Consumer participation has been shown to improve the quality of health service decisions, systems and outcomes. To facilitate this, CHF provides consumer representatives for a range of health-related committees and working parties. 

This resource gives more information on consumer representatives: Info for committee organisers 

We are committed to identifying and training consumers who can provide valuable input as part of committees, projects and research. To ensure we can maintain the highest quality standards, as of 1 February 2023, we will be introducing a small fee to support this important work.

We can support your consumer recruitment on three different levels:

Levels What CHF does What you do Cost Lead Time
1. Promotion We advertise your vacancy via our consumer channels and all applicants apply directly to you

Interview and deal directly with consumer applicants and make the appointment

 $850 4 weeks (to enable us to promote widely to our members)
2. Recruit and Recommend

We advertise your vacancy on all our channels, collate the responses, interviews selected applicants as required and recommend preferred candidate/s to you

 If happy with the recommended candidate, you formalise the appointment $1700  6-8 weeks
3. Bespoke If you are looking to appoint more than one consumer, set up a consumer advisory panel or need to train consumers following appointment, we can quote you on a bespoke package to ensure the best outcome for your project.  TBA TBA  Depends on services required

CHF supports paid consumer roles to ensure consumers are reimbursed for their time, experience, and expertise. The current remuneration rate as per the Commonwealth Remunerations Tribunal for part-time office holders is $89.60/hour or $448/day (based on a 5-hour day), plus reimbursement for reasonable travel/expenses. In some circumstances, CHF is able to assist in facilitating the remuneration of consumers on a fee-for-service basis if the financial structure of the opportunity makes direct remuneration difficult.

Additionally, when CHF does not play a role in the selection or nomination process, the successful consumer representative cannot be referred to as a CHF nominated consumer representative.

If you have any queries, please contact us at admin@chf.org.au

[1] See Principles for the Appointment of Consumer Representatives: A Process for Government and Industry, Commonwealth Consumer Affairs Advisory Council (Treasury) Final Paper, June 2005 [https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/chris-pearce-2004/media-releases/release-principles-appointment-consumer-representatives]

Organisation Details

Organisation contact

Details of Committee

Affiliation with other organisations

CHF is a national organisation providing representatives for national committees. Some committees have more than one consumer position and may approach other organisations to fill the second seat. CHF needs to be aware of this as, except in the case of Ministerial appointments as prescribed in regulations, we do not submit consumer representatives in competition with other organisations. If you approach us for a consumer representative, we expect that the person nominated by CHF will become the consumer representative on the committee.

Remuneration for consumer representatives

CHF expects organisations to demonstrate their commitment to consumer participation by meeting the expenses incurred by consumer reps and by remunerating them for their time (see the Principles for the Appointment of Consumer Representatives: A process for Governments and Industry, Commonwealth Treasury Consumer Affairs Advisory Council, June 2005). This recognises that almost all other members of a committee will be paid for their time through their professional bodies or salaried employment. Consumers, however, frequently forego their paid employment in order to prepare for and attend a committee meeting. CHF does not put its consumer representatives in positions where they will be financially disadvantaged by their desire to improve health care.

Please confirm that your organisation will pay the following expenses, likely to be incurred by consumer representatives.

If you are unable or unwilling to meet these reasonable costs, please provide a written justification. In some cases, CHF may still consider your request but will not give it high priority.

It is preferable for you to book and pay for this on the consumer representative’s behalf.
If required due to meeting times or health state – again please book and pay on the representative’s behalf.
e.g. parking, printing, telephone calls, childcare
If adding some documentation would help us understand your request, please upload it here.
Files must be less than 6 MB.
Allowed file types: jpg jpeg png bmp txt rtf pdf doc docx odt ppt pptx odp.