ageing and Family and Domestic Violence as well as looking at what defines “masculinity” across the life spectrum. A firm believer in Healthy Ageing he attends his local gym several times a week to remain physically active.
For the past 30 years, Unis Goh has been dedicated to advancing the important role that social housing plays in addressing the increasing need for accessible and affordable housing for NSW’s most disadvantaged citizens. The current increase of elderly abuse and homeless older people in our community is totally not acceptable.
As part of her long and distinguished career in human services, Unis has served as deputy chair of the Disability Council of NSW. She has also been awarded with the Public Service Medal for outstanding contribution to the NSW community services industry in 2009, largely due to her work leading the team that co-designed the NSW Performance Based Registration System for community housing organizations. The system effectively shifted the culture of simply providing government funding to running a viable and sustainable community housing system.
Unis continues to work in a voluntary capacity with community housing, homelessness and disability organizations to promote the rights of all people to appropriate, secure, accessible housing and gender equality. She was recognized for the lasting impact of her work by the NSW Government. IN March 2023, Unis was awarded with the NSW Women of the Year Award, as a finalist. She also works as a volunteer Primary Ethics Teacher at her local Public School and recently she is involved in the local council as one of the community Net Zero Champions, raising awareness about taking responsibility in caring for the natural resources to sustain the planet for a better future. Unis’ strength is pulling people together in advancing good practices in services and is looking forward to be a contributing member at MACA in advancing Ageing well into 2031!
14 Mar 2025