A message from the CEO

Welcome to the refreshed Painaustralia newsletter, Pain Matters, and thank you for being part of our community which includes consumers living with pain, clinicians, researchers, advocates, and supporters. As we look back on 2025, it has been a year of renewal and strengthened advocacy efforts on your behalf, marking my first year as CEO and the appointment of our new Chair, Simon Corbell, a former Territory Health Minister.

This year, we refocused on Painaustralia’s core purpose: elevating lived experience, helping to shape national health policy, and improving understanding of chronic pain. Our advocacy has highlighted the real impacts of pain and stigma, particularly as treatments become more expensive and access limited, and ensured the voices of people living with pain are heard across government consultations, submissions, and key policy forums.

The most important aspect of our work this year has been sharing the lived experience of people living with chronic pain. When our consumers speak at meetings or participate in meetings or workshops, they demonstrate how pain affects day-to-day life and how even simple tasks become difficult and how they and their loved ones are impacted.

We’re also deeply grateful for every opportunity Painaustralia has to share these stories. Being invited to speak about what people face every day is one of the most meaningful parts of our work. It helps others, including government, the media and the broader community understand that chronic pain is not invisible and shouldn’t be dismissed or ignored. Thank you to our members, supporters, and most importantly to the people living with pain who inform what we do. We look forward to continuing this work together in 2026.

Monika Boogs, CEO.