Team member template pop-up: Jeff Stewart-Harris

Jeff Stewart-Harris

Board Director

Jeff is an experienced Chair, Director, Chief and Senior Executive with a passion to see individuals, teams, organisations, their boards, communities, and regions thrive - now and into the future. He has been Chief and Senior Executive for 26 years of his 32-year Queensland local government career. In addition, in an almost 10-year career in the ports sector, he held Chief and Deputy Chief Executive roles, accountable for half of Queensland’s trade by tonnage though the ports of Hay Point, Mackay, Abbot Point, and Weipa. His initial professional discipline was in public and environmental health which fuelled the thread of community health, wellbeing, prosperity, and sustainable futures to be an enduring focus throughout both careers. He has deep expertise in community advocacy, engagement, and participation, including a strong focus on mental health, suicide prevention, and first peoples’ engagement. As a strong advocate for the regions, Jeff lives in Mackay, is interim Chair of Regional Development Australia – Greater Whitsundays, and an enthusiastic participant in the Northern Australia (Qld, NT and WA) Alliance of RDAs. He has also held board roles on the Australian Mining Cities Alliance and several other regional, community and industry organisations. He holds undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in several disciplines and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Jeff was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2022 Australia Day Honours for outstanding service to state and local governments in Queensland.

Northern Queensland Primary Health Network acknowledges the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s First Nation Peoples and the Traditional Custodians of this land.

We respect their continued cultural and spiritual connection to country, waters, kin, and community.

We also pay our respect to their Elders past, present, and emerging as the custodians of knowledge and lore.

We are committed to making a valued contribution to the wellbeing of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of northern Queensland.

NQPHN’s offices are proudly on Gimuy-Walubara Yidinji and Yirrganydji Country (Cairns), Bindal and Wulgurukaba Country (Townsville), and Yuwibara Country (Mackay).