Women seize the reins

Simone Roberts & Tegan Fleming

Judith Liauw and Lenette Mullen have been elected unopposed as the branch presidents of Tasmania and Western Australia respectively.

Ms Liauw and Ms Mullen join former ACT branch president Kate Carnell as the only women to be elected to the position in the 80-year history of the Guild.

National president of the Guild, Kos Sclavos, congratulated Ms Liauw and Ms Mullen on their election wins and heralded the development as a great step forward for community pharmacy and the Guild.

"The Guild recognises that some of Australia's most successful pharmacists are women, yet women are clearly under-represented in pharmacy ownership and pharmacy leadership today," Mr Sclavos said.

Ms Liauw takes over from John Dowling in Tasmania. Julianne Drewitt has been elected to the national council with the vice-presidents yet to be determined.

Ms Mullen replaces Harry Zafer as WA president, who will continue to serve on the national council. Natalie Willis and Steven Wragg have been elected vice-presidents and alternate national councillors.

In the other states, Tim Logan has been elected unopposed as branch president of Queensland, with Kos Sclavos elected to the national council. Three committee members are standing for the position of alternate councillor - Mike Farrell, Rick Xynias and Sue Holzberger.

In NSW, Si Banks was re-elected unopposed as state branch president, with Denis Leahy, Peter McBeath and Paul Sinclair returned as branch vice-presidents. Mr McBeath and Mr Sinclair will join Mr Banks on the Guild national council.

Ian Todd retained the presidency in South Australia with elections for vice-presidency and national councillor still pending.

Patrick Reid was re-elected president of the ACT branch. Amanda Galbraith was elected vice-president and alternate national councillor.

It was a similar story in the Northern Territory with Nunzio Meta retaining his role as president and Darryl Stewart continuing on as vice-president and alternate national councillor. The second vice-president position is yet to be filled.

In Victoria, four candidates are contesting for the branch presidency, the incumbent, Dipak Sanghvi with David Nolte, Toni Riley and George Tambassis all running. Rob Foster, David Nolte, Bruce Robertson and Toni Riley are running for vice-president.

Mr Sclavos urged members to make sure that they vote in their upcoming local Guild elections in those contested positions.