The Committee comprises the following representatives endorsed by Council.
Cr Peter Perkins
Chair
Kate Puls
Kate lived in Wattle Glen for many years before downsizing to Eltham. Her background is in nursing and nurse education, and an interest in health law led her to become a specialist educator working in higher education and in vocational education in several health disciplines. She was a Volunteer Community Ambassador for Advance Care Planning Australia (administered by Austin Health) for more than a decade, a role in which she assisted people wishing to make choices for their future health care, and those caring for them.
She is passionate about the rights of older people and of health care consumers and was a member of the National Older Person’s Reference Group (NOPRG), from its inception, a group that endeavours to bring a consumer and community perspective to issues being discussed by the Older Person’s Advocacy Network (OPAN). She has reduced her involvement with OPAN but continues as a member of OPAN Community Voices.
Ann Hutchison
Ann has been living in the Nillumbik Shire for 57 years. She has been a member of LinC (Love in the name of Christ) for 30 years and a member of CAVE (Community and Volunteers of Eltham) for 12 years. She is also a member of Health & Wellbeing Plan Advisory Committee as well as being a member of Nillumbik U3A. She is concerned about the lack of food services to families who need help from time to time in the Shire. Her volunteer and community involvement offers the PAAC insight into issues faced by older community members living in Nillumbik.
Tom Fisher
Tom’s chief qualification for the PAAC is 83 years of lived experience, 48 of which have been in the Shire. With his wife of 57 years now in residential care, Tom has developed an interest in aged care and ways of helping people smooth the path towards the inevitable end of life. A strong believer in the benefits of physical and spiritual well-being for positive ageing, he is a modest but regular cyclist and an instructor for the local seniors’ exercise facility designed by the National Ageing Research Institute. Tom is a member of the Ordinary Mind Zen Group and the Diamond Valley Friends (Quakers). He and his wife sing weekly with the Rewire Memory Choir. Tom has served on Council’s Environment and Sustainability Advisory Committee and previously on PAAC. He is a member of the Bend of Islands Conservation Association and one of the Bend’s book clubs.
Sophie Broughton
Sophie Broughton has lived in Eltham for 27 years. She loves the rolling green hills of Eltham, and her favourite spot is Alex Knox Park. This is her first time serving on the PAAC, and she is honoured to be nominated by the Nillumbik Chinese Senior Association Inc. (NCSA) to represent the Chinese senior community.
In February 2019, together with several members of the NCSA, she helped organise the first ever Chinese New Year celebration (Year of the Pig) in Nillumbik Shire. She speaks both English and Mandarin and hopes to act as a facilitator between the Chinese senior community and Council — helping elders to better understand Council’s services and initiatives, while also ensuring that their voices and needs are heard and respected.
She's delighted to have this opportunity to contribute her skills and cultural understanding in support of our ageing community, and to help build stronger, more inclusive connections across generations and backgrounds.
Marlwood Ryder
Now retired after more than 40 years of high school teaching and working in educational administration, Marlwood is taking on this challenge to seek out ways to help others in their later years.
Marlwood has been a resident of Diamond Creek for 30 years and witnessed extraordinary growth in the suburb and surrounding areas. To accommodate this, Marlwood believes we need to explore ways in which resources and opportunities strive to meet the demands of all age groups and allow access whatever area of the shire you belong.
Marlwood believes there are many wonderful resources already in our shire such as parks, gardens and libraries but sees a role in the team to ensure that the aged part of the community are aware of them, and are given the chance to enjoy such experiences.
Steve Jenkinson
Steve is a 29-year resident of Smiths Gully and has lived in the shire for 42 years. He graduated as a mechanical Engineer and worked in the Vehicle industry, the computer industry, Senior Management in a listed company, and running a Winery equipment supply company. Since retiring has become involved in the community in Fireguard groups, Community connection, Men’s Shed, Sugarloaf Sailing Club and the community centre. He is passionate about the Men’s shed and the contribution they provide to the young and old in the community and the health and connection benefits to the men in the surrounding area. He has been president of the Men’s Shed at St Andrews for 5 years.
Having recently been through the process of My Aged Care and then involved in moving his and his wife’s parents into aged care homes, he is keen to use this experience in the PAAC.
Marcel Saxone
Marcel has joined the PAAC to try to inspire others in the Nillumbik area to, live a full and vital life. Marcel advocates that:
- happiness has little to do with inner peace
- that living and existing are different
- that self-reflection provided an opportunity for personal growth, compared to self-absorption that stunts good people
- that being in the service of others gives much greater satisfaction than being in the service of self, or a few others.
Marcel has been on a long journey, from pharmacist, to psychotherapist, to pastoral care worker, to working as a gardener.
Marcel loves his life, so by default is obliged to love all life, as he is not a hypocrite, and knows all life is precious.
healthAbility
Service Provider Representative
Natalie, representing healthAbility who provide a range of health services in Eltham both onsite and in the home. She has a clinical background as a physiotherapist working across hospitals, aged care and NDIS. She joined healthAbility in 2024 as Executive Manager for Primary and Complex Care, which encompasses dental, allied health, and aged care. She is passionate about multidisplinary and holistic care, especially for the elderly to keep them living a full life that is meaningful to them.
St Vincent's Healthy Ageing Service
Service Provider Representative
Tanya is a specialist mental health nurse for older adults. She heads up a community mental health service run by St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, offering expert care for people experiencing mild to moderate symptoms in the Northern and Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Tanya resides in Nillumbik with her family. She is passionate about living well and ageing well and is excited to support positive ageing in Nillumbik.
Yarra Plenty Regional Library
Service Provider Representative
Alex Price is the Branch Manager of Diamond Valley Library. In Nillumbik, Yarra Plenty Regional Library provides services via Diamond Valley and Eltham Libraries, at the Hurstbridge Hub, and through the Mobile Library service. The library hosts regular programs for seniors at our branches, including Fitness After 50 sessions, craft groups, chatty cafes, 1:1 tech help, book groups, and gardening programs. It also run events in partnership with Nillumbik’s Positive Ageing team, such as scam awareness, aged care support at home information sessions, movie afternoons, and Christmas in July social events.