---
title: Leading Reform Summit 2026 Program
---
[](https://info.qmhc.qld.gov.au/leading-reform-summit-2026-homepage?hsLang=en-au)
## Leading Reform Summit 2026 25–26 May | InterContinental Brisbane
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## Summit program
We've got a thought-provoking and engaging program lined up for you - take a look below! Please note the program and timings are subject to change.
## Summit Day 1 - Monday 25 May 2026
| **Time** | **Item** | **Topic** | **Speaker/s** | **Description** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| From 8.00am (coffee cart begins at 7.30) | Registration opens | | | |
| **OPENING** | | | | |
| 8.45am | Welcome to delegates | Welcome to Country | Turrbal Dippil | *Delivered by Traditional Owners* |
| 8.55am | Housekeeping | Welcome and housekeeping | - MC: Irene Clelland, Arafmi - MC: Bretine Curtis, QMHC | *MC introductions and housekeeping* |
| 9.10am | Address | Lived experience address | - Michelle Sanders, QMHC - Craig Worland, Queensland Health | *Grounding the Summit in lived experience* |
| ** SESSION 1 - STATE OF THE STATE ** | | | | |
| 9.25am | Keynote Address | Ministerial opening address | Hon. Tim Nicholls, Minister for Health and Ambulance Services | *The Queensland Government’s reform vision* |
| 9.35am | Address | Commissioner's opening address | Ivan Frkovic, QMHC Commissioner | *Looking back / Looking forward* |
| 9.45am | Address | Presentation: Productivity Commission Review | Selwyn Button, Productivity Commission | *National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Agreement Review findings and opportunities.* |
| 10am | Address | Presentation: QAO audit findings | Darren Brown, Queensland Assistant Auditor-General | *Implications for governance, transparency, and shared accountability.* |
| ** MORNING TEA AT 10.25AM** | | | | |
| 10.45am | Panel | The 2026 reform landscape: positioning Queensland for the future | - John Reilly, Queensland Health - Mary Williams, Belmont Private Hospital - Chloe Jesson, Queensland Alliance for Mental Health - Lisa Gott, Flourish Australia - Dr Jeremy Hayllar, Metro North - Jordan Frith | *What must Queensland build, strengthen or reshape in state and national reform settings to build a (mental health, AOD and suicide prevention) system that works for our people and places?* |
| ** SESSION 2 - SYSTEM DESIGN** | | | | |
| 11.45am | Panel | System design that starts with people, place and partnerships | - Fiona Caniglia, Q Shelter - Genevieve Sinclair, Yeti - Sue Andrews, Gurriny Yealamucka Health Service - Sarah Haigh, Office for Social Impact - Donata Sackey, Multicultural Health Working Group - Sue Goodwin, Arafmi | *What *(mental health, AOD and suicide prevention)* system design assumptions must change if we want to strengthen community leadership and design reform that works where people are born, live, work, play and age? What happens when the system is designed at a distance, and what happens when it isn’t? What design shift is needed to ensure reform reflects the people and places it serves?* |
| **LUNCH AT 12.40PM** | | | | |
| **DAY 1 SHOWCASES: Orygen 'MIND' VR, FASD Tracking Cube Project, CORTA Research Plan & Testimony Arts** | | | | |
| ** SESSION 3 - WHERE DO WE NEED TO GO? ** | | | | |
| 1.40pm | Lightning Presentations | What if we started from wellbeing? | - Professor JR Baker, Australian Social Prescribing Institute of Research and Education - Dr Katherine Trebeck, The Next Economy & University of Edinburgh and Australian National University - Dr Jeop van Agteren, Be Well Co - Tanja Hirvonen, CEO, Thirrili | *Despite decades of investment, Queensland’s (mental health, AOD and suicide prevention) system remains crisis-weighted, siloed, and overly service-led, and is still not designed around outcomes that matter to people and communities. This Futures focused session invites participants to hear from innovative speakers and step beyond current portfolios, programs, and constraints and consider what a wellbeing-centred system could look like. * |
| 2.35pm | [Lifetime Achievement Awards](https://www.qmhc.qld.gov.au/engage-enable/lifetime-achievement-awards) | | | |
| **AFTERNOON TEA AT 3.10PM** | | | | |
| 3.30pm | Panel exercise | *Commissioning Under Pressure: A Live Reform Simulation* | - Dr Katherine Trebeck, The Next Economy & University of Edinburgh and Australian National University - Dr Jeop van Agteren, Be Well Co - Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Australian Institute of Health Innovation – Macquarie University - Tanja Hirvonen, CEO, Thirrili - Anna Daglish, Family Drug Support - Bronwen Edwards, Roses in the Ocean | |
| 4.25pm | Closing Remarks | Commissioner's Day 1 closing reflections | Ivan Frkovic, QMHC Commissioner | *What we heard?* *Why it matters?* *What do we carry into Day 2?* *The work ahead? * |
## Summit Day 2 - Tuesday 26 May 2026
| **Time** | **Item** | **Topic** | **Speaker/s** | **Description** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 7.30am | Keynote discussion & networking breakfast | Keynote breakfast | - Georgie Harman AO, CEO Beyond Blue - Ivan Frkovic, QMHC Commissioner | *Keynote presentation from Beyond Blue CEO, Georgie Harman AO, followed by a conversation with outgoing Commissioner Ivan Frkovic, focused on looking back and looking forward including the challenges, strengths and future focus for a national organisation responsible for driving population wide mental health support.* |
| ** SESSION 4 - PUTTING INTO ACTION - FUTURE REFORM ** | | | | |
| 9.00am | Opening remarks | Welcome back and introduction for the day | - MC: Irene Clelland, Arafmi - MC: Bretine Curtis, QMHC | - *What we’re solving today* - *Reflect on Day 1’s future system signals* - *Day 2 purpose* |
| 9.05am | Keynote address | Looking back and looking forward: The role of funding in driving reform | Dr Stephen Duckett, University of Melbourne | *In this keynote address, renowned health economist Dr Stephen Duckett will encompass the Summit’s key theme ‘looking back, looking forward’ and consider what funding as a crucial lever for system reform, has and hasn’t achieved and what needs to happen to move the dial forward. * |
| 9.30am | Keynote address | Implementing evidence-based mental health care at scale | Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Australian Institute of Health Innovation – Macquarie University | *In this keynote address, Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite will explore why proven interventions fail to spread and how to fix it. This includes touching on: bridging the research-to-practice gap in mental health, scaling community and digital interventions and addressing barriers in complex health systems.* |
| 9.55am | Panel | Young people’s voices: what a future Queensland system must deliver | - Miles Britton - Abi Cooper - Bengallah Wright - Abigael Hunt - Akanksha Sharma Convenor: Luke Twyford, QFCC Principal Commissioner | *This session centres the voices of young people to define what a future-ready system must deliver for them. It defines what “good” looks like for those who will depend most on future reforms, and what is needed to truly support the next generation. * |
| **MORNING TEA AT 10.45AM** | | | | |
| **DAY 2 SHOWCASES: Everywhen A&TSI LLE Workforce Framework, University of Queensland Mindfulness App, QuIVAA AOD LLE Workforce Framework** | | | | |
| ** SESSION 5 - REFORM LABS ** | | | | |
| 11.10am | Workshop | Reform Lab 1: data, outcomes and accountability | Presenter: Associate Professor Nicola Warren, QMCHR | *This lab examines how Queensland can measure whether the system is delivering what truly matters. It focuses on defining a minimum viable outcome set for a wellbeing-centred system, the data and transparency infrastructure needed to track progress across portfolios, and governance arrangements that ensure accountability to people, communities, and lived experience. The emphasis is on outcome-driven accountability, not activity reporting*. |
| 11.40am | Workshop | Reform Lab 2: governance and stewardship across the systems | Presenter: Simon Katterl, MHLEPQ | *This lab focuses on the governance and stewardship arrangements that would create an authorising environment capable of delivering the wellbeing-centred, community-anchored system. It explores how decision-making, accountability, oversight and cross-portfolio alignment must evolve to drive real reform across mental health, AOD and suicide prevention. * |
| 12.10pm | Workshop | Reform Lab 3: workforce and community capability | Bretine Curtis, QMHC | *This lab explores how Queensland can build the workforce and community capabilities needed for a wellbeing-centred, culturally safe, and community-anchored system. Focusing on the next decade, it highlights peer leadership, cultural capability, community-led roles, and integrated MHAODSP, while examining the structural conditions, regional supports, and incentives required to embed these capabilities at scale. * |
| 12.40pm | Summarising address | MC Wrap up | - MC: Irene Clelland, Arafmi - MC: Bretine Curtis, QMHC | *Highlighting what we've heard and how we'll share post Summit* |
| ** CLOSING ** | | | | |
| 12.50pm | Closing address | Closing remarks: lived-living experience | - Michelle Sanders, QMHC - Craig Worland, Queensland Health | *Lived experience closing remarks * |
| 1.05pm | Closing address | Commissioner's closing address | Ivan Frkovic, QMHC Commissioner | *Final remarks and final speech from the Commissioner * |
| 1.25pm | Commissioner Acknowledgement | Commission and sector thanks to the outgoing Commissioner | | |
| ** LUNCH AND NETWORKING AT 1.30PM** | | | | |
| ** END OF SUMMIT AT 3PM** | | | | |
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