Regional governance and leadership

Exploring regional governance in rural and remote health

Local expertise is critical in addressing inequalities experienced by rural, remote and Indigenous populations in health. We’re establishing regional governance and leadership models to engage these marginalised populations.

We acknowledge that engaging rural and remote expertise in the issues that affect them the most is key to addressing inequalities in health. We seek to empower community leadership and encourage these communities to find their own voice.

With a specific focus on the impact on the social determinants of health, we will leverage emerging and consolidated cross-sector partnerships in far west NSW across health, school education, higher education, human services, and local government. 

We’ll draw on two key state policy initiatives as catalysts for the establishment of regional and local cross-sector governance models.

These include:

  • the Independent Local Government Review
  • the establishment of Specialist Centres through the NSW Department of Education and Communities Rural and Remote Education Strategy. 

Our work explores the processes, enablers and challenges associated with the establishment of cross-sector regional governance and leadership models in rural, remote and Indigenous populations.

Cross-section partnership is critical in addressing inequalities experienced by these populations, especially in relation to the social detriments of health.

While government and non-government agencies address diverse inequities in isolation and focus on a ‘betterment’ approach, we engage a systems, political, social, and solutions-focused approach that encourages community-engaged service delivery. 

Key far west NSW agencies are actively engaged with the NSW Independent Local Government Review and the Specialist Centre initiative.

We’ll draw on this high level of commitment to service collaboration while integrating key researchers from the Charles Perkins Centre to contribute to the establishment and evaluation of regional governance models in the area.

Internal collaborators

External collaborators

  • Susan Daly, NSW Health
  • Tegan Hinchey, Aboriginal Affairs NSW
  • Therese Manns, Broken Hill City Council
  • Ross O’Shea, NSW Family and Community Services
  • Trish Webb, Far West NSW

Project Node Leader

Professor David Lyle
Professor David Lyle
View David Lyle's profile