About the Premier's Drug Prevention Council

Page content: Terms of reference | Membership | Prevention framework | Strategic priorities | Secretariat

The Premier’s Drug Prevention Council was established in March 2001 following a joint Parliamentary sitting on drugs.

The Council provides advice to the government on drug prevention, commissions new projects to inform best practice approaches to prevention, and promotes prevention to the broader community.

Terms of reference

1. Provide expert advice on effective, evidence based prevention programs, drawing on international research and best practice, and which are appropriate to the Victorian context;
2. Advise Government on where additional primary prevention efforts should be directed;
3. Commission or contribute to research and other projects to inform best practice on prevention;
4. Inform and educate the Victorian community about risk and protective factors associated with drug use and effective drug prevention responses; and
5. Engage the business, media and philanthropic sectors to harness and further support drug prevention strategies.

Membership

	Dr Rob Moodie, Chief Executive Officer, VicHealth (Chairperson) Dr Rob Moodie has been CEO of the Victorian Health Promotion Foundation since 1998. He graduated in medicine in 1976 and later trained in Tropical Medicine. He has worked for Save the Children Fund, and Medicins San Frontieres in the Sudan, for Congress, the community-controlled Aboriginal Health Service in Alice Springs, for the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Joint UN Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) in Uganda, Cameroon and Geneva. He is a member of several Boards and Councils including DepressioNet, the Foundation for Young Australians and Ormond College.
	Paul Briggs OAM, President, Rumbalara Football and Netball Club and consultant on indigenous issues. Paul Briggs is the President of Rumbalara Football and Netball Club and consultant on Indigenous issues. He is also Convener of the Victorian Aboriginal Leadership Network, Chairman of First Nation Foundation and a member of the University of Melbourne Council.
	Professor Neil Comrie AO, APM As Commissioner of Victoria Police, Neil Comrie led the Delta Taskforce 1982-84 into child exploitation. He is a former member of the Board of Directors of Open Family and has had a strong interest and commitment in drug policy and education for more than 20 years.
	Professor Margaret Hamilton, Chair, Multiple and Complex Needs Panel Member of the Prime Minister's National Council on Drugs, member of the National Expert Advisory Committee on Illicit Drugs, Deputy Chair on the National Expert Advisory Committee on Alcohol, Chair of the Drug Advisory Committee - Lord Mayors, Chair of the Royal Women's Hospital Ethics Committee.
	Janine Kirk, Executive Director, Committee for Melbourne Chairman of the Melbourne Convention and Visitors Bureau (MCVB), Immediate Past President of Berry Street Victoria, an advisory board member of the University of Sydney/ANU's Centre for the Mind Management Board, a board member of the Victorian Endowment for Science, Technology and Innovation (VESKI), and a member of the Victoria Harbour Advisory Group.
	Margaret Harding, Magistrate, Drug Court Magistrate, Dandenong Magistrates' Court Margaret Harding has 14 years experience as a Magistrate, initially assigned to the Children’s Court from 1991 to 1996 and then until 1998 to the Civil Division and Crimes Family Violence Division, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. From 1999 to 2002, Margaret was assigned to Dandenong Magistrates’ Court and, since 2002, has been assigned to the Drug Court Pilot Program at the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
	Frank McGuire The former journalist is now a Managing Partner of george, a corporate think tank specialising in strategy, communications and advertising. As a journalist, producer and communications advisor, Frank McGuire's experience in journalism includes a Walkley Award, a Human Rights Award and he has been nominated for a United Nations Media Peace Prize.
	Bill Stronach, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Drug Foundation Bill Stronach has been the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) since 1989. The ADF is Australia’s leading non-government organisation concerned with the prevention of drug problems. Prior to this position, Bill was Director of Grassmere Youth Services, working with juvenile offenders, homeless and sexually abused young people.
	Phong Nguyen, Director, Springvale Indo-Chinese Mutual Assistance Association As president of the Vietnamese Community in Australia - Victorian Chapter, Director of the Springvale Indo-Chinese Mutual Assistance Association, Phong's extensive community involvement includes Westernport Drug and Alcohol Services and Coordinator South Eastern Region's Indo-Chinese Young Offenders Program. He is chairperson of the Ethnic Communities Council Victoria.
	Kay Rundle, Chief Executive Officer, City of Greater Geelong With 20 years experience in local government, Kay was the first female to be appointed as the Chief Executive Officer for the City of Greater Geelong, Victoria's second largest City. It is the largest regional local government organisation in Victoria and administers a budget of $195m with 1,890 staff and 82 business units, to a population of 198,164 with over 10,000 businesses.
	Peter Wearne, Manager, Residential Unit and Special Projects, Youth Substance Abuse Service Youth Worker with the Youth Substance Abuse Service. Strong interest in drug treatment and prevention issues. Chairperson, Yarra Drug and Health Forum.

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Prevention framework

The PDPC aims to prevent alcohol and drug-related problems from occurring in the first place. The PDPC's approach to prevention involves a framework based on: addressing drug related issues at an individual, family, community and macro-environmental level; increasing the community's capacity to address drug related issues at a local level; and viewing the drug issue in a broad health context. Three complementary models underpin this framework:

Influences model
The Influences Model highlights the need to address risk and protective factors at a range of levels of influence in person's life, including individual, family, community and macro-environmental levels.

Community capacity building
Community capacity building emphasises the need for local communities to develop their own solutions to their own problems. Critical elements include building capacity, increasing connectedness, partnerships with key stakeholders, an emphasis on ‘bottom-up' community initiatives, and the development of sustainable strategies.

Social model of health
The Social Model of Health places alcohol and drug issues within a broader context of health and social wellbeing. It acknowledges that health is broader than the absence of disease, and involves equitable policies on education, employment, housing, and social justice issues.

Strategic priorities

The PDPC, now in its second term for a three year period to 31 December 2006, has identified the following five strategic priorities for its current term:

• Intelligence gathering - to ensure that drug prevention directions and activities are informed by comprehensive intelligence and evidence based practice. Strategies related to this include evaluation, benchmarking and monitoring, and research.
• Communication - to promote community awareness about alcohol and drug related issues and how they are prevented. Major strategies include the support of the DrugInfo Clearinghouse, the promotion of DirectLine 1800 888 236, support for ongoing community awareness campaigns, and providing training for ongoing prevention.
• Community Drug Prevention - to develop a model on how communities can embed drug prevention in programs addressing similar risk and protective factors.
• Connectus: engaging with the business sector - to implement a major employment and mentoring program in collaboration with the business sector.
• Advocacy - to provide leadership at a state and national level in relation to drug prevention policy, strategic directions and activities.

Secretariat

The Secretariat, which has a staffing complement of four workers, provides support to facilitate the effective functioning of the PDPC.

The Secretariat assists the PDPC in all meeting proceedings and with the implementation of programs. This includes the monitoring of projects and working groups, making recommendations on effective prevention initiatives, commissioning and managing consultant researchers, and developing and implementing communication strategies.

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