About

With such an abundance of evidence to inform sensible national policy-making in health, why does it seem so hard to convert solid evidence and theory to sound policy practice?

Mark Cormack and Charles Maskell-Knight, who combined have over 40 years’ experience as senior health and public policy practitioners in the Commonwealth, State and Territory public sectors, present a short seminar and reflections on the connection / disconnection of evidence, theory and practice drawing on a series of recent cases.

Bios

Mark Cormack

Mark Cormack was appointed Honorary Professor at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Health and Medicine in 2020, following a long career in the Commonwealth, Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and New South Wales (NSW) Government services. His professional background covers early work as an allied health professional, and health services manager.  Mark Cormack has served as a Chief Executive (ACT Health ; Health Workforce Australia) and Deputy Secretary (Commonwealth Departments of Health, Veterans’ Affairs and Home Affairs) and has had portfolio responsibilities covering a wide spectrum of public policy. These included national health policy on mental health, health financing, primary health care, public hospitals, health technology assessment, health and medical research, health provider compliance, health analytics and digital health.

As Deputy Secretary Australian Department of Health he managed intergovernmental relations at the Commonwealth, State, and Territory levels, working on National Health Reform Agreements and numerous National Partnership Agreements. In the area of national program delivery, his work spanned Medicare, Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, National Blood Supply, Primary Health Networks, Public Hospitals, Private Health Insurance, and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). In the area of national health workforce, he led policy, planning, clinical training and workforce reform as the CEO of Health Workforce Australia, a Commonwealth statutory body reporting through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) structure. In international health, Mark was Australia’s delegate to the OECD Health Committee and WHO Western Pacific Region.

He worked as Deputy Secretary in the area of border security, detention and offshore programs to manage irregular maritime arrivals and visa compliance at the (then) Department of Immigration and Border Protection (now Home Affairs). He was also responsible for Australian Defence Force workers compensation, veterans’ policy and program delivery through the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mark’s areas of interest include public policy and administration; health system governance; health services programs, financing and delivery; health workforce and interfaces with higher education and regulation; and Commonwealth, State and Territory government relations and agreements. Mark is currently undertaking a PhD at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy which is researching intergovernmental health agreements in Australia.

Mark has a Master of Health Management from the University of Wollongong, Bachelor of Applied Sciences from the University of Sydney, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Current appointments include

• Honorary Professor at the ANU College of Health & Medicine
• Non-Executive Director, Leukaemia Foundation of Australia
• Associate Editor, Australian Health Review
• Principal at MCA Consulting

Charles Maskell-Knight

Charles Maskell-Knight retired in 2021 after over 40 years in the Australian Public Service, including 30 years working on health and aged care policy.   After completing a Master of Public Policy in 1987 focussing on health policy, he worked on health financing in the Department of Finance.  Following a secondment to the Department of Health in 1990 to work on the National Health Strategy led by Jenny Macklin, he joined the Department permanently in 1994. 

For the next 25 years Charles worked at a senior level across a wide range of health policy areas, from gene technology and assisted reproduction regulation to hospital financing and private health insurance. In 2019-21 he joined the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety as a senior adviser.

Charles has a deep knowledge of the Australian health policy environment, and of the linkages between different elements. He has worked extensively with State and Territory Governments on hospital and dental funding agreements, as well as shared regulatory responsibilities such as gene technology and therapeutic goods.  He has also worked with a wide range of private sector health bodies, including medical and dental organisations, private health and medical indemnity insurers, hospital groups, therapeutic goods suppliers and advertisers, and consumer groups. 

Over the last twenty years Charles has been the principal policy person involved in a number of major projects transforming policy into law, including the Medical Indemnity Act 2002, the Private Health Insurance Act 2007, the 2008-2010 redrafting of large portions of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1991, and the National Health Reform Act 2010. In 2013 he was awarded the Public Service Medal for his contribution to the development and implementation of the 2011 National Health Reform Agreement.  

He has provided policy support to a number of health sector reviews and inquiries, including the Macklin review, legislated reviews of the Gene Technology Act and private health insurance prostheses arrangements, and a range of Ministerial advisory committees.  In these roles he directed and carried out research programs, produced discussion papers and conducted public consultations, and was responsible for drafting substantial sections of final reports.

In 2008 Charles worked as chief of staff for a junior member of the Rudd Government, responsible for administering the office, liaising with the Department to ensure adequate and well thought through advice, and drafting many speeches and more sensitive correspondence. 

Since retiring he has been a regular contributor to the Croakey and Pearls and Irritations blogs, writing on health and aged care policy issues.