Joint directors for Healthway and Lotterywest

The state government today announced a further aligning of Healthway and Lotterywest through the appointment of common board members, including former Labor health minister Jim McGinty.

Existing Lotterywest chair Heather Zampatti and board members Miriam Borthwick and Stephen Carre will concurrently serve as board members for both organisations.

They will be joined by incoming common board member, former WA Attorney General and Health Minister Jim McGinty.

These moves follow the appointment of Susan Hunt as chief executive of both Lotterywest and Healthway in December 2017.

The new Healthway board members will replace outgoing directors Nathan Giles, Terry Slevin, Ricky Burges and Roslyn Carbon.

As well as the four common board members, other members of the respective boards will continue in their positions.

For Healthway, these consist of chairman Bryant Stokes and directors Steve Harris and Fiona Kalaf.

For Lotterywest, they are Andrea Hall, Kingsley Dixon, and Elisabeth McLellan.

In addition, the Healthway board will be advised by a panel of experts in public health led by Professor Mike Daube.

The government said this would ensure the work of Healthway aligned with contemporary health promotion policies.

Healthway has undergone major organisational changes after a series of controversies, including WA Opera dropping a planned season of Carmen in 2014 over concern it would breach its Healthway sponsorship.

The Barnett government initiated a restructuring of the body, which included Healthway operating under its own legislation as opposed to the Tobacco Products Control Act.

The government said today that both Lotterywest and Healthway will continue to operate under their own legislation.

Health minister Roger Cook urged the Healthway board to maintain it’s independence while maximising opportunities for the best public health outcomes.

“The appointment of common board members will ensure the government can more efficiently and effectively deploy grants that will promote and facilitate good health and healthy lifestyles for the people of our state,” he said.

Changes will come into effect at the next board meeting, scheduled for August.