From the Director

David Kalisch

Hello and welcome to this mid-year edition of AIHW Access.

Long-time Access readers and followers of the AIHW may know that on 1 July 2012 we will reach the milestone of 25 years of providing quality statistics and information to the community and government.

That's right, 25 years since the (then) Australian Institute of Health was established in 1987. It's not a particularly long history as far as organisations go, but so much has been achieved since 1987 that I feel it is an honour for those of us who currently work at the AIHW to be the custodians of the Institute's proud history and indeed its destiny.

In this issue of Access you will be able to read about some of the milestones (there have been no millstones that I am aware of) in our history. Of course, the most significant governance change was the inclusion of the welfare responsibilities in 1991, and our subsequent name change to the one we have today.

Two of our current staff have been here for the entire journey—Judith Abercromby, currently Head of our Ageing and Aged Care Unit, and Joanne Maples, currently our Parliamentary Liaison Officer in the Governance Unit. Both have seen all the Institute's many changes since 1987. A number of other original staff left in recent years.

For the rest of us—AIHW staff past and present, and our clients and stakeholders—we can get a sense of the magnitude of the changes with a few comparisons between the AIH in 1987–88 and the AIHW in 2011–12:

AIH 1987–88 AIHW 2011–12 Staff 68 370 Executive (incl. Director) 5 9 Operating Units 11 41 Total revenue $3.6m about $50m Annual appropriation $3.4m $17.4m External funding $0.2m about $33m Number of websites managed 0 5 Number of publications produced 14 (start-up phase) >150 Collaborating Units 3 4

We are planning to mark this special occasion in several ways with our staff, previous staff, and former Board members.

Publicly, we will be highlighting our 25-year history through our www.aihw.gov.au website, this special edition of AIHW Access, and the next AIHW annual report. And we will certainly be acknowledging the occasion at our upcoming Australia's health 2012 conference and launch on 21 June at the National Convention Centre in Canberra.

Happy reading and here's to the next 25 years!

David Kalisch
Director (CEO)