Country Professional Background

ELIZABETH RE REGIONAL PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

Elizabeth has worked and lived in many regional areas in the north and south of Western Australia and she gave birth to one of her sons in the mining town of Tom Price. She has many friends and relatives who still reside in the regional areas of the state. Her grandfather lived and worked in Kalgoorlie from 1897 and her mother was born in Collie in 1932 and one of her sons built a house in Cowaramup with his young family and works as a regional manager for a local company.

Elizabeth has been appointed to many boards and committees, such as the RAC and ALGWA WA, who have had influence in both the metropolitan and regional areas of Western Australia and this has required many trips to regional areas to carry out assessments and provide assistance Elizabeth has been a member of many regional community organizations, such as the Country Women’s Association, Apex and many local sporting clubs and other community groups.

Over thirty years, Elizabeth has gained considerable knowledge and experience in Local, State and Federal Government regulations, positions, procedures and processes while living and working in both in country WA and the metropolitan areas of Western Australia. Through her various roles as project manager, scientific officer, teacher, noise inspector, auditor, housing maintenance supervisor, building inspector, environmental health officer, approval officer, meat inspector, town planning, immunization, equal opportunity and diversity officer, sustainability audits and research, auditor, occupational health and safety officer, unit manager and board member. Looking at prison, work camps, hospitals, cheese factories and wastewater system etc has allowed her to travel on a regular basis to most towns in WA.

Elizabeth has worked in both the north and south regional areas of Western Australia in various capacities examples are illustrated below:

• From 2012 Elizabeth has worked as a private consultant, lecturer and teacher for Government and Non-Government agencies. Because of respect for her vast experience, knowledge and sound professional reputation across many disciplines, she has also been appointed to many boards and committees.
• From 2007 to 2012 Elizabeth was employed by the WA State Government in the position of Inspector – Environmental Health / Sustainability on grounds of health, sustainability, emergency management and occupational health and safety. She wrote reports and recommendations for parliament for all the prisons, court custody centres, work camps and juvenile detention centres and was the only person in this position, which was created in 2007. Most of these facilities are in the regional areas of Western Australia, which meant she was regularly in different regional areas for extended time frames in this role.
• From 1994 to 2007 Elizabeth for a couple of years, was in a predominantly standalone position analysing statistical data, chemical analysis, interpretation of field studies, ensuring compliance to legislative requirements such as the development of appropriate policies and the assessment and approval of wastewater apparatus suitable for sensitive places such as the Burrup Peninsula fertiliser plant in the north west of the state and she was involved in the responsibility of hearing appeals from Local Government with regard to wastewater issue particularly from regional councils like the Shire of Gingin and Town of Albany and contributed to the formation of the country WA sewage policy and strategies for reuse and recycling of waste products. She was also involved and wrote the program to inspect for compliance and quality assessment of all the cheese factories in WA and inspected and evaluated the health standards of all primary schools in the metropolitan area.
• In 2006, Elizabeth in her role as acting Manager of the wastewater management section of the Health Department approved many regional re-use schemes throughout the state and she approved the first reuse of wastewater onto an oval in the metropolitan area and was responsible for ensuring that the 85 approved reuse of wastewater systems in the regional areas were maintained in a satisfactory manner. These duties also included policy development of regional issues such as greywater reuse, wastewater reuse policy, bore water usage policy etc. She Organized and assessed the approval of products and apparatus for the use in wastewater systems and reuse systems throughout the state, such as aerobic treatment units like bicycle, which were predominately used in areas such as the Shire of Murray.
• From 2004 to 2006 Elizabeth was part of the State Health Department team that undertook auditing and compliance of the eighty five wastewater reuse schemes in the regional areas of Western Australia and she wrote reports and actions to ensure that safety of the community areas was not compromised by any of the systems.
• From 2005 Elizabeth was elected on to the RAC board and has consistently been re-elected over the last eleven years and has been instrumental in looking at policies to reduce road deaths and ELIZABETH RE lobbied to improve road safety and public transport and so she is very familiar with road-related issues in regional areas. The RAC has over 800,000 members in WA and many reside in regional areas and are familiar with her name in the RAC magazine.
• In 2003 Elizabeth co-established and wrote and still lectures in the modules of the Diploma of Public Works tertiary course to up skill and multi-skill particularly country local government employees, with regard to climate change; sustainable practice; Local Agenda 21; waste management, recycling and environmental issues that affect local government etc. These units have been delivered on site in country areas such as Bunbury and have had regular attendance by regional officers.
• From 1985 to 1987 Elizabeth had the opportunity to teach swimming and life saving techniques to young children with disabilities, school children, mature adults and pregnant women in Tom Price
• From 1983 to 1987 Elizabeth was asked to do relief teaching in chemistry and science at the remote mining town at Tom Price High School
• From 1983 to 1987 Elizabeth was involved both as a competitor and in the management committee of the various sporting clubs in Tom Price such as the Netball, basketball and squash clubs
• In 1986 Elizabeth was elected the President of the Tom Price Child Health Centre and was instrumental in improving facilities and education for the many families in the town with regard to public health issues and the spread of diseases.
• In 1986 to address the poor educational and health standards of a remote mining town, Tom Price 1600 km north of Perth, Elizabeth co-founded the Nintirri Centre, which still operates today and provides a venue for education and information to the community
• In 1983, Elizabeth was handling Parliamentary questions, evaluating Hansard comments and briefing notes on many issues such as drainage issues in the flooding in country towns, jetty in Busselton and the storms in Exmouth and to why there are no public toilets in TAB’s.
• In 1983, Elizabeth and other officers carried out onsite inspection and assessment of every possible potential health risk and statutory compliance issue the Shire of Boulder and then benching marched the town's ability to adhere and comply with the requirements of good governance. Based on her report and other officers this local government council was closed down by the State Government and then was amalgamated into the Shire of Kalgoorlie / Boulder. Elizabeth then personally wrote many polices and plans to assist government agencies in maintaining good health practises, the most significant was the Local Government Environmental Health Plan, in 1983, which is still in use in most WA Councils today to benchmark their Health standards.
• In 1982 Elizabeth was appointed as the first female health and meat inspector in state and federal Government in Western Australia and one of the first females in Australian in this public servant position and directly had to relate to issues in the country and worked as a meat inspector at Fremantle and addressed meat substitution in both metropolitan and country area. Also investigating and reporting on situations whereby a number of people who developed food poisoning symptoms after drinking bore water and those who had severe medical body sores after playing on a ground where inadequately recycled wastewater was used for the watering of the oval.
• In 1982 in the Peel and south west regional areas Elizabeth investigated and wrote reports and recommendations to ensure risks are significantly reduced and controlled with regard to pesticide poisoning in metropolitan and country creeks, through the cleaning up of the site and presenting and distributing educational information of the issue, an investigation into a Guardia poisoning that had resulted in ten miscarriages and discovering the sources of the issue and eliminating the risk
• In 1982 Elizabeth was employed by the Town Councils of Narrogin, Pingelly and Williams in the role of meat, health and building inspector and investigated, assessed and successfully organized a team to successfully address a huge food poisoning outbreak in one of the country towns
• In 1979 Elizabeth was appointed and gazetted as the first Female Principle Health and Building Inspector in Western Australia and one of the first in Australia. Over several years she worked in several country Councils, such as Tambellup, Gnowangerup, and Cranbrook with varying tasks and responsibilities and duties, such as organizing the de-amalgamation between the Shire of Gnowangerup and the Shire of Jerramungup, she establishment of a cemetery in Jerramungup and the limited effluent scheme and the removal of the night soil from Gnowangerup. Elizabeth after been given the task of closing Aboriginal reserves in several south west towns, through her own initiative designed and with a team built an alternative accommodation unit and radio station for Aboriginal people in one of the towns. She presented lectures to community forums on public health risks associated with Listeria, meat trafficking, pesticide usage to service organizations such as Apex and Lions club and was involved with the inaugural Merino sheep IVF project ELIZABETH RE.
• In 1975 Elizabeth worked in Derby while on a summer break from studying pharmacy at university and was instrumental in reducing use of chewing tobacco in hospital and wrote other programs to improve the health and well being of the town’s inhabitants.