A health scare has prompted Christopher Pyne to call time on his role as chair of Vision 2020 Australia. Insight talks to him about his time at the helm, achievements and what comes next.
Mr Christopher Pyne’s father had an ambition and scope that was as far and wide as the vast Australian outback.
The late Mr Remington Pyne was an ophthalmologist; he worked with the late Professor Fred Hollows to deliver eyecare for indigenous Australians and was part of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
Later he would be appointed president of RANZCO and played an important part in convincing the Commonwealth to take on a greater role in addressing core vision issues for the country’s most vulnerable and remote citizens.
The father’s vision extended beyond the horizon to the most remote and under-resourced parts of this huge country.
The son shared that vision and was motivated by a strong desire to continue that family legacy in eyecare and vision health.
But when the former high-profile Liberal MP and minister was appointed chair of Vision 2020 Australia five years ago, the country’s peak industry body representing more than 50 member organisations working in research, rehabilitation and service provision for blind and low-vision Australians, his own vision had to be far more prosaic.
And not by choice.
Pyne, who had held ministerial roles in defence, health, education, science and ageing as part of the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, found himself looking down from those distant ochre plains to the cold, white balance sheet of an organisation at a crossroads.
A significant contract to deliver eyecare services for the Victorian state government was set to finish.
“That was employing a large number of people in Vision 2020, and that program was coming to an end, and that was unfortunate because it meant that a large part of the budget would simply disappear,” says Pyne.
The organisation worked hard to continue that contract but was unsuccessful, which meant losing about half of its approximately 12 staff.
“So an immediate challenge was resizing the organisation to match the revenue, which is often not fun, and it wasn’t fun on this occasion,” he says.
Pyne knew from experience, including his work to help establish the Mental Health Council of Australia, that before the organisation could look outside itself to advocate for those needing access to eyecare services, it had to reconfigure its own vision and make sure it was “fit for purpose”.
“The organisation was already in very good shape, but you’ve got to sharpen the saw, as they say, otherwise it gets rusty, and that’s what I’ve set out to do in the last five years.
“The other thing I wanted to do was to try and get a skillset of people on the board that provided diversity in both backgrounds, but also in skills.”
He believes he has achieved that over the past five years and that Vision 2020 Australia is now financially sound and well placed to continue its work to raise the voice of the sector and advocate not only for its members but also the millions of Aussies they support.
Work remains on the “opportunities” for the eyecare sector, which Pyne himself highlighted at the organisation’s 21st birthday event in 2021:
• Eliminating avoidable blindness for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Enabling people who are blind or vision impaired to fully and seamlessly engage with everyday life using readily available and funded technology.
• Delivering increased health and social wellbeing benefits that flow from investment in eye health programs for Australia’s Pacific neighbours and those further afield.
• Enhanced access to publicly funded cataract surgery and intravitreal injections which save the sight of tens of thousands of Australians.
• Working towards a health system of which eye health and vision forms an integral part of, and is managed in the same way as, other common chronic conditions from prevention through to treatment.
• Increased investment in ophthalmic research, technology and innovation.
But Pyne has done his bit to keep these at the forefront of state and federal governments.
He has brought the industry and government together in a number of meetings and events featuring ministers and even prime ministers.
Pyne says the parliamentary showcases involving the sector have been successful.
“It gets high-level attention from ministers and cabinet ministers and keeps eye health in the mind’s eye of the policy-makers. I think the relationship with the Department of Health is very strong,” he says.
“And the creation of the Friends of Eye Health in the New South Wales parliament has been a success.”
These relationships with governments are important, he says.
“Government is the funder of our sector, and they often talk to us because we provide them with good advice about what we think people in our sector regard as a priority for equity and social justice and access for people with poor vision.”
Just as important as the relationship is how it is maintained.
“Governments listen to organisations like ours who are positive and constructive, with good ideas and good policy and robust policy development.
“They know that we’re not there to whinge. Organisations that think their role is to complain soon find themselves without any influence.”
Pyne says that strong relationship has played a part in boosting the organisation’s membership during his tenure.
“The membership is the highest it’s ever been,” he says, “so that’s been good. And in the most recent survey of satisfaction from members, rates had improved by 15% since 2020, so they’re a happier group, and there’s a larger group, and that brings in revenue as well.”
Another highlight is greater collaboration across the industry.
“I think we have certainly come a long way in working across the sector in a co-operative way, in things like bringing ophthalmology and optometry together to work for outcomes in especially paediatric medicine,” he says. “And I think shining a light on indigenous eye health and empowering indigenous people to take responsibility for their own delivery of services and the attention to issues that affect indigenous Australians in particular has been a success.”
But there is still much to do, with “challenges” remaining in aged care, services for children in schools, and indigenous eye health in remote areas.
“I think the government is certainly aware of the importance of delivering services for people with eye health issues, and they do a genuinely good job.
“But I think the one I’d like to highlight is employment. There’s room for improvement in the focus from government and the sector on employment outcomes for people with poor vision . . . they are still very low in comparison to the rest of the community, and that’s not necessary, given the technology and the aids that can be employed in the workplace or even working from home.
“Because not having a job is very isolating, as well as not great for your mental health.”
His own employment is front of mind as Pyne nears the end of his tenure.
He called time on his role with Vision 2020 after heart bypass surgery and steps down in November. He has scaled back board commitments in a number of areas.
But that doesn’t mean early retirement for the 58-year-old.
“I’ll be focusing on my business at [public affairs firm] Pyne and Partners, which is growing too.
“The heart trouble, the heart scare, has been a catalyst for me realising that I should be doing less. I’m trying not to fill it up with new jobs.”
More reading
Vision 2020 Australia’s 2023-24 Federal Budget wish list
Vision 2020 Australia meets with ministers to discuss eye health issues
2023 prediction: Carly Iles – Vision 2020 Australia
