AIMS President Peter Murday's Opening address.

 

"Welcome one and all to the 29^th AIMS Council meeting. It is good to see everyone here together again. May I also take this chance to welcome new council member Russ Behan from Queensland.

I make mention here of the absence of the Tasmanian state representative Anne Rutherford who tendered her resignation to the executive last Friday (07 August 2015). The executive thanks Anne for her input over the previous 12 months. We would also put on record our thanks for her organization of the AIMS conference and dinner.

It also means that Tasmania will be represented by Brian Peters at this Council meeting.

Last year in Adelaide we stated it was the intention of this executive to continue to take the AIMS Council and AGM to Ports far flung. This we have done – despite some earlier doubts from a few members. 

As it was in Adelaide – this is the first AIMS Council meeting to be held in Hobart in those 29 years. Tomorrow the 29^th AGM will be held here. The following two days will see our Conference and Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner held as well. It will be a big few days for the executive and council members.

The conference has some very high profile industry speakers presenting and delegate numbers are very good. The dinner is extremely well attended and I am sure we are all looking forward to the presentation of Awards for the various categories.

We came away from the Adelaide Council meeting with the full support of the Council move the Institute forward.

Two important areas highlighted were the development and marketing of the RTO and the Incorporation of the Institute.

Since then both have been the main focus of our efforts in 2014/2015.

The growth of both the RTO and AIMS membership caught us somewhat unawares. The workload on the EO increased dramatically. A part time admin person was brought in to assist. Outside assistance was also sought from a variety of people – mainly to do with the accounting and taxation aspects. 

I can say we - both as an executive and an association - were not adequately prepared to handle such rapid change. 

Membership numbers have increased to 322. Up some 271 from 2014 and 215 in 2013. A fair percentage of the increase can be attributed to new “student members”. This is not a bad thing in the long term as hopefully they will stay on as members once they have graduated.

There have been questions asked as to whether we were too focused on the pursuit of growing member numbers at the expense of member quality.

I remind all here that one of the prime objectives of our Association is:

“To provide a body of knowledge arrived at from lengthy periods of theoretical and practical training, in conjunction with extensive practical experience”.

It is my belief that increasing membership of the Association will only lead to improvement in the overall competency and quality of members in the long run.

In time this will be achieved by the gradual implementation of CPD and the requirement in time for all members to hold some formal qualification through the RTO. 

In closing – we move forward in 2016 with the following goals firmly in sight:

1.    Improving industry standards for the betterment of all

2.    Making the AIMS to peak surveyor body in Australia

3.    Growing the RTO to provide the necessary training packages required by our industry both now but importantly in the future

4.    Communicating with the membership to enable the provision of such benefits as they want

5.    Provide proper forums for such matters as dispute resolution and complaints against members

6.    Develop an enforceable Code of Conduct and Ethics

7.    Conduct a full review of membership categories

 Some of these goals are carry-overs from last year. We need this year to establish working committee’s to assist with some of these goals.

With all this comes the necessity to provide much more assistance to the EO – by way of an office and additional staffing.

In a few minutes I will hand over to our EO who will summarize what has been achieved since the 2014 Council in Adelaide and also provide us with all the necessary information upon which you can base you decisions – membership numbers, the state of the treasury, how our day to day operations have changed and will change, the expected growth of the RTO and the provision of CDP. 

The audited accounts for 2014/2015 – when presented will show clearly how quickly the Institute has grown in the past 12 months. A new business plan will be presented for the next financial year for your consideration and input.   

There are two major decisions to be made here at this council meeting.

The first is to make plans for taking the proposed changes to the Constitution to the membership via a special resolution.  This has to be done as soon as possible so that we can complete the Incorporation process.

The second is the future of the RTO in light of the above changes and in light of continual negative feed-back from some areas of the membership over the past two years.

The RTO concept needs total support from the executive, council and ultimately the members. The question posed is simple – does AIMS want the RTO – or not?  

I now declare the 29^th Council Meeting open.

Without further ado I shall move on:

1)   Are there any apologies?

2)   To the Minutes of the previous Council Meeting held on the 14-15 August 2014. You should all have a copy of these. If there are no additions or corrections I ask that they be accepted.

 I will now hand over to the Executive Officer who will explain the order of business.

For the record - notes from 2014 Council address:

When Steve Beale handed over the mantle last year his parting words at the AGM were - I have achieved my goals for AIMS by way of:

 The plan we now follow was born in 2006 when the theme “Going Forward” was adopted. The aim of “Going Forward” was to enhance the industry profile of AIMS and thereby promote its membership.

In 2008 “Going Forward” was replaced by the “3E” project – Energising, Educating, Exclusivity - designed to increase the participation of AIMS members with the wider industry, develop Codes of Practise and self education, and to promote the quality of surveying services offered by members.

2011 saw the first discussions about the appointment of a “business development officer”, the search for a replacement for long serving Admin Officer Capt. Mike Bozier, the potential of the newly passed Domestic Commercial Vessel Law for AIMS members and Quality Assurance.

In December 2011 a submission in favour of the RTO was received by the executive. The author concluded his submission with this sentence – “If we don’t change things then I fear AIMS will become like the Master Mariners has become over the last few years, where retired old sea dogs go to chat and relive old times”.

At the May 2012 executive committee meeting a proposal to employ a BDO was put forward. The 2012 Council and AGM agreed that the executive seek out and appoint a suitable “EO”, investigate becoming an RTO, move ahead with an AIMS website, broaden membership types and consider affiliations with organizations that supported the AIMS vision.

In April 2013 Susan Hull was appointed as our first EO.

In August 2013 the Council agreed unanimously to move forward with achieving RTO status and obtaining QA. The new AIMS Logo and the AIMS website were launched.    

In 2013 the “3E’s” were replaced by “Talent, Integrity and Excellence”.   

At both the 2012 and 2013 Council achieving RTO status was unanimously supported by the executive and council. The Council deliberations and decisions were then presented at the AGM’s for comment from the membership.

The business plan finally adopted - AIMS Business Plan – Version 5 – issued on the 29^th January 2013 - clearly identified the need for the provision of education and training in our industry and the growing importance of professional development and ethical practices."