President's Report July 2019
Welcome to the first President’s Report for Greenlife Industry Australia. This is the first of the regular updates I will be providing to keep you informed of the activities of Greenlife Industry Australia.
I want to start by congratulating fellow Greenlife Industry Australia Director, Josh Byrne and the Gardening Australia team for taking out the Best Lifestyle Program at last month’s Logie Awards. Josh is a great advocate for greenlife, green spaces and sustainability and a huge asset to our new organisation.
It has been a busy start to the new financial year with the Board hitting the ground running.
On 8 July the Directors voted for the President and Vice President for our new national body. We discussed the roles at length and considered it was important for the positions to focus on ensuring the smooth transition of operations from NGIA to Greenlife Industry Australia; while also seeking opportunities for the new association. On this basis Brian Acworth was appointed Vice President and I, as President.
The Greenlife Industry Australia Board will now actively seek to fill the two Director vacancies. The process for nomination will be managed in accordance with our constitution and will be communicated widely. There are specific skills required for the positions and interested parties will need to address those in their applications to the Nomination Committee. Watch this space for more details.
I want to assure you that I am committed and focused on the successful operation of Greenlife Industry Australia. I am confirming that I will be stepping down as President of Nursery & Garden Industry Australia (NGIA) at their next Annual General Meeting.
However, while the priority for Directors is Greenlife Industry Australia, we also recognise the ongoing importance of NGIA which serves as the recognised body for our levy; is a signatory to the EPPRD and continues to deliver its contracted obligations with Hort Innovation particularly around biosecurity, IPM and industry statistics. We are confident that the relationship and activities between the two Boards will be effectively managed through this transition period by CEO Peter Vaughan and staff.
I should note that in accordance with the Information Memorandum (IM), the document on which Members voted, assets and employees of NGIA are to transfer to Greenlife Industry Australia. And, we continue to refer to the IM to ensure the intent of transition activities, immediate priorities and recommendations made under the National Reinvention Project are addressed.
During our meeting, I was very happy to see the list of Membership Applications for Greenlife Industry Australia and am pleased the applications have been received. As mentioned in the Week 3 Report, Peter Vaughan will be making personal contact with each of you in the coming weeks.
The Directors and staff are eager to provide tangible member benefits to businesses and associations across the country and we have begun discussions with several service providers to deliver a range of opportunities for Members.
While the tangibility of your memberships rates highly among our activities, we are very aware of the promises made to industry during the National Reinvention Project to develop markets, reduce costs and protect investments.
Developing the Greenlife Industry Australia association strategic plan is key to delivering on that promise. Dates have been set aside in October for this two-day workshop which will include participation from key industry stakeholders. We will share details of this workshop in due course.
I want to thank you all for your kind words of support during this establishment phase. Many of you would be aware Greenlife Industry Australia is going to be a dynamic and flexible association and there is much work to be done with limited resources and time. We want to get it right and we thank you for your patience while we make sure we do.
You will no doubt have questions or suggestions for us as we continue. Please send your questions and feedback directly to peter.vaughan@greenlifeindustry.com.au. Further, if you’d like to meet with one of the Greenlife Industry Australia Directors, contact the office on 1800 252 468 and we will arrange a time for you to catch up.
I will be travelling this month beginning with Green Expo and the SIAP Meeting on the Gold Coast next week and I will be in Adelaide in the third week of August visiting Members. Please come and say hi.
Karen Brock
President, Greenlife Industry Australia
Brocklands, TAS