Chair of the Mental Health Council of Australia

Keith Wilson has been Chair of the Mental Health Council of Australia for three successive terms, from 2002-2005.
He is a former teacher, Anglican Priest and Member of the WA Parliament.
In 1977 Keith was the first clergyman to be elected to the Western Australian Parliament. During his Parliamentary career he held several Ministerial portfolios including Housing, Community Services, Aboriginal Affairs, Youth and Seniors. He was the WA Minister for Health for five years.
Keith has extensive experience working on hospital boards and the community non-government sector. Since leaving the Parliament he has been a member of the Advisory Council for Disability services, the Wa Government’s Mental Health Taskforce, and of the management committees of the Mental Health Fellowship of WA and Carers WA. He is Patron of the Learning and Attentional Disorders Society of WA. Keith also served as a member of the National Governing Board of St. John of God Health Care for 10 years.
Keith is currently the President of the WA Association for Mental Health. Recently, he was awarded a Centenary Medal for services in Government to people with mental illness.
Keith began his career as a teacher at Mt Barker Junior High School in 1956 and was then ordained as an Anglican Priest in 1962 and worked as a Curate in the Parish of Scarborough.
From 1965 to 1967 he taught at secondary schools in London while qualifying as an Outreach Youth Worker. On return to Australia he was appointed Parish Priest in a new Public Housing Estate at Balga in Perth's northern suburbs where he became founding President of the Balga Civic Association.
Keith has been married to Angela for 37 years. Their younger son who has lived with a mental illness since he was 12 and is now 33, lives at home after many attempts to find adequately supported accommodation. Their older son, Martin is a film director.