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Community Advisory Committee
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Consumer representatives
Rachel Woodlock (Co-Chair)
Rachel has been a member of the Community Advisory Committee since December 2024 bringing lived experience as a carer to the role.
Rachel began volunteering as a consumer partner at Austin Health in 2016, following her late husband's diagnosis with terminal cancer, and has since been dedicated to ensuring the perspectives of carers and families are represented in shaping health care to improve outcomes for patients, carers and the community.
Fay Bellis
Fay is recently retired quality manager and has had a multi-decades long association with Austin Heath, both as a patient and carer.
A relatively recent diagnosis furthered her desire to “give back” and she applied to become a consumer partner.
Fay joined the Community Advisory Committee in October 2022. Since then she has joined a number of working groups and committees where she has been able to utilise her wide range of work related skills together with her lived experience to help with various improvement activities. She very strongly believes in the concept of continual improvement of quality and that the only way to improve is to involve those that receive.
Assunta Chiera
After a profound life change resulting from total vision loss in her late 30s, Assunta transitioned from the ICT sector to a career in digital accessibility. She now advocates for inclusive design, bridging accessibility gaps and advancing digital solutions for assistive technology users.
Passionate about co-design, she believes it leads to products that are inclusive, respectful, and truly meet users’ needs.
Inspired by the care and support of Austin Health over many years, Assunta now contributes to various Austin working groups, including the Consumer Advisory Committee, where she enjoys collaborating, raising unique insights and feedback into what may never have been considered, what works well and what could be improved.
Margaret Jack
Margaret has extensive experience working across hospital sites as a physiotherapist and later as a physiotherapy manager of several large departments. Her final professional role was as Acting Quality Manager for Rehabilitation within a large private hospital group.
As both a carer and a patient at Austin Health, Margaret brings valuable lived experience to her consumer representative role. She volunteered to support Austin Health’s work to improve patient care and communication, drawing on her background in policy and protocol development, consumer liaison development, and staff and patient care. Margaret is strongly committed to supporting improvements in patient centred care and effective communication with carers. centred care and effective communication with carers.
Maria McCluskey
Maria is a recently retired primary school teacher and a long-time patient of Austin Health.
Motivated by the care she received from Austin Health, Maria joined the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) in 2022. Since then, she has actively contributed to hospital initiatives by sharing her lived experience as both a patient and a carer, helping to inform improvements that align with community values. She strongly believes in the importance of communication and collaboration among stakeholders in delivering high-quality, patient-centred care.
Dr George Taleporos
George Taleporos is the CEO of the Self Manager Hub, a disability rights advocate, policy expert and host of NDIS Insights with Dr George, formerly the Reasonable & Necessary podcast. He has more than 25 years’ experience advancing the rights of people with disability and our families through research, policy, advocacy and lived experience leadership.
George is also the Independent Chair of Every Australian Counts, a director at InLife Independent Living, the Disability and Health Sector Consultative Committee and the NDIS Commission Sector Consultative Forum.
George has a PhD in psychology, an honours degree in sociology and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He is known for his clear, direct and informed commentary on the NDIS, with a strong focus on choice and control, self-management and self-direction, independent living and genuine co-design.
Dr Mario D’Cruz
Mario is a 60-year-old with a 25-year lived experience of C5 Complete Quadriplegia, He is a medical practitioner and clinical adviser by profession and a committed advocate of peer to peer support in health, work and leisure between people with a similar lived experience.
Intricately connected with Austin Health, Mario has worked here since 1996 and became a lifelong consumer following a motor vehicle accident in 2001.
“I am keen to provide the Austin Health management and staff, with as much consumer perspective and feedback they require from me, to calibrate their service delivery. I believe that being a part of the Consumer Advisory Committee that reports directly to the Austin Board, is the most effective way that I can represent consumers to the change leaders.”
Donna Ng
Donna has been a member of the Austin Health Community Advisory Committee (CAC) since May 2026, bringing a comprehensive, on-the-ground perspective to the patient and carer journey.
She first began volunteering at Austin Health in 2016, providing dedicated, direct support to patients on the wards, before expanding her impact as a consumer partner in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Donna also brings seven years of valuable experience volunteering with the Office of the Public Advocate. Driven by her personal experience caring for her late partner, she has a deep, enduring commitment to supporting people with disabilities, advancing equity, and ensuring hospital communication is clear, accessible, and inclusive for all families.
Fleur Taylor
Fleur is an engaged community member, carer and person living with disability who has lived close to Austin Hospital for most of her life.
She joined the Consumer Advisory Committee because of her long and varied experience with Austin Health’s wards and clinics. Fleur works in gender-based violence prevention at a university and is also a longstanding community activist.
She hopes to bring a committed, articulate and informed perspective, grounded in lived experience and compassion, to her role on the committee.
Lucas Price
Lucas is a proud Gunditjmara man, parent of five children and Consumer Partner with a passion for supporting young people, mental health and education. He brings lived experience as a patient, carer and family member of Austin Health, as well as experience advocating for family members with special needs and disabilities.
Lucas has a background in education and youth-focused settings and is committed to creating culturally safe, inclusive and supportive environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. He joined the Community Advisory Committee in 2026 to help ensure lived experience informs positive change across health services.
Sara Sinada
Sara Sinada is a local resident, community advocate and humanitarian professional with a strong commitment to inclusion, equity and better experiences of healthcare and public services. As a consumer partner, Sara brings lived experience supporting a family member through complex healthcare, as well as a deep understanding of the importance of accessible and culturally responsive care.
A Sudanese Australian who speaks Arabic and French, Sara has worked alongside communities in Australia and internationally and is actively involved in local community initiatives. She is passionate about listening to people’s experiences and helping ensure diverse voices are heard in decisions that affect their lives."
Board members
Robyn McLeod (Chair)
Brett West
Denise Heinjus
Ross Cooke (ex officio)
For more information about our board members, see The Board.