News

New faces strengthen MDAS board

Mon, 08 Sep 2014 10:32:00

Mallee District Aboriginal Services (MDAS) has made three new appointments to its committee of management, as it continues to build the diversity and expertise of its board.

Kerang Elder Esther Kirby, Swan Hill community member Rob Connelly and Mildura’s Dennis Mitchell have been appointed to the MDAS committee, the organisation’s controlling body.
The committee has been expanded from seven to nine members to allow the Kerang and Swan Hill communities to be represented for the first time at board level.
“MDAS is the Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation for the whole of the Mallee and it’s an important step forward in our development to have the Swan Hill and Kerang communities at the board table,” said MDAS President Keith Hampton.
“We provide health and family services to Swan Hill and Kerang, as well as the Mildura area, so it’s important that those communities have a chance to have their say and have their needs represented at the highest level in the organisation.”
Mr Hampton said the committee had changed the constitution to require the additional two seats to be held by community members who live in Kerang and Swan Hill.
Mildura Primary School Principal Dennis Mitchell is the third new face at the committee table, taking up an extraordinary vacancy.
“I am really pleased and excited to be taking up this role at this stage in MDAS’s development,” Mr Mitchell said. 
“MDAS has made great steps forward in lifting its expertise in corporate and governance sense, and I think it’s leading the sector on that front,” he said.
“I really believe that’s an important part of what we need to do as an organisation and a community, and am honoured to be part of it.”
Mr Mitchell said he was looking forward to working for the community on a number of priority areas.
“Obviously I have a very heavy youth and education background and I am excited to think about the ways MDAS as an organisation can impact on the education of our kids in the future,” he said.
“I also have a working understanding of the differences between Government and non-Government organisations, and I think that perspective can be important and helpful to the committee in its decision-making.
“Ultimately I have a bigger-picture vision for the organisation to move towards being self-sustainable, and being able to be part of some exciting and important moves into private enterprises that can help us achieve that goal.
“As our first step, though, MDAS needs to keep building on the stability it is already developing in this space, for the betterment of the organisation and the community and I hope that I can be part of that process,” Mr Mitchell said.