A few years ago Scott took the career deci­sion to move upstream, as he puts it, from ser­vice deliv­ery, pro­gramme design and pol­i­cy devel­op-ment in the pub­lic health and pri­ma­ry health care are­na, to work­ing direct­ly with rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties and tra­di­tion­al landown­ers to address the social deter­mi­nants of health.

He’s proud of the projects he’s been involved in and loves his work. At the same time, his ulti­mate objec­tive is to make him­self redun­dant so that com­mu­ni­ties and ser­vices are sus­tain­able and resilient. Here’s his story.

11 years ago, Scott returned to Cairns in Far North Queens­land to be clos­er to his age­ing parents. 

“I have to say I have fall­en in love with the place all over again,” he says. ​“I do think going away and com­ing back allows you to get per­spec­tive. Rur­al and coun­try towns work on rela­tion­ships and reciprocity. 

“Build­ing long-term rela­tion­ships allows a com­mu­ni­ty to under­stand who you are and how you con­tribute to that com­mu­ni­ty, and the val­ues that under­pin what you do.”

“One of the things I think is real­ly impor­tant for any­one who works in region­al, rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties is under­stand­ing and respect­ing the com­mu­ni­ties and the peo­ple you serve.

“Invest­ing in build­ing this rela­tion­ship and under­stand­ing of the com­mu­ni­ty is a real­ly impor­tant part of my pro­fes­sion­al jour­ney.

​“It’s impor­tant to spend time in the com­mu­ni­ties you serve, good to be remind­ed of the rea­son why you do the work that you do.

“Some­times it might seem that the task is enor­mous, but over time with sus­tained com­mit­ment you can see the dif­fer­ences in the lives of people.”

Scott has been a direc­tor for four years with My Path­way, a socio-eco­nom­ic devel­op­ment com­pa­ny that works in part­ner­ship with region­al, rur­al and remote communities.

“One project I am par­tic­u­lar­ly proud of has been set­ting up an Indige­nous-led remote NDIS pro­gramme in a remote com­mu­ni­ty in Queens­land where all the staff, apart from two, are local peo­ple from the com­mu­ni­ty who are pro­vid­ing care and sup­port for peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties in the community.

“This pro­gramme has so many ben­e­fits. It gives local peo­ple employ­ment and the oppor­tu­ni­ty to gain new skills and career prospects. It is being devel­oped and co-designed in a way that is cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate, safe and sus­tain­able and is done in part­ner­ship with local organ­i­sa­tions – reduc­ing the reliance on peo­ple fly­ing in and out to deliv­er care.

“The excit­ing thing is you see peo­ple in the com­mu­ni­ty get­ting care for the first time, pro­vid­ed by mem­bers of their own com­mu­ni­ty. This is help­ing to rebuild and strength­en bonds and it’s all achieved with­in nation­al guidelines.”

Scott is also work­ing with tra­di­tion­al own­er groups to look at where there are oppor­tu­ni­ties to build local work­force and enable eco­nom­ic self deter­mi­na­tion in their communities.

“There’s a range of social issues that we know are impor­tant for good health out­comes – a strong com­mu­ni­ty, sup­port­ive fam­i­lies, healthy envi­ron­ment, and access to edu­ca­tion and employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties: all are deter­mi­nants of good health in a com­mu­ni­ty.

​“The jour­ney to self deter­mi­na­tion is one I am com­mit­ted to,” Scott says. ​“Every­body has a right and abil­i­ty to make deci­sions in their own inter­ests and those of their community.

“I would argue many of our Indige­nous lead­ers today have come through that process. They have tri­umphed over adver­si­ty to excel. There are many more who maybe don’t yet have the same opportunities.

“What I am talk­ing about is hav­ing a struc­tured, sys­tem­at­ic approach which allows indi­vid­u­als and com­mu­ni­ties to move for­ward more quick­ly than in the past.

“My role in all of this is as the per­son behind the scenes, help­ing peo­ple to build skills and capac­i­ty and allow­ing them to go along their own jour­ney, so peo­ple have the best oppor­tu­ni­ty for employ­ment and to be lead­ers in their communities.

“Peo­ple grow into their roles, and it is naïve to expect any­body to be an expert at the end of a train­ing programme.”

“It’s always a learn­ing jour­ney. Mis­takes are not the end point in my mind. They are an oppor­tu­ni­ty to learn.”

Scott believes valu­ing knowl­edge in all its forms is a con­ver­sa­tion that is start­ing to emerge, and that sup­port­ing com­mu­ni­ties to build on that knowl­edge cre­ates a strengths-based approach to social and eco­nom­ic development.

“In health there’s a move towards recog­nis­ing the impor­tant role of gen­er­al­ists with a well-round­ed skill base with per­haps advanced skills in a par­tic­u­lar con­text,” Scott says.

“You cer­tain­ly don’t want peo­ple mak­ing clin­i­cal deci­sions out­side their range of scope. Safe­ty and qual­i­ty is cru­cial, but we have
to be care­ful of not ignor­ing the ben­e­fits of mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary roles.

“It’s impor­tant to look at the assets in region­al, rur­al and Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties, not the deficits. There is a dan­ger of see­ing these com­mu­ni­ties as lack­ing. I would argue that there are many assets with­in these communities.

“It’s also impor­tant to pro­vide a sup­port­ive envi­ron­ment for peo­ple to return to do work in a tra­di­tion­al con­text and val­ue that work. It plays a strong role in build­ing a sense of iden­ti­ty and strength­en­ing culture.

“In addi­tion, we need to recog­nise that cul­ture and com­mu­ni­ties are con­stant­ly chang­ing. There seems to be a view here in Aus­tralia that they are sta­t­ic. They’re not. With­in the com­mu­ni­ty there is always an ele­ment of flux.”

“The resilience of peo­ple in rur­al and remote com­mu­ni­ties is impres­sive. They cope with all man­ner of obsta­cles, lack of resources and the dis­ad­van­tages of distance.”

“At the same time, we must ensure we are not for­get­ting those who need sup­port, the most dis­ad­van­taged with­in any com­mu­ni­ty,” he says.

​“I’m talk­ing about all groups, not just Indige­nous peo­ple. Peo­ple with dis­abil­i­ties, the LGB­TIQ com­mu­ni­ty and so on. It is impor­tant we don’t leave peo­ple behind, that we facil­i­tate and sup­port self-deter­mi­na­tion and cre­ate an envi­ron­ment which sup­ports it to happen.

“I believe that all of us, no mat­ter what role we play, should be think­ing about how we build and sup­port the capac­i­ty of others.

“We have an oblig­a­tion to engage and sup­port the most dis­ad­van­taged. That’s the only way to have an equi­table and fair society.”