Career

Richard Smith in Focus

Richard Smith has been involved in an array of ground-breaking projects both in Australia and across the globe. Spanning realms as diverse as car care centres and Bikram yoga studios to pioneering the use of needle and syringe programs in Victoria and setting up drug and alcohol rehabs, his eye for opportunity and improvement is relentless. Now in his 60’s, his entrepreneurial and philanthropic zeal shows no sign of abating and 2019 saw the launch of a bamboo resort building project in Bali.

Career Highlights

Such a varied career carries with it an almost endless list of highlights. So in brief here are the top 11:

  1. In 2018 within the Psychology Faculty of Paramadina University in Jakarta to develop a AOD curriculum in an Honorary Roll.
  2. Established Seasons Bali and YMI in 2011
  3. Established the Hader Clinic in Melbourne 1997 and the Hader Clinic Queensland in 2015
  4. Amalgamated Self Help and Substance Use Research Project (SHASU) and the Understanding and Support Society (US Society) to form Self Help Addiction Resource Center (SHARC) one of the largest youth programs in Victoria dealing with addiction.
  5. Founding member of Australian Needle Exchange Network (ANEX) which was later to become the Pennington Institute providing drug harm reduction programs throughout Australia.
  6. Lectured at Bendigo and Ballarat Colleges in Alcohol and Other Drug Issues.
  7. Designed and implemented an Employee Assistance Program for ESSO/BHP Australia, in relation to their revised Alcohol and Drug Policy.
  8. Presenter for Victoria Needle and Syringe Exchange Program State wide Training Initiative and an early champion of Harm Reduction. Worked with Professor Pennington.
  9. Consultant to the Minister of Defence (TNI), the National Anti-Drugs Agency of Indonesia (BNN) and the mental health council in Indonesia to develop a ‘blueprint’ to deal with the drug problem in there.
  10. Roadie for AC/DC and member of a rock and roll band from Jan 1983 – Jan 1985 travelling around Australia and Overseas.
  11. Building successful car care centres in Macleod, Preston and Heidelberg which were sold on to become UltraTune.

A £10 Immigrant

Richard Philip Smith was born in the UK and travelled to Australia with his parents in 1956 aboard the MV Georgia which had been a troop carrier during WW2. Still kitted out with bunks for the troops and segregated areas for the men and women, an atmosphere of post-war austerity prevailed. At this time it cost ‘ten quid’ for an adult to migrate to the brave new world and the kids were tagged on for free.

MV Georgic

The Smith family landed in Adelaide where Richard’s father immediately found work but his mother struggled to settle into her new life. She had family in Melbourne and they eventually moved to salve her homesickness, living in the Nunawading Hostel for three years before getting a commission House in West Heidelberg.

Richard said “If you grew up in West Heidelberg you either became a social worker, a cop or a thief.”

A Pioneering Spirit

True to form, Richard, shirked convention and became none of these things, choosing a career in motor mechanics and attending the local technical college. He was offered a scholarship to become a teacher and he studied for a year before deciding he wanted to make cash and have fun, not study.

He trained through the Northland Car Care Centre in Preston where within a few short years he progressed became the owner/manager. From there he established successful car care centres in Macleod and Heidelberg which became a franchise and was sold on to become UltraTune.

Alcohol, Other Drugs and Mental Health

After 17 years of heroin addiction, Richard found recovery in 1985 which changed the course of his career, and he has spent a large part of the subsequent years working with addicts, alcoholics and their families. For the first 12 years, he worked in the public health sector, helping to develop the fledgeling services there as he recognised a significant gap in what was being provided.

He was an integral part of countless different projects ranging from co-authoring the Australian Drink Driver Education Policy with Ed Gatt to setting up needle exchanges and methadone clinics. He also worked persistently providing community education and securing funding and developing halfway housing projects.

In 1986 he headed up a research project called SHASU (Self Help and Substance Use) after he secured funds from the Federal Government to help show that “Self Help” works. At Dandenong Hospital in 1991, he engineered and amalgamated the South East Alcohol and Drugs Services which during his time there grew from a $170,000 concern to be worth $3.1 million.

Plans for the Future

Richard Smith is currently involved in building a bamboo eco-resort in the north of Bali after a long love affair with this area of the island. A few years ago he took over a rundown, failing restaurant in Lovina on the beach and renovated it, turning it into a boutique resort with affordable yet comfortable rooms staying true to the old Bali style. The success of this has kicked off an interest in property development.

The Hader Clinic, Richard’s business in Melbourne continues to go from strength to strength and has just been granted a Private Hospital licence and is upgrading its accreditation to NSQHS standards. He also continues to work Pro Bono with the Indonesian government and is vice chair of the ICARO which aims to increase the quality of drug rehabilitation in Asia.