Compassionate Communities Australia National Forum

September 9, 2025 | The Edge, Queensland State Library, BRISBANE | 8.30am – 5:00pm

We will share, learn, collaborate, and advocate. By the end of the day, we will have developed an advocacy statement outlining the actions needed to strengthen and sustain Compassionate Communities in Australia—reorienting systems so they better support community-led approaches to caring, dying and grieving.

8.30am | Registrations

9.00am | Welcome to the Forum | Dr John Rosenberg (MC) Welcome to Country

9.15am | The story of CCAus | Prof Samar Aoun AM (Compassionate Communities Australia - CCAus)

9.30am | Presentations

Compassionate Communities: Traps and Pitfalls | Prof Allan Kellehear OBE (Northumbria University & Communities UK)

Activated Citizens: The Treasures in Compassionate Communities | Prof Luc Deliens (Public Health Palliative Care International)

Q&A Facilitated session | Dr John Rosenberg

10.15am | Morning Tea

10:45am | Stories in Action

Residential Aged Care | Erin Fulton (Bupa Aged Care) | Service redesign – embedding a compassionate communities approach within residential aged care

Hospices | Cara Doherty & Sara Williams Lovegrove (Hummingbird House) | Walking With, Not Ahead: Reimagining End-of-Life Care with Families and Communities

Health Services | Prof Samar Aoun AM (South West Compassionate Communities Network) | Transforming Health Service Culture from Within: Embedding Compassionate Communities

Local Government | Helene James (Townsville City Council) | Partnering for Change: Shaping Compassionate, Community-Led Responses with Local Government

Workplaces | Jessie Williams (Proveda) & Trish Carpenter (Compassionate Leadership) | Heart and Humanity at Work: Rebuilding Workplace Culture Through Connection and Compassion

Home | Dr Stephen Ginsborg (CCAus) & Anna Petinsky (Proveda) | Who’s got my back?

Equity & Diversity | Harpreet Kalsi-Smith (CCAus) | Diversity and Inclusion in Building Compassionate Communities in Australia

12.30pm Lunch with music by Caroline Treymane

1.30pm | Presentation | Rethinking regulation and compliance in community-led initiatives | Prof Ben White (Queensland University of Technology)

1:45pm | Project Update | Compassionate Communities Resource Hub (Clearing House) for Australia | Sherl Westlund (CCAus)

2.00pm | Roundtable workshops | Focus on what is needed to support change in each setting to inform draft advocacy statements.

3.30pm | Afternoon Tea

3.45pm | From Life to Legacy: Honouring through Community Practice | Activity Harpreet Kalsi-Smith (CCAus) & Bec Lyons (Australian Home Funeral Alliance)

4.15pm | Feedback from roundtable groups and presentation of advocacy statements Prof Samar Aoun AM & Dr John Rosenberg

5.00pm Close

6.30pm Nobody Knows

This forum has been made possible with the support of the Perron Institute