Do no harm - how do we know?"
"Do no harm - how do we know?"
On March 22nd, The Hon. Dr Lynn Arnold AO, CEO of Anglicare SA, spoke at the College's first Port and Talk for the year. Dr Arnold holds a PhD, as well as a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education from the University of Adelaide. In 2004, he was awarded an AO for his services to Australia through the South Australian Parliament as Premier (1993-1994), and internationally through development and humanitarian aid assistance. In 2001 he received the Centenary Medal for his services to the Australian community. Dr Lynn Arnold commenced in the role of Chief Executive of Anglicare SA in March 2008, after eleven years with World Vision International where he held roles such as Senior Director (Board Development and Peer Review), Regional Vice President for Asia and the Pacific and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of World Vision Australia.
During his time as CEO of World Vision Australia Dr Arnold also served on a number of professional boards including the Australian Foreign Minister's Aid Advisory Council, and the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (now the Australian Council for International Development).
The focus on Lynn's discussion was the difficulties confronting aid agencies in balancing the need for objective assistance in the face of humanitarian disasters. Through Dr Arnold's extensive experience working with World Vision for 11 years, particularly as the Regional Vice-President for Asia and the Pacific and CEO of World Vision Australia during the Boxing Day Tsunami, he was able to shed a unique perspective from the inside of aid organisations.
Dr Arnold's talk particularly focused on his in depth understanding of the response to the Boxing Day Tsunami. Dr Arnold was heavily involved with the planning of the response to this natural disaster and he was able to educate us on some of the critical issues that World Vision needed to deal with during such an intense natural disaster response.
Dr Arnold sought to outline that aid agencies needed to supply aid in a sustainable manner which allow communities to fully recover from such disasters rather than being forever dependent on the material and economic support provided by aid organisations. Too often society is fixed on providing aid to devastated communities which can sometimes be poorly directed. Through Dr Arnold's discussion we were able to be introduced to the concept of rights based aid which focuses on seeking the needs of the community rather than providing unnecessary or harmful aid strategies.
Closer to home, Dr Arnold also spoke of the issues surrounding alternative care and the numbers of children placed in alternative care. Children and young people under the care of the State are some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged and the ability to commit resources and provide timely services contributes to their further marginalisation.
The night was concluded with questions from the audience which sought to further clarify the many issues faced by aid organisations. The evening was thought provoking and should see much discussion over the coming few days around college.
Our next Port and Talk will be held on May 3rd with Dr Jim Boully, a past St Mark's Collegian and prominent Aboriginal Health specialist, speaking on the topic "Forays and Frustrations in Aboriginal Health".
