Chair Report

Chairperson report

To say it’s been an extraordinary year is an understatement. The 2019-2020 financial year has been challenging, interesting and positive; and overall, once again, through the commitment and dedication of our staff, we have thrived.

Through our robust governance and strong leadership, our services continued to be delivered in an environment that we have never experienced before, and where client demand continued and increased across our service areas.

Not only did we face a pandemic. We also continued to embed further growth by building our infrastructure to support our operations, our staff and our clients in service delivery.

In March 2020, we quickly modified our services to be delivered remotely by our staff who commenced working from home in mid-March and continue to do so. We rapidly adapted our systems and processes to ensure that our services would continue across the period of the COVID-19 pandemic until further notice.  I’m pleased to say it’s been a resounding success. Our client engagement has increased, our staff retention is high and our funding has increased; it’s been a big year.

The Board is proud of the achievements of our staff and the organisation, and the impact this support has provided our clients and our partners. We thank all of our staff for their commitment in embracing our constant change, and their unwavering passion and dedication to gender equality, social justice and human rights.

Through the most difficult times, staff have maintained their dedication and commitment to delivering services to all people impacted by sexual assault, and women and children who experience family violence.

The Board wishes to thank the Executive Leadership team for their capable carriage of the organisation. We have worked closely together with the Executive over the past 12 months in delivering our strategy and have very much valued their knowledge and expertise.

I would also like to acknowledge my experienced and capable fellow Board members. Throughout the year we have made many considered deliberations and I thank Board members for their commitment to our purpose. This year we have formalised our strategic reporting framework, increased our financial returns, and supported investment in a new trauma centre model. We are very fortunate to have a well performing board to maintain good governance and a clear focus on strategy.

We are confident that as an organisation will we continue to thrive and continue delivering the high quality services that we, and the community, expect.

Jenny McMahon, Chairperson