LAA#140: Don’t let it be forgot

“If you are reading this, I am no longer President”

Don’t be alarmed members, at the AGM in October; a new board was elected for a two year period. It was pleasing to have had the need for a vote for the national board, as it meant that there was an excess of candidates willing to volunteer their time to give back to the membership.

I attended the REFORM national conference in Sydney, in late August. There were high quality presentations by all speakers. Though numbers of attendees were down on usual, the big benefit was that all delegates were able to have excellent access to the speakers during breaks and during the vigorous Q & A sessions.

The research work that AILA has been doing was very well received. Research by our partners, such as CSIRO, was also praised. I was particularly taken by John Mongard’s presentation, and, with reference to this issue of LAA, his input to master planned communities. I think we all rather hoped that his model for the Hervey Bay hinterland could form a model for future new housing estates. Sadly, his proposition was scuppered by the GFC, and is now out of favour with more risk averse developers.

A very pleasing comment from the floor was “We are AILA”. No truer words spoken over the whole event. Each of us is only one member, be they a president, a board member, a recent graduate, and, (for the second time in my case) an ex-president. We all have differing views and all our views are valid. But individually we have only one voice and have no more respect due to us than we display to others.

The role of the board is to steer the limited resources of our members through a middle path to satisfy a very broad membership base. Not to favour any sector of our profession but to seek to allow all sectors to be recognised, and to grow. We were reminded at the conference of the breadth of practice undertaken by our members,both geographic, public and private sector, small and large scale. Many members work at Kongian Yu’s scale, but more do not. Perhaps not enough of us get down and dirty with the community as much as John Mongard has done over his career.

The board has been active over the past two years, under Niall Simpson’s presidency, particularly with engagement with public sector members. Niall and Paul Harding led in this area, but, much more needs to be done. I am pleased to hear of specific moves to advance membership opportunities in the public sector in NSW and the ACT. This is one of the many tasks for the new board to continue to develop.

I wish to make a public thank you to many people, for their contributions over the past term of the board, and also to those I have served with at various times in my ten years on the board since October 2003. In particular to the National Presidents, Noel Corkery, Tony Cox, Mark Fuller, and Mandy Rounsefell, and of course to Niall Simpson. The position brings with it great responsibilities and great opportunities, and while it can often be a thankless task, generally I expect all those ex-presidents would concur that the balance is in the positive. I also want to thank all the National Office staff over that period, researcher Catherine Neilson , Petra Wiesner, acting CEO, and last but not least, Paul Costigan, former CEO.

Paul Costigan was the executive director, then CEO of AILA from 2001 – September 2013. Paul took the AILA from an association of like-minded professionals to an organisation that is punching far above its weight among the design professions. AILA’s policy work is respected by IFLA and admired internationally. Over the years, under his care and guidance the AILA developed a sound administrative and financial base. This has allowed the development of a clear vision and mission statement followed by an ever expanding suite of policies to assist members in their advocacy work.

Similarly, Petra Wiesner has developed a comprehensive understanding and awareness of the profession and its members. Petra has demonstrated a level of commitment and passion for the AILA in supporting the CEO, Board members and the general membership that is far above the expectations and duties of her employment. This commitment has been further demonstrated during her time as acting CEO, capably taking on the extended duties that this entails.

One area where AILA is not delivering is in the recognition of women as equal members of the profession. AILA (like all other membership-based organisations) needs to address the disparity of pay rates between the sexes over a career. I note that a firm of Actuaries, Rice Williams, is proposing to pay women an extra 2% superannuation, on top of the Superannuation Guarantee Levy, in a move the Human Rights Commission considers a ‘special measure’ to redress gender inequality. How about that for starters employers?

Finally, and apologies to those outside the beltway, and mixing some metaphors and quoting Joni Mitchell’s Big Yellow Taxi, (cited by Rob Cooper as the last conference got underway): “ You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”.

Don’t let it be forgot

That once there was a spot

For one brief shining moment

That was known as Camelot!