Here is a break down of the elected positions as they currently stand:

• President - Leads the Branch Committee of Management and is responsible for the general well-being of the Union and its members.

• Vice President - Assists the President and carries out their functions in their absence.

• ⁠Secretary - Manages of the operations of the Union - so yes, hiring staff, finances, strategy and future directions

• Assistant Secretary - Assists the Secretary - often the duties of the Secretary will be divided between them.

• 5 Ordinary Members

• 5 National Councillors - these are positions that sit on the Health Services Union’s national representative body.

The leadership positions and the Ordinary Members make up the Branch Committee of Management (BCoM).

Consider this akin to a representative board. BCoM should oversee the governance and functions of the Branch - as above, this includes hiring staff, finances, strategy and future directions.

Ultimately, the Secretary and Assistant Secretary are accountable to the Branch Committee of Management, and by extension, the members.

The secretary and assistant secretary are paid positions.

The BCOM and National Council positions are are voluntary.

The annual wages of our elected officials are published with the Fair Work Commission each year - last year our Secretary, Craig McGregor, earned $169,734.88 + $19,519 Super + $5,559 for use of a “private motor vehicle”.

You can read the full disclosure statement here. Getting started is simple. Reach out through our contact form or schedule a call—we’ll walk you through the next steps and answer any questions along the way.

Why did Pulse choose to run additional candidates for National Council?

VAHPA Unity have some overlap between their BCoM and National Council Representatives. This has been recent practice at VAHPA.

We want to bring more members into the democratic processes and bodies that underpin our union rather than restrict these roles to a select few.

VAHPA Pulse wants to make the following changes to our existing governance arrangements:

• Currently, both the Secretary and Assistant Secretary have a vote on BCoM. We want to bring BCoM into line with good governance practices by making both the Secretary and Assistant Secretary ex officio members - meaning they don’t have a vote on BCoM. We want to remove that voting power because we think it’s a conflict of interest to be able to vote on your own management and financial decisions.

• We want to expand the BCoM from its current 9 members to 19 members (the maximum that HSU rules will allow) to ensure a better representation of our diverse membership across Public, Private, Disability, and Community Health.

• We will also establish a Delegate Caucus and Professional Reference Groups which will report to BCoM.

• We will publish full unredacted minutes of each BCoM meeting (BCoM minutes have not been published for sometime, and when they have, they have been heavily redacted, or lacking detail).

• ⁠We will also transparently and openly fill vacant BCoM positions when there are multiple applicants.

We encourage you to read the Health Services Union’s rules and decide for yourself.

To date, the VAHPA Pulse campaign has operated with relatively modest expenses. The most significant cost has been engaging a graphic designer to assist with the website and campaign branding. Our logo design was donated by a fellow VAHPA member.

These costs have been covered directly by candidates on the Pulse ticket, who have each made personal contributions (the team can be viewed here).

Because the campaign has been funded by ordinary members, we have been conscious of keeping expenditure to a minimum.

Looking ahead, the primary costs are likely to include posters, merchandise, printing, and postage for how-to-vote materials. We have also received offers of donated support for some of these expenses.

Given that Unity has chosen to undertake fundraising through a GoFundMe campaign, we may also need to consider whether member fundraising is the most appropriate way to meet any future campaign costs.

We agree, it does appear that way.

However, resourcing is a decision of the current VAHPA leadership team: Secretary, Craig McGregor and Assistant Secretary, Bernarda Cavka.

If we win office we will review resourcing to ensure each organising teams are appropriately resourced to support members.