Northern Territory
Our Patron
His Honour Professor the Honourable Hugh Heggie PSM
Administrator of the Northern Territory
His Honour Professor the Honourable Hugh Heggie PSM was sworn in as the 23rd Administrator of the Northern Territory on the 2nd of February 2023.
As Administrator, His Honour represents the Crown in right of the Northern Territory. His Honour performs a similar constitutional role to that of a State Governor and does not participate in the political process.
Throughout his 50-year health career, His Honour demonstrated outstanding service and excellence in clinical practice, leadership, management and administrative fields. His Honour’s compassionate and exemplary contributions to the health and wellbeing of the Northern Territory’s population, particularly the Indigenous community was recognised in January 2021 with the awarding of the Public Service Medal (PSM) for outstanding public service to community health in the Northern Territory. His Honour has participated in overseas humanitarian disaster responses through the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre and in 2021 was awarded the Australian Humanitarian Overseas Service Medal for his contributions during the 2015 Cyclone Pam disaster in Vanuatu.
His Honour was born in Melbourne, the eldest of six children, attending Bonbeach High School. His father was a motor mechanic and his mother did voluntary work. On completion of his first degree he relocated to Sydney where he worked as a research pharmacologist and in haematology before returning to Melbourne to complete his medical training. After twenty years as a Rural Generalist Practitioner on the Mornington Peninsula Victoria, including Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Emergency Medicine and Inpatient care, he relocated to the Northern Territory with his family in 2001. He has six children and five grandchildren.
Prior to his appointment as Administrator of the Northern Territory, His Honour was the Chief Health Officer and Executive Director of Public Health and Clinical Excellence in the Northern Territory from 2016 to 2022, and an Executive Member of the Northern Territory Health Leadership Committee. His leadership and advice played a significant role in ensuring the safety of Territorians during the COVID-19 pandemic. His Honour has served on numerous boards, committees and councils locally and nationally, including Radiation Health and Digital Health.
In 2022, His Honour was awarded Full Academic Status as a Professor (Academic Level E) in the College of Medicine and Public Health with Flinders University. The Administrator holds a Bachelor of Science (Pharmacology), a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (University of Melbourne). He also has a Graduate Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology (1983) and a Graduate Certificate in Health Professional Education (2011).
His Honour has lived and worked in remote Indigenous communities and regional centres across the Northern Territory and actively promotes reconciliation with, and the progression of, Australia’s First Nations people. As Administrator of the Northern Territory, His Honour values the importance of supporting and promoting all regions of the Territory and its diverse community. He is passionate about hearing the voices and stories of all Territorians.
The Administrator and Ms Ruth Jones have been partners since 2016.