THERE has been a change in leadership at Lifeline South East with Michael Fuller recently instated as governance board chair.
Mr Fuller has lived in the Limestone Coast for five years and boasts an impressive resume of past community work.
Hailing from Queensland, he brings plenty of experience to the chairperson role, through both past volunteer work and his policing and education backgrounds.
Mr Fuller served in the Queensland police for 22 years, before he retired from law enforcement and finished a teaching degree, where he taught at secondary school.
“My wife and I then moved down here and that is when I got the education position out at the prison,” he said.
“I did that and then became a correctional officer – I sort of shifted across – until October last year where I got a position at as a community corrections officer with the Department of Correctional Services.”
On top of that Mr Fuller recently completed a law degree.
He said his experience in the workplace had opened his eyes to some of the people who benefit most from organisations like Lifeline.
“Obviously the demographic of people that Lifeline supports is really across the board, but I guess more than most it is those people who have those real life struggles,” Mr Fuller said.
“They might be involved in domestic violence, they might have slipped into poverty, they might have an addiction like gambling – Lifeline is that vital service which is provided to give them support.”
He has also been involved in sporting associations, both at a board level and as an umpire.
Currently Mr Fuller umpires in the Mid South East Football League, while his sporting involvement in the sunshine state was not surprisingly in a different code.
“Back in Queensland I was a rugby league referee,” he said.
“I managed to referee in the Rugby League World Cup back in 2008, so that was a great experience for me.
“I refereed women’s rugby league in the World Cup and also the Police World Cup, which was all part of the overall World Cup experience.”
Mr Fuller said he was honoured to be appointed chairperson at an organisation he has the highest praise for.
“I got the opportunity to come onto the board last year and saw the passion the volunteers bring to Lifeline,” he said.
“When the opportunity came to become chairman, it was an honour and a privilege to be able to lead such a wonderful group of people.”
