Brent Fletcher has been elected as the new President of Housing Industry Association in Queensland.

Warwick Temby, HIA Executive Director said “Brent brings an enormous depth and breadth of experience to the role of President.

“Brent has worked with HIA member Ausbuild since 1994 and is their Planning and Design Manager.

“In this role Brent has had daily exposure to all of the issues that confront HIA members in trying to run successful businesses in the increasingly complex residential building industry.

“Brent’s experience has also been brought to bear on the national stage where he has contributed to HIA’s planning and environment policy development for many years”. 

Brent said “I am absolutely committed to delivering a more efficient and affordable industry for HIA members and their clients.

“Through my involvement with the intricacies of land development and building I am acutely conscious of where complex and ineffective regulation is adding unnecessary cost to the industry’s capacity to deliver an affordable home for Queenslanders.

“One issue that I plan to actively pursue is the dire need for a State-wide housing code to remove layers of red tape and cost that comes from every local council having different rules around what can be built and where. HIA has estimated that the lack of this consistency is costing the Queensland economy around $200m a year, a cost that has to be passed on to home buyers.

“I’m really looking forward to the challenge of addressing this and other housing affordability issues that plague the industry”, Mr Fletcher concluded.

This media release was sourced directly from Housing Industry Association and was written by Warwick Temby. 

The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) is pleased to announce that Eva Scheerlinck has been appointed as AIST’s new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Ms Scheerlinck – whose appointment follows an extensive search – has been in the role of acting CEO since former CEO, Tom Garcia, stepped down earlier this month after nearly five years in the role.

Ms Scheerlinck headed up AIST’s governance and stewardship department for the past six years, and most recently led the development of a new governance code (or code of practice) for AIST profit-to-member funds, which is set to take effect from July 1, this year. She has also been pivotal in driving industry-wide initiatives to improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians, having been the inaugural chair of the Indigenous Superannuation Working Group.

AIST President Mr David Smith said Ms Scheerlinck has deep appreciation of the challenges and opportunities facing the superannuation industry as well as the leadership qualities to ensure that AIST continues to be strong and influential advocate for Australia’s $700 billion profit-to-member super sector.

“Eva is highly-respected across the superannuation industry and beyond for her significant contribution to key policy and governance debates, including her dedication to improving retirement outcomes for low income earners and disadvantaged groups – such as Indigenous Australians,” Mr Smith said.

Ms Scheerlinck said she was excited to be taking on the role of leading AIST, working with the board and staff.

“The year is shaping up to be busy and significant one for AIST, with the launch of our governance code, our ongoing work and ensure smooth implementation of the new super tax changes and, most importantly, our advocacy on default fund selection to ensure that our compulsory super system continues to offer the highest level of consumer protection,” Ms Scheerlinck said.

In addition to her past roles at AIST, Ms Scheerlinck has previous experience heading up professional associations, including six years as CEO of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, a role that saw her named by BOSS Magazine as one of seven top young executives of the year.

Ms Scheerlinck holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Law, Graduate Diploma in Community Management, as well as governance qualifications from AIST (GAIST) Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), and the University of Toronto.

This media release was sourced directly from AIST and was written by Janet de Silva.

Host your winter conference at Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort and take advantage of this special offer of $189 which includes the following:

• One night in a 2 Bedroom Villa
• Full buffet breakfast valued at $35 per person
• Day Delegate Package valued at $75 per person

For all enquires please telephone 02 4993 1806 or email us on eventscypress@theoaksgroup.com.au. For further information, please click here.  

*Terms and conditions apply. To take advantage of this rate minimum spend is $20K. Minimum of 20 pax. Valid for new bookings from April 30th to September 7th 2017. Minimum 2 night. 

One of the biggest Charity Ball Events for 2017 you will ever see. On the 12th May 2017, in support of the Act for Kids Charity, this exciting Arabian Nights-themed evening is hoping to raise much-needed funds and increase awareness for the Act for Kids Charity. The evening will boast a delicious three course meal accompanied by a five hour drink package, and raffles will be drawn throughout the night with prizes including a weekend away for two at the Kingfisher Bay Resort on Fraser Island (valued at $5,000) and a Kristina Christ Photography package (valued at $5,000) - plus there are complementary gifts for each guest.

Details are as follows:

6:30pm – 11:30pm
RNA Showgrounds

TICKETS:

$220 inc. gst per person | Table of 10: $2,000 inc. gst

INCLUDES:

3 course dinner, 5 hour beverage package, networking and a night filled with entertainment

RAFFLE TICKETS:

$20ea | 5 for $75

All proceeds from the Raffle Draw will be donated to the Act for Kids Charity.

The night will be full of entertainment such as a live band, fire twirlers, stilt walkers and belly dancers. For more information, contact Lauren on lmccarthy@ccfqld.com or click here.

Art of Mentoring is running some new small group courses this year to train Mentoring Program Managers.

Our Sydney course is coming up next month on 10 and 11 April 2017.

The Melbourne course will be held on 30 and 31 May 2017.

Who is the course for?

Current mentoring program managers, people interested in setting up a mentoring program in their organisation, for employees, members or students.

Course Outline

Mentoring Program Management requires expert knowledge and understanding of what makes mentoring programs effective. If you have all the right skills and attributes for the job but lack mentoring program experience, we can train you so you can expertly design and set up a program, then handle the administrative and pastoral care functions.

Day 1: How to design, set up and market a mentoring program

This module aims to give participants a solid grounding in the basic elements of designing an organisational mentoring program, providing a foundation for building their own programs.

Day 2: How to effectively manage a mentoring program

This module aims to give participants an understanding of how to effectively manage an organisational mentoring program, with emphasis on working with mentors and mentees and managing program events.

Course Facilitators

The course will be led by Art of Mentoring Managing Director, Melissa Richardson and Senior Program Consultant, Lisa Taylor.

Bookings

For more details and to book your place, click on either of the buttons below. If you have any additional enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact Kym Swaby, Operations Manager, Art of Mentoring on kym@artofmentoring.net. 

Book Now for Sydney 

Book Now for Melbourne 

Allen + Clarke is a public policy, evaluation and research consultancy firm based in Wellington, New Zealand. Our company purpose is to “mobilise passionate and capable people to tackle the challenges facing society”. We are a longstanding and well respected company with 36 experienced staff. Our focus is on partnering with government, private and not-for-profit organisations to lead important social change. We deliver a package of comprehensive and complementary services through our three practices (Secretariat and Programme Support; Policy and Business Change; and Evaluation and Research).

By contracting with Allen + Clarke for secretariat and programme support, our clients can expect to work with a friendly, credible team with significant experience in:

• project management
• grants and contract management for small and large programmes
• complaints management
• facilitation
• work programme development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and
• policy development and research services.

Our focus is on providing high quality, timely and cost-effective support. Our team delivers what our clients need, when they need it. More information about our work is available at www.allenandclarke.co.nz.

Please give Anna and the team a call on +64 275 646 388 or email agribble@allenandclarke.co.nz.

Deloitte – We Are Here to Help

“Deloitte is focused on helping our clients to be successful – including rapid growth, managing change, and creating sustainable organisations”.

Deloitte can add value to your organisation by taking a hands-on role in your financial operations and providing strategic insight.

As you look to grow the value your organisation can provide to its members or improve its efficiency and effectiveness of services and/or products it provides, we can help you drive this change. As a busy CEO, we can help you focus on:

• Implementing a more efficient finance administration function
• Providing timely and useful reports that will enable you to proactively make decisions and monitor organisational financial performance
• Offering insights and guidance for operational, strategic, and risk based decision making
• Build the financial skill set of your team We can support the Board by:
• • Helping you get out of the detail of the P&L and focused on the organisation’s financial position
  • Driving planning sessions and supporting the organisation through the delivery of those plans
  • Coaching the governance, leadership and delivery teams in best practices
  • Providing timely financial information, with increased transparency and clarity

Click here to download the PDF and contact Stephen Nicholas, Partner, Deloitte Private 044 953 902 stephennicholas@deloitte.co.nz.

River health is important to New Zealanders. The Cawthron Foundation acknowledges this and is delighted to announce from tomorrow it will be running the New Zealand River Awards.Cawthron Foundation taking over the New Zealand River Awards

River health is important to New Zealanders. The Cawthron Foundation acknowledges this and is delighted to announce from tomorrow it will be running the New Zealand River Awards.

Established by the Morgan Foundation and the NZ Rivers Trust in 2013, the Awards are enthusiastically supported by regional and local councils, and other key stakeholders in the freshwater space. They celebrate progress made by those who devote a great deal of science, time, effort, and money to improving the wellbeing of our rivers.

NZ Rivers Trust spokesman Andrew Gawith said the Trust and the Morgan Foundation, “wanted to find a permanent home for the Awards and Cawthron Foundation is a great fit. It has a strong scientific background in water and the resources and commitment to take the Awards to another level.”

Cawthron Foundation Chair Dr Morgan Williams explained, “the river space is important to Cawthron and the Awards are an opportunity to celebrate those making a positive difference. They are a way that we can showcase those rivers that are leading the way.”

The Most Improved River Award recognises long-term improvement based on a specific water quality indicator. Each year a different indicator is used, and 2017 will use e-coli levels, with the winner determined using monitoring data from the Land Air Water Aotearoa (LAWA.org.nz) database.

Dr Williams said, “The Awards, which are now into their fifth year, showcase efforts that are representative of a growing movement to improve waterways across our country. Many people have been working hard to clean rivers up, and their hard work is paying off. We must celebrate our champions.”

The Department of Conservation, Ministry for the Environment, and THL are past supporters of the awards and are looking forward to the relationship with Cawthron Foundation. Other supporters may come on board.

The Awards feature stories from around New Zealand about water management and the environment, as well as the Reo mō te Awa (voice for the river) Award for an individual who has been a strong advocate for rivers.

“There are many thousands of inspiring examples of individuals, communities, organisations and businesses working to restore New Zealand’s waterways. Their stories are just that – tales of people, passion, and pride in their local environment,” said Dr Williams.

Cawthron Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that works closely with Cawthron Institute. It provides impetus for scientists to progress understanding of the coastal, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.

This media release was sourced directly from Scoop.nz.co and was written by Cawthron Foundation. 

Convene 2017 is just a week away but there is still plenty of time to pre-register. The free to attend event is at Vodafone Events Centre in Manukau for the first time, showcasing the new Vector Wero Whitewater Park at the Welcome function and the Sir Noel Robinson Conference Centre, with Austin’s Food Design Events, for the Convene 2017 Breakfast. Convene offers the opportunity for association executives and teams to meet face to face with more than 100 suppliers in the conference and meeting sector - either by free flow or by making pre-set appointments with key exhibitors (from just one right through to 20) to maximise your time. The Jet Park Knowledge seminars are also on during the day - details on the Convene website.

To Register, please click here. 

Volunteering New Zealand marks World Water Day today by promoting the ways and means volunteers ensure safe and clean water both domestically and internationally.Volunteering plays a role in water quality

Volunteering New Zealand marks World Water Day today by promoting the ways and means volunteers ensure safe and clean water both domestically and internationally.

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.3 calls on New Zealanders to “improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally.”

The Bonn Call to Action from 2016 calls for volunteers to be a part of the solution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, stating “We recognise that communities must be at the centre of their own development.”

The theme of this year’s World Water Day is wastewater. UN Water, the United Nations interagency mechanism for all freshwater issues, promotes the need to treat and reuse wastewater at home, in our cities and in agriculture. Globally, over 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated and reused.

Volunteering New Zealand (VNZ) and the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) support the role volunteers and volunteering will play in maintaining water quality. Citizen scientists for example, are helping local councils and community groups by extending water quality monitoring and embracing restoration programmes.

In fact, NIWA declares that citizen science monitoring of water is a win-win for scientists and volunteers—one gains access to new data, and the other the skills and confidence to become involved in discussions over what is happening to their streams, according to a December 2016 NIWA release of a study, led by freshwater ecologist Dr Richard Storey.

Dr Storey said public participation in citizen science monitoring, has increased dramatically around the world in the past 20 years. “We think that if communities are involved with the monitoring, that will lead to a better understanding of stream values and better equip them to get involved with freshwater planning processes,” he said following his recent study.

“VNZ is excited about citizen science as it can go beyond the crowd-sourcing of their data, building partnerships between the scientists, local councils and the broader community,” VNZ Chief Executive Scott Miller says. “We see it as New Zealanders mobilising to get involved in the issues that affect them.”

This media release was sourced directly from Scoop.co.nz and was written by Volunteering New Zealand.