Our new Ministers

Premier Ted Baillieu has appointed David Davis Minister for Health and Ageing and Mary Wooldridge Minister for Mental Health.

Ferntree Gully MLA Nick Wakeling is the new Parliamentary Secretary for Health.

Minister Davis hit the ground running – on his first day visiting Barwon Health, Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds campus (the proposed site for a new $85 million hospital) and the St John of God Hospital (which is undergoing a $56 million expansion) for briefings on Geelong’s health needs.

"It’s a priority for me to have a clear understanding of what needs to be done to deliver a world class health system," Minister Davis said.

"I’m passionate about helping Victorians and the health sector is critical in doing that. Not only in keeping people well but in healing those who are ill".

"It also plays a very important part in our economy."

Minister Davis said the key priority was the development of a 12-year plan for the Victorian health system – the Health Services Plan 2022.

The plan will include:

• A new Metropolitan Health Plan – to be delivered within the first 150 days of taking office.
• A Rural and Regional Health Plan.
• A 12-year capital works plan.

Mr Davis has been a member of the Legislative Council since 1996, representing East Yarra Province and, since 2006, the new Southern Metropolitan Region.

Minister Wooldridge was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2006, representing the electoral district of Doncaster.

She is married to Andrew Barling, a surgeon, with a son, Jamison, 5, and they live in Donvale.

Ms Wooldridge was born and raised in Melbourne and is the youngest of four children. She graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honours in 1989.

In 1994, Ms Wooldridge completed a Master of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School.

Michael Wooldridge, a former Australian Federal Minister for Health is Ms Wooldridge’s older brother.

Between 2001 and 2005, Ms Wooldridge was chief executive of The Foundation for Young Australians, a not for-profit charitable trust.

In 2002, she was awarded the new Chief Executive Officer award in Equity Trustees National Nonprofit CEO awards for this role. Ms Wooldridge has also been a finalist in the Telstra Business awards.

Ms Wooldridge has chaired the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Homelessness, advising the Federal Minister for Family and Community Services on matters relating to homelessness.

She has been a Director of the Breast Cancer Australia Network and is a current Director at the Otis Foundation, a network of rural retreats for women with breast cancer.