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)

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

9.30am | Presentations

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

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

The Compassionate Communities Resource Hub | Dr Julieanne Hilbers (CCAus)

Q&A Facilitated session | Dr John Rosenberg

10.30am | Morning Tea

11.00am | 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 & Sarah 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) | 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) | Community cracking systems open

12.45pm Lunch with music by Jessie Newling

1.45pm | Presentation | Rethinking regulation and compliance in community-led initiatives | Prof Ben White (Queensland University of Technology)

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 | Activity | From Life to Legacy: Honouring through Community Practice. Facilitated by 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 Death over Dinner (In collaboration with Dying to Know, Proveda)

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