Dear Southern QLD Members,
I would like to open by expressing my sincere thanks to you all the members who have so eagerly adjusted to our move online in response to Covid-19.
The change was sudden but fortunately our branch was in a very good position to move quickly and pivot, this move could not have been achieved without changes that AusIMM leadership team had made upgrading some of the IT systems over the last 3 years in order to provide you with a better member experience.
To date we have received lots of positive feedback both on the quality of the presentations and on the ability for our members to access professional development. The highlight for us was over 700 attendees to our Covid-19 panel of experts, which received some incredibly positive feedback.
Going forward I think there will be a strong online presence maintained in combination with local meetings.
A big thank you to our branch technical committee lead by Ray Koenig who has spent a lot of time working behind the scene to identify quality speakers, develop the content and run the presentations.
Industrial Manslaughter Update
Earlier this year I sent you an email detailing the changes in the industrial manslaughter legislation which directly affect all of us working in the QLD mining industry. I was incredibly proud that we could advocate on members behalf and provide a submission to the legislative review. It was great to see all the QLD branches come together to develop the submission. A big thank-you to Harry Turner (AusIMM government relations) who did a magnificent job drafting our joint submission. It was a massive undertaking and he did and exceptional job.
Unfortunately, despite all our work in combination with the vast number of other submissions which all requesting better protections for individuals to be included, the legislation it remained unchanged. This is something we will continue to work on in the future.
We are planning on a technical meeting with a leading law firm to provide you with some generic advice on how the changes broadly affect you. Please seek you own legal advice particularly if you are in a statutory position on a mine site.
Technical Talks and Lectures
We are continuing to try to provide balanced technical programs that help you develop not only within your current roles, but also preparing you for the future. Our technical committee is in the process of planning next years calendar so if there are topics you would like included please let us know via the branch email.
Given Queensland’s low numbers of cases we are looking to hold some hybrid face to face/online meetings as well as the JK Lecture. As you can appreciate whilst numbers of cases are low, we don’t want our events to become a source of transmission and as such we will have strict controls in place at the events. We appreciate your patience until through these tough times.
There will also be a slightly higher price on these meetings as they are significantly more expensive for us to host. We are looking at finding some cheaper solutions and are working number of branches are trialling some cheaper options.
We are expecting overall prices of events to rise in the future as we have been holding them at the same rate for a number of years and we do need to make sure we are looking after members interests.
General Branch News
The branch and the AusIMM Health and Safety Society are working with resources QLD on the design of a Chartered Professional Development program for statutory officeholder in QLD. This program out of a review by the Board of Examiners. We are excited to be part of the development and look forward to proactively working with Resources QLD on the design.
Yass Marie Rutty (Branch Vice Chair) has been leading a program to get a voice for our members back into some of the leading legislative review and consultative committees within QLD. The goal is to ensure that your interested as a resource’s professional are adequality represented in developing legislation. We will be looking for members with the appropriate skills, competencies, and statutory tickets to take on some of these roles in the future.
Bernadette Currie has been working on developing our “Small Batch Meetings”. These meetings offer professionals who are traveling the opportunity to hold small technical meetings at the operations or locations that they are visiting, supported by the branch, and publicised on the AusIMM portal. The idea has been developed from an idea one of our members had at the AGM last year and was designed to increase engagement on remote sites and communities, whilst providing an opportunity to earn Charted Professional hours. The project was put on hold because of Covid, but we are expecting to kick it off in the new year. More details will be available later in the year.
Overall, our branch continues to grow our membership. As of July, we have ~2150 members, an increase of ~ 40 member since the start of the year. We have been trying to appeal to a broader range of industry professionals by providing a more diverse range of topics, whilst still providing meeting the needs of our established members. It is a fine balancing act and we have not always got it right, but we realise that more members give us a stronger negotiating position within the industry which is better for you
I wish you all the best and look forward to seeing you either in person or online soon.
Regards,
Adam Foot
Southern QLD Branch Chair
