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Dr. Neale Fong is an Australian businessman and public servant. Based in Perth, Western Australia, he formerly served as the West Australian Football Commission chairman and director general of the Department of Health. As of 2023 [update] , he is the chairman of the Western Australian Institute of Sport.
Fong was raised in a working-class Chinese-Australian family. His grandfather migrated from southern China, initially to the Goldfields before moving to Perth where he set up Fong's Greengrocer in Northbridge. [1]
Fong studied at the Balcatta Senior High School and graduated in 1976, serving as School Captain, Athletics Captain and Football First XVIII Captain. He was admitted to UWA Medical School in 1977, and graduated in 1982. In 1988, he moved to Vancouver, British Columbia to undertake graduate theological studies at Regent College, University of British Columbia. He graduated with a Diploma in Christian Studies (DipCS) and a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) with a concentration in Applied Theology. Fong graduated in the University of Western Australia's Graduate School of Management with an MBA in 1996. He also has degrees in medicine and theology.
His first medical job was at Royal Perth Hospital where he worked in terms including under Sir George Bedbrook at the RPH(RH) Spinal Unit and at the Port Hedland Regional Hospital. He was then appointed as a Venereologist in the VD Control Branch of the Health Department of WA where he established the first HIV/AIDS assessment clinic in 1985. He was part of a number of state and national committees involved in tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the mid-1980s.
Returning to Perth in 1990, Fong took up roles in the newly named STD Control Branch in the Public Health Division of the Health Department of WA. He was asked to undertake a major review of STD/HIV services in Metropolitan Perth, which resulted in major changes to STD management. He established the inaugural Communicable Diseases Control Section of the Health Department of WA in 2003/04. In 1994, he was recruited to be the Director of Medical Service for the East Metro Health Service. With the resignation of the managing director of the State Health Purchasing Authority in 1995, Fong was appointed to the role and worked on the establishment of the new structure to be led by former Deputy Secretary of the Commonwealth Department of Health Alan Bansemer. Fong was appointed Chief General manager Operations with responsibility for all operational responsibilities with the health services in metro and country WA (the equivalent of a Chief Operating Officer role). After serving three years in this position, Fong was recruited to be the CEO of Australia's largest private hospital at the time, St John of God Subiaco. He led the hospital in a major turnaround including the commencement of a $100M redevelopment program from 2000 to 2004. The first comprehensive cancer centre (later to be named the Bendat Comprehensive Cancer Centre) was established.
In 2004, he was appointed by the Gallop Ministry to implement reform in Western Australia's public health system. He became the executive chairman of the Health Reform and Implementation Taskforce, charged with implementing the recommendations [2] of the Reid Report. [3] He became director-general of the Department of Health, the state's highest-paid public servant with a salary of A$600,000, before resigning over findings alleged misconduct. No corruption charges were identified or laid. [4]
In September 2012, Fong commenced an appointment by Health Solutions WA Pty Ltd (of which he was managing director) [5] : 16 as managing director of Peel Health Campus, a private hospital at Mandurah which was also embroiled in allegations of fraud and corruption prior to Fong's appointment, [6] It was found that doctors were being paid $200 per patient as inducement for admissions to the hospital. A subsequent parliamentary inquiry found that the scheme incorrectly generated $1.78 million from the Department of Health, which was able to recover the amount. [5] : 10–11 Within four months, Fong quit, announcing acquisition of the business by Ramsay Health Care. [7]
Fong was appointed to the board of Prime Health, an occupational health and safety company, soon after and established his advisory service (Australis Health Advisory). He has consulted widely in Commonwealth and states on health and hospital and leadership development. Under Health Workforce Australia he held the project to form Australia's first health leadership competency framework (Health LEADS), which endures to this day.
In 2009, he became Chairman of Bethesda Hospital and held this position till 2019 when he was appointed CEO. He was formerly deputy chair of the Bethanie Group, interim CEO of Peel Health Campus and Chair of ASX listed company Chrysalis Resources for 8 years. He has also held a number of other ASX company director positions. In 2010, he led the project for the establishment of the Curtin Medical School, which opened for students on 2017, and was Director of the Curtin Health and Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI) for two years.
In November 2015, he was appointed by the Minister of Health to chair the WA Country Health Service Board, one of five WA Health service boards. [8]
Fong commenced his career with the West Perth Football Club colts and reserves teams. He was Captain of the Colts team in 1978 and was coached by East Perth legend Ken McCaullay. His brother is former West Perth captain Les Fong. After 12 years as a successful amateur player, he was elected a Commissioner of the West Australian Football Commission from 1999 until 2010, and chairman from 2002 until 2010. He has been described as "one of the most important figures in Western Australian football history". [9] He served as chaplain of the West Coast Eagles Football Club from 1993 to 2014.
Fong was the director and chair of Youth Vision WA from 1990 to 2015, having completed 41 years in youth work in the Churches of Christ.
In September 2023, Fong was appointed chair of the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). [10]
Geoffrey Ian Gallop is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at the University of Sydney and former chairman of the Australian Republican Movement.
Mandurah is a coastal city in the Australian state of Western Australia, situated approximately 72 kilometres (45 mi) south of the state capital, Perth. It is the state's second most populous city, with a population of 90,306.
The Peel Thunder Football Club is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team is based in Mandurah, Western Australia, with their home ground being Rushton Park. The club joined the WAFL as an expansion team in 1997.
The Peel region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located on the west coast of Western Australia, about 75 km (47 mi) south of the state capital, Perth. It consists of the City of Mandurah, and the Shires of Boddington, Murray, Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Waroona.
King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women (KEMH) is a hospital located in Subiaco, Western Australia. It is Western Australia's largest maternity hospital and only referral centre for complex pregnancies.
Pinjarra is a town in the Peel region of Western Australia along the South Western Highway, 82 kilometres (51 mi) from the state capital, Perth and 21 kilometres (13 mi) south-east of the coastal city of Mandurah. Its local government area is the Shire of Murray. At the 2016 census, Pinjarra had a population of 4910.
Football West is the state governing body for soccer in Western Australia (WA). It is affiliated with Football Australia (FA), the sport's national governing body, and through FA's affiliation to FIFA. Football West's premier competition is the National Premier Leagues (NPL) WA, which is the highest league in WA and one tier below the national A-League. NPL WA is a division within the National Premier Leagues. Football West is also responsible for running Western Australia's National Training Centre in conjunction with FA and the WA Government's Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries (DLGSC). Football West also runs the Football West State Cup knock-out cup. Since 2014 the two State Cup finalists also qualify for the Australia Cup.
The Serpentine River is a river in the South West region of Western Australia. It is known as Waangaamaap Bilya to the Indigenous Bindjareb people, who met, lived and fished there before British settlement.
The Pinjarra massacre, also known as the Battle of Pinjarra, occurred on 28 October 1834 in Pinjarra, Western Australia when a group of Binjareb Noongar people were attacked by a detachment of 25 soldiers, police, and settlers led by Governor James Stirling. According to Stirling, "about 60 or 70" of the Binjareb people were present at the camp and John Roe, who also participated, estimated about 70–80. This roughly agrees with an estimate of 70 by an unidentified eyewitness. The attack at Pinjarra was in response to sustained aggression by the Binjarebs, including robberies and murder of settlers and members of other Nyungar tribes.
Ian Jeffrey Constable is an Australian ophthalmologist and the founder and director of the Lions Eye Institute in Perth, Western Australia. He was the Foundation Lions Professor of Ophthalmology at the University of Western Australia, and the Foundation Director of UWA's Centre for Ophthalmology and Visual Science. He is now Patron of the Lions Eye Institute.
The Peel-Harvey Estuarine System is a natural estuarine system that lies roughly parallel to the coast of Western Australia and south of the town of Mandurah.
The Murray River is a river in the southwest of Western Australia. It played a significant part in the expansion of settlement in the area south of Perth after the arrival of British settlers at the Swan River Colony in 1829. It should not be confused with the Murray River in southeastern Australia, which is the longest river in the country.
Leslie Robert "Les" Fong is a former Australian rules footballer who played for West Perth Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL).
Anthony Solin is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) for Swan Districts, South Fremantle and East Fremantle. He later unsuccessfully attempted to enter politics, standing for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Mandurah at the 2013 state election.
Forrest Highway is a 95-kilometre-long (59 mi) highway in Western Australia's Peel and South West regions, extending Perth's Kwinana Freeway from east of Mandurah down to Bunbury. Old Coast Road was the original Mandurah–Bunbury route, dating back to the 1840s. Part of that road, and the Australind Bypass around Australind and Eaton, were subsumed by Forrest Highway. The highway begins at Kwinana Freeway's southern terminus in Ravenswood, continues around the Peel Inlet to Lake Clifton, and heads south to finish at Bunbury's Eelup Roundabout. There are a number of at-grade intersections with minor roads in the shires of Murray, Waroona, and Harvey including Greenlands Road and Old Bunbury Road, both of which connect to South Western Highway near Pinjarra.
Christopher John Back is a former Australian politician, who was a Liberal Party member of the Australian Senate for Western Australia from 2009 until his resignation in 2017.
Malcolm James McCusker is an Australian barrister and philanthropist who was the 31st Governor of Western Australia, serving from July 2011 to June 2014.
Kerry Gaye Sanderson, is a retired Australian public servant and business director, who served as the 32nd Governor of Western Australia, in office from 20 October 2014 to 1 May 2018. She is the first woman to have held the position. She has since served as Chancellor of Edith Cowan University for 2019–2021.
Richard James Barr GoyderAO is an Australian businessman and sporting administrator who is the current chairman of the AFL Commission, the governing body of Australian Rules Football. He was previously CEO and managing director of Wesfarmers from 2005 to 2017. In October 2018, he became the new chairman of Qantas, replacing Leigh Clifford.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Western Australia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Western Australia (WA) confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on 21 February 2020, and its first death on 1 March. On 15 March, premier Mark McGowan declared a state of emergency. On 24 March, Western Australia closed its borders to the rest of Australia, and on 1 April, the state implemented borders between regions in the state. By mid-April 2020, the state had eliminated community transmission of COVID-19, becoming one of the few places in the world to do so. There were only a handful of cases of community transmission in the state after mid-April, until late December 2021 when a tourist caused an outbreak that led to the cancelling of some New Year's Eve events, and the re-imposing of mask wearing rules in Perth and the Peel region.