Welcome to this edition of the combined NED Foundation / Social Developers Network newsletter. The SDN is an important part of NED, and there are also three other major programs supported by the Foundation – Restorative Practice, Transitions, and Projects/Funding. Careful financial management of Ned Iceton’s initial legacy is continuing to fund these programs and deliver results.
2026 Annual Retreat Uralla NSW January
The annual Social Developers Network retreat was held at the Uralla Community Centre in northern NSW. There were sixteen participants – eight men and eight women. Nine had attended an annual retreat, but this was the first experience for seven, including two younger people. We came from Port Macquarie, Bonny Hills, Macksville, Armidale, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and the northern NSW border/QLD.
Over four days the topics presented ranged from poetry to philosophy, from China to change, and from meditation to a music concert. Games of decision-making, legacies, labyrinths and Aboriginal histories, were all part of an exciting and varied program. As were utopias and lives well-lived, how to deal with blame, ‘a can of worms’ and a smoking ceremony. Add one famous Indigenous C&W performer and this Retreat could not have been better!
A fascinating variety of presentations was on offer, as this selection indicates:
- Our Lost Connection with Nature
- China: Past and Present
- Be the Change you want to See
- The Oven Bird
- Truth and Treaty
- Pathmakers: Markets and Meaning
- Blame! How to process it.
- Legacy – paying it forward
- Re-imagining Utopia
- Life’s Purpose, As I See It
- Uncle Roger in concert
Keep an eye on the SDN website or in these newsletters for invitations to further SDN Retreats. We will also send you an email invitation.
What can we best do to support each other?
This is the question posed by NED chair Mary Porter AM. She concedes the need to keep up-to-date but the news is often depressing. Mary says, ‘It's probably not good for one's mental health to witness the grief, destruction and economic pain. Neither is it wise to put our head in the sand and try to ignore it’. So, what can we best do to support each other? This was a question Ned Iceton returned to time and again.
In his early days, Ned was a doctor in the NT, and he maintained that we need a ‘cultural prescription' that fits the current diagnosis if we expect to maintain good societal health and effectiveness. He saw inner development and holistic community health as keys to humanity’s survival. We must act decisively in our evolutionary development if we are to survive as a species. And the way to do this is to engage in the powerful, productive and healing force of people spending time and space with each other in shared endeavors.
Ned was an extraordinary networker who spent decades making connections with people across a range of demographics and situations. He believed that by working in relationship we can collectively create stronger, more life-sustaining communities, ready to deal with the future. Here is Ned (back, left) in 2014 with just a few of the many people he loved to be with.
Farewell John Russell
It is with regret that we bring you the sad news that John Russell, friend of Ned Iceton, founding member of the Social Developers Network, long-time member of the NED Foundation Board, and a passionate advocate for restorative justice, died in palliative care in Melbourne. John was a veteran of the SDN and worked with Ned in the 1970s to establish the Network. Until recently, John was a member of the NED Foundation board. A memorial service to celebrate John's life was held in early March. The NED family joins in embracing Rosaria at this time and we thank her for her steadfast support to John throughout their life together and her joyful participation in many SDN workshops over the years.
Projects and funding
Lesley (photo above) is the NED Coordinator for projects and funding. She is currently managing about 14 projects with funding from the NED Foundation. Among these are a story-telling project in the Snowy Mountains, a transition adaptation game in northern Victoria, supporting a small group of men in prison, funding a part-time Aboriginal marketing assistant at the Armidale cultural centre, a youth centre at Deniliquin, biodiversity protection at Stanthorpe, and several projects in far north QLD.
Ned gives us the Nod
In March, the seven members of the NED Board, four program coordinators, a member of the SDN and Transitions working groups, and one facilitator, met at Dorrigo for the NED Foundation annual meeting. High on the agenda were the following items - to map out the strategic framework and implementation strategy, discuss certain governance issues, finalise a set of NED values and hear from the NED program coordinators. To create some evening fun we held a concert during which a new NED song was launched, poems were read, stories were told, and a good time was had by all.
NED values
In one of those ‘Ahh-ha’ moments, we realised the name of the Foundation, NED – ‘nurturing evolutionary development’ - could guide us in developing a set of values for the organisation.
The result looks like this:
- Nurturing
- Awareness
- Cultural safety
- Trust
- Compassion
- Evolutionary
- Curiosity
- Deep learning
- Participation
- Unfolding like nature
- Development
- Humility
- Connection
- Courage
- Accountability
Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion
At the NED meeting it was agreed that we should make a submission to the Royal Commission, focussing on terms of reference part d): (ideas) that would contribute to strengthening social cohesion in Australia and countering the spread of ideologically and religiously motivated extremism in Australia. With our aims and values, our interest in the world around us, and our daily practice, we are in a good position to make a contribution to this important enquiry.
A valuable resource for getting us started comes from Julian Hill MP, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs, in a recent speech to the McKell Institute - We've got to rediscover that spirit of disagreeing agreeably. ABC Radio National Breakfast interviewed the minister in February, and at just 9 minutes, it’s well worth a listen - here.
He says we can’t take social cohesion for granted and right now it’s under strain. It means how we live together as Australians, how we get on together. Everyone should feel they belong in Australia if they respect our institutions, sign up to our values, and respect their fellow Australians. Threats to our social cohesion include social media, toxic political movements, inequality, and identity politics. We must value the things we have in common and learn to have discussions about differences in a civil way, based on rational arguments.
The last date for our submission is the end of May so if you have any ideas, please send them to us over the next four weeks, using the contact email listed at the end.
Networking, noun
The action or process of interacting with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts.
Get in touch
If you’ve got any feedback, ideas or want to contribute articles or photos, please get in touch with the newsletter editor, Harry Creamer on the contacts below.
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 NED-SDN Newsletter April 2026 as PDF | 589.32 KB |
This newsletter was produced on the traditional lands of the Birpai and Anaiwan people.
