Robert Batt’s interest in the disability sector started when he was a teenager. A poem by Pat Ingoldsby, ‘For Rita with Love’, influenced his understanding and, as a 16-year-old in his home city of Dublin, Ireland, he volunteered with an organisation that supported people who lived with psychological disabilities.
“It was difficult supporting people to go to the toilet, but I felt that it was beneficial work,” Robert says. “I’m very glad that at this stage of my life I am able to go back in and work full time in this sector.”
Robert’s personal connection with the sector doesn’t end there. His daughter, who was non-verbal until five years old, lives with autism.
“She is in mainstream schooling and doing very well,” he said, adding that early intervention was key.
Robert left Ireland in 2000 to go travelling, met a New Zealand woman as he roamed, and decided to date her in her home country rather have a long-distance romance. They moved to Australia in 2008 and since then Robert has worked in finance roles in the legal sector. He says that the value he hopes to bring to Gellibrand lies in his focus on planning and “getting things done”.
“I like to use an analogy with teaching,” he says. “You can think you’re doing it well, but if the children in the classroom aren’t learning, there’s no outcome. I like to head for an outcome. You might feel you’re not making progress, but it’s not until you look backwards and see where you started from that you know how much you’ve achieved.”
Robert is aware that Gellibrand, like so many organisations in the disability sector, is on the cusp of significant change as NDIS funding tightens.
“Gellibrand and others will have to become more efficient and that is just common sense, I think. It will involve everybody having good conversations and adapting, which is something I know Gellibrand is good at,” he says.
Robert adds that stories he’s heard about support workers’ long-term relational involvement with clients shows Gellibrand’s support goes much further than simply providing a service.
“The culture here is excellent and I’m really enjoying working with the various teams,” he says, knowing that his role is to help find efficiencies that complement Gellibrand’s heart and soul. He says there are many important decisions he will be working on over the next few months with the rest of the Gellibrand management team, a process he says will be all about asking the right questions.
“Then we can make good decisions that flow from those questions and conversations. Because I know we question ourselves constantly, I’m confident about the future for Gellibrand.”
