14-15 AUGUST 2026
DARWIN

COMPASS 2026 EVENT PROGRAM

CHANGING TERRITORY - Sustainable, Smart and Responsive Primary Care

Please note: the program is subject to change 

Stream topics:

Stream 1

Clinical Practice and Patient Care Across the Lifespan

Stream 2

Providing Care for Diverse Populations in Primary Care

Stream 3

Workforce, Leadership and Models of Care in Primary Care

Stream 4

Data, Digital Health and Future Practice

Key themes:

🟢 = Mental health
🟠 = Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health
🔵 = Population health
🔴 = Health workforce
🟡 = Digital health
🟤 = Aged care
🟣 = Alcohol and other drugs

7:50 AM
Morning mindfulness
Nicole Jeffery-Dawes, CRANAplus
📍Harbor Boardwalk
8:00 AM
Registration and exhibition open
📍Registration desk

Plenary sessions

8:30 AM
Compass 2026 official opening
Joel McKerrow, Master of Ceremonies
David Blair, NT PHN
Prof Dominic Upton, Charles Darwin University
Joel McKerrow David Blair
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
9:00 AM
Closing the health gap in the Northern Territory: successes and challenges
Dr Donna Ah Chee, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT)
Dr Donna Ah Chee
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
9:45 AM
Digital health, interoperability and AI in healthcare
Dr David Hansen, Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO
Dr David Hansen
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2

10:30am   |   Morning tea in the Exhibition

Lightning talks will run during morning tea on the Expo stage 

We're splitting!
Pick a stream and location

11:00 AM
Primary palliative care and specialist palliative care
Eswaran Waran, Territory Palliative Care
📍Damibila 1
🔵
11:20 AM
Healthy ageing on Country: community-led programs that keep Elders connected
Melissa Hinson, Urapuntja Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
Ali Lloyd, NT PHN
Viviana Petyarre, Urapuntja Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
📍Damibila 1
🟠🔵🟤
12:00 PM
Talk-teach-treat
Anson Joseph, Cancer Council NT
📍Damibila 1
🔵
12:20 PM
Walking the journey together: learning from First Nations young people living with type 2 diabetes
Renee Tasman, Menzies School of Health Research
📍Damibila 1
🟠🔵
11:00 AM
Bridging the gap: integrated mental health care across emergency
Pam Marwood, Neami National
Rabin Ghimire, Top End Mental Health Services
📍Betbiyan 3
🟢🔴🟣
11:20 AM
Built without a blueprint: what Central Australia is teaching primary health care
Nicholle Cooke-Hayes, Movement Matters Therapy
📍Betbiyan 3
🔵🔴
11:40 AM
Inclusive care: decoding the disability maze
Bill Palmer, Bauhinia Health
📍Betbiyan 3
🔵🔴
12:00 PM
Innovations in culturally responsive afterhours care for a remote Aboriginal population
Lorraine Harry, Mala'la Health Service Aboriginal Corporation
📍Betbiyan 3
🟠🔴
12:20 PM
Urgent care matters: tailoring Medicare Urgent Care for remote Aboriginal communities
Martha Kelehan, Remote Health and Primary Care, NT Health
📍Betbiyan 3
🟠🔵🔴
11:00 AM
Shaping the future of rural and remote nursing practice in the NT - a collaborative approach.
Claire Boardman PSM, NT PHN
📍Bundirrik 4
11:20 AM
Standards are the foundation, not the future: educating for complexity, culture and Country
Natasha Franklin, Charles Darwin University
📍Bundirrik 4
11:40 AM
Shaping the future of remote practice
Heather Keighley, CRANAplus
📍Bundirrik 4
12:00 PM
Branches - a clinical supervision model developed for RANs by RANs
Fiona Hildebrand, NT Health
📍Bundirrik 4
12:20 PM
Future nursing workforce panel discussion
Fiona Hildebrand, NT Health
Natasha Franklin, Charles Darwin University
Heather Keighley, CRANAplus
Claire Boardman PSM, NT PHN
📍Bundirrik 4
11:00 AM
How can digital health improve access to comprehensive primary care in remote communities?
Tim Shaw, University of Sydney
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
🔵🟡
11:20 AM
Artificial intelligence and echocardiography in remote communities
Tom Marwick, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
🔵🟡
11:40 AM
Establishing a digital surveillance system for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to inform action
Teresa Wozniak, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
🔵🟡
12:00 PM
Facilitators and barriers of a successful hybrid outpatient telehealth model in Central Australia
Deborah Russell, Remote Health Systems and Climate Change Centre, Menzies School of Health Research
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
🟠🔵🟡
12:20 PM
Hbox as a possible solution to remote health service problems
Sam Heard, RACGP
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2

12:40pm   |   Lunch in the Exhibition

Lightning talks will run during lunch on the Expo stage

Plenary sessions

1:40 PM
Evidence for change – understanding the trends shaping Australia’s health and wellbeing
Dr Zoran Bolevich, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Dr Zoran Bolevich
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
2:20 PM
Stranger things – interdimensional wormholes, emergencies and mental health
Dr Rina Bruinsma, TeamHEALTH
Dr Rina Bruinsma
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2

3:05pm   |   Afternoon tea in the Exhibition

We're splitting!
Pick a stream and location

3:25 PM
The Communicate Study Partnership: findings and impact over 6 years at Top End hospitals
Anna Ralph, Menzies School of Health Research
Gisela Malimara
📍Damibila 1
🟠🔵🟡
3:45 PM
Ampe mape akarparte iterrke ‘Kids Strong Minds’: a bicultural model of care for the Medicare Mental Health Kids Hub in Mparntwe/Alice Springs
Ashley Brooking, Head To Health Kids - Central Australian Aboriginal Congress
Jackie Liddle, Head To Health Kids - Central Australian Aboriginal Congress
Fiona Haddon, Head To Health Kids - Central Australian Aboriginal Congress
📍Damibila 1
🟢🟠
4:05 PM
Building perinatal mental health services in the NT: workforce survey and future directions
Louise Collins, NT Health
📍Damibila 1
🔵🔴
4:25 PM
Community-led & culturally safe: Danila Dilba’s 2 years of integrated aftercare
Tracey Castine, Danila Dilba Health Service
Jessica Pocock, Danila Dilba Health Service
Kate Clements, Neami National
📍Damibila 1
🟢🔵
3:25 PM
What’s old is new again: NT diphtheria outbreak
Paul Burgess, NT Health
📍Betbiyan 3
🔵
4:05 PM
LGBTQIA+ informed care
Grayson Javins, Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council (NTAHC)
Kaitlyn Gillelan, Northern Territory AIDS and Hepatitis Council
📍Betbiyan 3
🔵
4:25 PM
Big Rivers regional projects: family, domestic and sexual violence trauma-informed care in practice
Jessica Hagley, Katherine West Health Board
Frankie Szakaly, Katherine West Health Board
Tullan Chedzey, Sunrise Health Service
📍Betbiyan 3
🟢🟠
3:25 PM
Mind the gap: GPLOs as bridges in the Top End & Central Australia
Dr Kelly Banz, NT Health & NT PHN
Roxane Craig, NT Health
📍Bundirrik 4
3:45 PM
Testing, learning and collaborating: reflections on supporting general practice in the NT
Toby Gwynne, NT PHN
📍Bundirrik 4
4:05 PM
From margins to mainstream: paramedicine as workforce reform and professional identity in Australasia
Shell Piercy, NT Health
Paul Reeves, NT Health
📍Bundirrik 4
4:25 PM
Rapid adaptation of primary health care delivery during flood response in Katherine NT
Phill Harnas, Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service
📍Bundirrik 4
3:25 PM
Towards a national common data model
Louise Gates, AIHW, Health Insights Division
📍Auditorium 2
🟡
3:55 PM
The National Healthcare Interoperability Plan – what it means for Northern Territory primary care.
Andrew Bell, NT Health
📍Auditorium 2
🔵🟡
4:15 PM
From silos to safety: how linked data supports future practice in primary care
Gillian Gorham, Menzies School of Health Research
📍Auditorium 2
🟡
4:35 PM
Panel discussion and wrap up of session, facilitated by session Chair
📍Auditorium 2

4:45pm   |   Conference concludes

7:50 AM
Morning mindfulness
Nicole Jeffery-Dawes, CRANAplus
📍Harbor Boardwalk
8:00 AM
Registration and exhibition open
📍Registration desk

Plenary sessions

8:30 AM
Compass welcome remarks
Joel McKerrow, Master of Ceremonies
Joel McKerrow
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
8:40 AM
What I learned from paralysis
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, Gold Coast University Hospital
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
9:30 AM
Health in the hands of the people: health justice and reform for the Northern Territory
Jane Vadiveloo, Children's Ground
Jane Vadiveloo
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
10:00 AM
Beyond the signal: digital healthcare delivery in remote Australia
Rashida Khan, Remote Australians Matter
Rashida Khan
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2

10:40am   |   Morning tea in the Exhibition

Lightning talks will run during morning tea on the Expo stage

10:50 AM
Building responsive urgent and primary care capacity in the NT
📍Expo stage, Hall 1
Bernie Cummins, FCD Health Ltd
11:00 AM
Insights into perinatal telehealth mental health care in the Northern Territory
📍Expo stage, Hall 1
Tracey Thompson, PANDA
Julie Borninkhof, PANDA

We're splitting!
Pick a stream and location

11:10 AM
Keeping men in mind: practitioner competencies to engage and respond to men’s health
Stephen Sverchek, Movember
James Smith, Flinders University
📍Damibila 1
🟢🔵
11:30 AM
How remote housing is failing health & what our profession can do about it
Simon Quilty, Wilya Janta
📍Damibila 1
🟠🔵
11:50 AM
May the North be with you - the Tropical Health Orientation Manual past, present and future
Prof Bart Currie, Menzies School of Health Research
📍Damibila 1
🔵🔴
12:10 PM
Health in a warming climate: impacts and inequities in remote Australia
Gloria Baliva, Menzies School of Health Research
Rishu Thakur, Menzies School of Health Research
📍Damibila 1
🟠🔵🟤
12:30 PM
Supporting a client who discloses sexual assault
Deb Frost, Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), NT Health
Gabrielle Diplock, Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), NT Health
📍Damibila 1
🟢🔴
11:10 AM
Shared medical appointments approaches in NT Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
Phillipa Cotter, DDHS
Joseph Pearce, Danila Dilba Health Services
Ashton Guyula, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
Matthew Dowling, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
Jasmine Feddersen, AMSANT
Sabrina Campion, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
🟠🔵🔴
11:10 AM
Aboriginal health coaching
Stuart Mobsby, Katherine West Health Board
📍Bundirrik 4
🟠
11:30 AM
Remote Primary Health Care Manuals: building the next chapter, together
Susan Daskalakis, RPHCM
📍Bundirrik 4
11:50 AM
Establishing a 12-month graduate Registered Aboriginal Health Practitioner (RAHP) program: building a supported pathway for RAHP workforce
Parul Koirala, Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service
Kahla Maclean, Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service
📍Bundirrik 4
🟠
12:10 PM
Growing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander allied health workforce in the Northern Territory
Nicholas Wilson, IAHA NT Workforce Development
📍Bundirrik 4
🟠
12:30 PM
Gakal Djäma’: re-designing community-based worker competencies for career progression
Emily Deklerk, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
Djamalaka Dhamarrandji, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
Annabelle Macansh, Miwatj Health Aboriginal Corporation
📍Bundirrik 4

12:50pm   |   Lunch in the Exhibition
Visit the CRANAplus wellbeing lounge, full details here

Lightning talks will run during lunch on the Expo stage

1:00 PM
Where do they come from, where do they go? Placement to practice journeys
Leigh Moore, Flinders University
📍Expo stage, Hall 1
1:10 PM
Strengthening after hours care in remote NT: the use of the Manchester Triage System
Jane Atkinson, Remote Health and Primary Care, NT Health
📍Expo stage, Hall 1
1:20 PM
How NT clinical supervisors make supervision training matter
Melba Ridd, Flinders Rural and Remote Health NT
📍Expo stage, Hall 1

Plenary sessions

1:35 PM
Heidi will see you now: a hypothetical NT healthcare conversation
Joel McKerrow, Master of Ceremonies
Dr Kelly Banz, NT Health & NT PHN
Melba Ridd, Flinders Rural and Remote Health NT
Prof Bart Currie, Menzies School of Health Research
Dr Zoran Bolevich, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW)
Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM, Gold Coast University Hospital
Dr David Hansen, Australian e-Health Research Centre, CSIRO
Joel McKerrow Dr Kelly Banz Melba Ridd Prof Bart Currie Dr Zoran Bolevich Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM Dr David Hansen
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2
2:20 PM
Closing remarks
Paul Connolly, NT PHN
Paul Connolly
📍Plenary stage, Hall 2

2:40pm   |   Afternoon tea in the Exhibition
Compass concludes post afternoon tea

3pm   |   Post-conference workshops
Explore the workshops tab for more information