Chief Executive Officer

 

• Lead a 177-year-old rural health service
• Shape its role in a new regional network
• Coastal Victoria, Port Fairy and Koroit, in the South West

The organisation

Moyne Health Services (MHS) is the public health service for Port Fairy, Koroit and the surrounding communities of Victoria’s south west. Established in 1849 and incorporated under Schedule 1 of the Health Services Act 1988, it delivers acute and urgent care, telehealth, residential and home-based aged care, and a broad community health program from two campuses to a catchment of more than 14,100 people. It is one of the region’s largest employers, with 301 staff (220.9 full-time equivalent) and 74 volunteers. In 2024-25 MHS delivered an operating surplus of $1.296 million on revenue of $29.8 million, achieved acute care accreditation with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, completed NDIS certification and recorded a strong governance audit. Its purpose is simply put: Best Care, Every Person, Every Time.

The opportunity

Reporting to the Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer leads the organisation under delegated authority and is accountable for delivering the Strategic Plan 2025-2028 and the annual Statement of Priorities agreed with the Secretary of the Department of Health. Five General Managers report to the role: Care Services, Quality and Risk, People and Culture, Community Health, and Support Services. This is a considered succession into a well-run service, not a turnaround. The task is to protect continuity and momentum while building the capability the next few years will demand. In July 2025 MHS became a founding member of the South West Local Health Service Network, one of twelve established under the Department of Health’s Health Services Plan, and its Strategic Plan is explicit that MHS intends to lead within that Network rather than simply participate in it. The incoming Chief Executive will:

• Represent MHS within the South West Network and deliver on the Statement of Expectations.
• Build on the return to operating surplus and manage a circa $30 million revenue base across state funding, aged care, community programs and capital.
• Lead the aged care agenda under the new Aged Care Act, including the Support at Home transition and 82 residential beds across two homes.
• Assure clinical governance across acute, urgent, residential aged care and community services, and maintain accreditation.
• Work with the local medical clinic and visiting medical officers to sustain medical cover for the community.
• Communicate openly with a community that expects to be told the truth plainly.
• Attract, retain and develop staff in a thin rural labour market, and build succession beneath the executive.

About you

• An experienced health or human services executive. Senior leadership in rural or regional health, acute care, aged care or integrated community health.
• A financial and clinical governance steward. Assured command of both, with the statutory reporting obligations of a public health service well understood.
• A network leader. The credibility to represent a small rural service among larger neighbours, and to negotiate shared arrangements without losing local identity.
• Politically astute. A sound read of the operating environment, the direction of reform, and Department of Health and Network dynamics.
• Current in aged care. The new Aged Care Act, the strengthened Standards and the Support at Home transition.
• A plain, honest communicator. Visible and accessible across two campuses and in the community, including when the news is unwelcome.
• Ready to make the South West home. Port Fairy and Koroit, around three hours west of Melbourne.

Living and working in the South West

Port Fairy is a coastal town of around 3,900 at the mouth of the Moyne River, with one of Victoria’s largest fishing fleets, fifty buildings protected by the National Trust and a folk festival that has run every Labour Day weekend since 1977. Koroit sits twenty kilometres away on the rim of Tower Hill, one of Australia’s most complete surviving examples of an early Irish settlement. Warrnambool, 29 kilometres east, provides specialist healthcare, a Deakin University campus, South West TAFE and secondary schooling, with five V/Line services a day to Melbourne. The Board’s preferred candidate is recommended to the Department of Health, and the appointment is subject to final sign-off by the Secretary.

More information

Download a comprehensive briefing pack from the right-hand side of this page.

How to apply

Searchlight Group is assisting Moyne Health Services with this appointment. To apply, please upload a cover letter addressing your relevant skills and experience, together with a current CV, via this webpage. For a confidential discussion, contact Michael Holdway on 0400 006 513. Contact Michael Holdway · Managing Director, Searchlight Group
Mobile: 0400 006 513
Email: michael@searchlightgroup.com.au

Applications close

Midnight on September 20th 2026.

Closing Date: September 20, 2026