PHARMACY Guild of Australia members in NSW and the Northern Territory are set to go to the polls to elect Branch Presidents for the next three years, with the presidencies of the other State and Territory Branches already decided.
In NSW, incumbent Branch President, David Heffernan, will seek to retain the position in a race against Branch Vice President, Paul Jones, and Tim Hewitt, who is returning to the Branch Committee for the first time in six years.
The NT Branch will see Peter Hatwell and Travis Linsay, vie for the Presidency, with current President, Terry Battalis, stepping down.
The Australian Electoral Commission has confirmed the presidencies of the six other branch committees have not been contested with five current Presidents retaining their positions - Simon Blacker (ACT), Nick Panayiaris (South Australia), Trent Twomey (Queensland), Anthony Tassone (Victoria) and Andrew Ngeow (Western Australia), with incoming Tasmanian Branch President, Helen O'Byrne trading places with John Dowling, who will become Branch Vice President alongside Katie Hayes.
NSW is the only branch where members will be asked to cast their votes for each available Committee position, with six candidates - Mario Bartone, John Black, Catherine Bronger, Judith Plunkett, Rick Samimi and Adele Tahan - running for three Vice President positions, with Black the only one of that group not putting his name forward for one of two National Councillor roles.
Plunkett and Tahan have also nominated to run for the state's three Alternate National Councillor slots, with Robert King and Luke van der Rijt also standing for those positions.
Current Victorian Vice Presidents, Grace Chong and Kin Chong, are running alongside Paul Krassaris, Angelo Pricolo and Marylyn Tstonakis, for the state's three Vice President positions.
Grace Chong will also go head-to-head against Krassaris to represent the State on the National Council.
The three South Australian Branch Vice President positons are being contested by Marc Apolloni, Irfan Hashmi, Gregory Scarlett and Paul Simmons.
Apolloni, Hashmi and Scarlett will also run-off to represent SA on the National Council, with Hashmi, Simmons, Matthew Gillespie and Rabia Kajani competing for two Alternate National Councillor roles.
Polling closes on 20 Jan.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 12 Jan 21
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