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Marion Lau

Current Occupation:

Management Consultant

Detailed CV:

Marion migrated to Australia more than 30 years ago. Since then she has held a number of senior management positions in health care agencies in the public and private sectors. Marion is skilled in health services management, human resource management and recruitment, financial management as well as public relations.
When appointed Matron/Manager of the Avenue Private Hospital in the early 1970s, she returned the proprietor’s initial capital investment within 12 months and continued to ensure a good annual profit. This led to an American-based company making a generous offer to the proprietor and eventually buying the business.

In her next role as Senior Nursing Advisor for the then Victorian Department of Health in the early 1980s, Marion was responsible (amongst many other duties) for preparing hospital budgets, staff recruitment and managing hospital industrial relations issues. In the early 1990s she was Director of Nursing at the Montefiore Homes for the Aged and implemented a number of changes without any industrial action.

In late 1995, after the death of her husband, Marion inherited his restaurant of 37 years. With literally no hospitality experience, except her innovation and lateral thinking, she managed the business very successfully for seven years. During this time she overcame restaurant culture and a negative staff attitude to a female boss, the Liquor Licence Commission, ‘depression’ in the hospitality industry after Crown Casino opened, the GST’s introduction and many other challenges faced by small business operators. Despite all this, Marion ran her business at a profit while many restaurants in Carlton and Chinatown struggled to make ends meet.

She now works as a Management Consultant through her own consultancy company. It provides a broad range of services including small business mentoring and support, aged care management, human resource management and health care information technology systems business advice. Marion's strength lies mainly in her interpersonal skills, thinking outside of the square and her capacity for hard work.

Her one strong passion is advocating for people less fortunate than herself, particularly those from non-English speaking backgrounds. She is very active within the multicultural communities and in 1996 was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) for work in the Chinese community as well as with older people generally. In 2003, Marion was awarded the Centenary Medal For services to Multiculturalism and as Chair of the Victorian Ethnic Communities Council. She was an Australia Day Ambassador in 2011 and in 2012 and 2013 was appointed a People of Australia Ambassador. Marion is a member of the Chinese Ministerial Consultative Committee and the Victorian Government's Multicultural Business Ministerial Council.

Qualifications:

• Diploma in Nursing Admin
• Registered Midwife
• Registered Nurse Division 1
• Bachelor of Health Services Admin