Dr Brendan Nelson AO DUniv
BMBS ’83, DUniversity ’11
By Kate Holland
Studying Medicine at Flinders University changed the course of Dr Brendan Nelson AO’s life. It taught him the gift of problem solving, how to deal with uncertainty, a sense of his own inadequacies and that one person can make a difference to the lives of others.
Dr Nelson was thumbing through the course book for Flinders University in late 1976 when he read about applications for the then new medical school. He says his eyes popped out of his head when he realised that students who had not done advanced physics and chemistry in Year 12 would be considered, providing an outstanding matriculation result had been achieved.
A rather lacklustre Year 11 had led him to drop physics and chemistry for Year 12. To his surprise, he had close to a perfect Year 12 result and, unsure what to do, he’d enrolled in economics. By the end of his first term, however, he was bored and frustrated. He informed his parents that he was going to drop out with no idea what he would do. They were devastated but supportive.
“I took a full-time job working in the basement of Harris Scarfe on Rundle Mall, selling doors and curtain fittings. On weekends I worked at the Clovercrest Tavern in Modbury where I learnt a lot about life and working Australians, especially in the front bar. I kept thinking what I might do with my life and concluded that those who end their lives with the greatest sense of satisfaction are those who spend it in some way in the service of others. When I spotted the opportunity at Flinders, I applied immediately.”
Dr Nelson says he had ruled out medicine because he was not strong enough in ‘hard sciences’ and he is incredibly grateful that the opportunity to take it arose. “Beyond my parents and the Jesuits, it was the single most important influence in my life. To it and the remarkable men and women who pioneered the medical school and who taught me, I owe an enormous debt. Medicine gave me privileged entry into the most painful and traumatic experiences in people’s lives, to their homes, and in doing so the gift of wisdom acquired through life itself.”
He says the adjustment back into study was difficult, but he got through. “I loved medicine and the practice of it. The more we moved into the clinical from the theoretical, the more rewarding it became.” He did hit a wall in third year and when feeling overwhelmed it was a local GP, Dr Gil Blicavs, who persuaded him to stick with it.
Among the many inspiring teachers he had at Flinders, Dr Nelson says neurologist Professor Rick Burns and surgeon Professor Jim Watts stand out. He will never forget Professor Burns spending an hour speaking about the clinical mistakes he made, why he had made them and what he learned. Few people in life would ever do such a thing. Witnessing a powerful, respect-commanding Professor Watts call out a registrar who was disparaging a GP to their patient reminded him that every person is important.
A physician by training, Dr Nelson moved to Hobart in 1984 to work at the Royal Hobart Hospital. He was a resident medical officer and his wife Kate a registered nurse. He says it was one of the best years of his life, though not without some tears.
“I would do four rotations – anaesthetics, emergency medicine, obstetrics and radiation oncology. From a modern tertiary teaching hospital, I had come to one harking back to an earlier era. I learned quickly and I learned a lot. I was able to assume responsibilities that at Flinders would be at least another year away. I loved my obstetrics rotation, ran a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) as part of emergency medicine, and was also witness to death and tragedy in radiation oncology. I think it was working in the latter that the idealism, love and decency of the everyday person was fully revealed to me.”
By 1987, Dr Nelson was angry with the government and angry with the Australian Medical Association (AMA). He felt his generation of doctors were not being accurately and effectively represented and he decided to get active. He was told not to waste his time, that no one would listen, and that he wouldn’t get anywhere. It only strengthened his resolve.
He joined the AMA in 1988 and became the Tasmanian State President in 1990. After serving as the National Vice President from 1991 to 1992, he was elected unopposed as the youngest ever national president in 1993, at the age of 34. Two years later, in 1995, he received the AMA’s highest honour, the Gold Medal for “Distinguished Service to Medicine and Humanity”.
“Beyond the professional and industrial issues facing the profession along with health financing, I took the AMA into a range of health and social issues for which the profession’s voice was needed.
“Aboriginal health, tobacco control, environmental health, legal discrimination against gay people, treatment of women by specialist colleges, exploitative alcohol promotions, immunisation, drug law reform, suicide prevention, the stigma of mental illness, road trauma and others. In many of these areas we made a difference. In others less so. I am a big believer that peak bodies should try to challenge and change societal attitudes and shape the thinking of governments.”
However, it was during his second year in the national presidency that he realised he wouldn’t get any more done unless he was elected to the federal parliament. “The medical profession had invested a great deal in me. I could spend my life telling people not to smoke or not take illicit drugs, but if I could directly influence legislation, I could have a bigger impact across society.”
Mixing Medicine and Politics
From 1996 until 2009, Dr Nelson was a member of the Australian Parliament, and although it was health that drove him there, henever became a health minister despite being asked.
Mid-2005 at dinner after a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister John Howard enquired if he would be interested in moving from Education, Science and Training to Health. He said yes, “but only if you want reform, not someone to run it”. Six months later, he was moved to Defence.
This move was in 2006 when troops were deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He also oversaw major defence acquisitions, including ships, helicopters and fighter jets. He was elected leader of the Liberal Party of Australia and federal Opposition from 2007 until 2008.
Dr Nelson credits his time at Flinders for much of his ongoing success. “I didn’t fully appreciate the quality and value of my Flinders training and medical degree until I had graduated and moved on. Our basic training equipped me superbly for critical intellectual interrogation of facts, problem solving, treating others with respect, teamwork and practical skills second to none.”
He has leveraged this training post-politics too, as the Australian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the European Union and NATO, and as Director of the Australian War Memorial. He is currently President of Boeing Global and an Executive Vice President of the Company. Based in London, he oversees all of Boeing’s operations, strategy and growth outside the US. He also serves on the Executive Council of the Boeing Company.
Accolades and Advice
Dr Nelson’s biography is teeming with honours which he says are humbling in every possible way, truly deserved more by the many men and women with whom he worked and “bled for our common causes”. Yet, his immense achievements cannot be denied.
He was awarded an Honorary Doctor of the University from Flinders in 2011 and has since received honorary doctorates from the Australian National University (2017) and the University of South Australia (2019). Among many other accolades he was awarded an honorary fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his services to the community, the Parliament of Australia, diplomacy and cultural leadership. He is even an honorary citizen of the Belgian city of leper/Ypres, and in 2021 was appointed Commander of the Order of the Crown for his service to the Belgian people.
Dr Nelson says the foundations of this success were taught to him by the Jesuits at Saint Ignatius College, where he completed his last two years of schooling.
“Their impact on me was transformational and set me on my path in life. ‘Success’, they said, ‘would be built on four values – commitment, conscience, compassion and courage’. I would need all four for what lay ahead.”
He has plenty of sage advice of his own for young people of today: keep an open mind, nurture and protect the inner integrity of your intellect, remember that character is everything and imbue yourself with the imaginative capacity to see the world through the eyes of others.
“Should you want to contribute to a better world and find fulfilment, study medicine.”