CMPA NEWS (Issue 45)
By ROGER BUCKLEY
There have been plenty of issues for the new staff of the CMPA Secretariat to address in their first few months.
THE NEW BOYS OF THE CMPA
Following the safe arrival of baby Xavier to Sarah Andrew & husband Michael in late June as well as Briony Rowley moving on, the CMPA Secretariat has two new faces within its ranks.
The last month has seen the changing of the guard with Gavin Moreira appointed as the new Administration Officer and Roger Buckley taking up the role of Executive Director.
Gavin (pictured above) is a local boy from Wallan, who has been married o Natalie for ten years and has two young boys seven year old Samuel and five year old Patrick.
He has an Associate Diploma in Business Accounting and has an abundance of experience and knowledge in finance, administration and customer service having worked for several private and public corporations. His last role as a finance officer was for a not-for-profit association dealing in risk management working for risk managers and their organisations.
The association focused on improving the knowledge and skill base of the members through education and training as well as workshops and conferences for networking with peers and suppliers.
He also has a strong affiliation with other not-for-profit member associations in the area, volunteering with the Kilmore Tennis Club and the Broadford and District Tennis Association. He sits on both committees and runs a tennis coaching business to grow the sport of tennis in the local area. Gavin’s love of tennis extends to working at the Australian Open as a supervisor of the Aviva Ball Kids Squad.
Although a new player to the extractive industry, Gavin is very keen to learn all about the quarry business and understand the needs and requirements of the CMPA Members.
“I believe the heart of any association is its members and I hope to be able to help the organisation to grow, expand and diversify its membership. I look forward to working with you all and hope to meet you in person at the CMPA Annual Dinner” he said.
Roger (pictured above) is married to Petrina with three teenage boys who like Gavin, love their tennis, working as ball boys or umpires at the Australian Open each year (what a coincidence!)
On the work front, Roger has a long history of bridging the gap between government and industry, most recently with the oil & gas producer Nexus Energy.
Prior to Nexus, Roger worked with the Victorian Department of Primary Industries, facilitating resource projects through the government approvals process and assisting major quarry developments through the Environment Effects Statement process.
He has also been an enthusiastic promoter of Victoria’s mineral investment opportunities to national and international audiences with a focus on relationship building. Roger also coordinated the production of DPI’s Discovery journal for many years.
Roger has a strong geological and resource assessment background, conducting construction sand investigations in Gippsland and regional resource assessments around the Melbourne Supply Area with the Geological Survey of Victoria.
Roger has also spent time exploring for gold in Papua New Guinea, digging up diamonds in the Kimberley and assessing beach erosion sites along the Victorian coast.
“I am looking forward to the challenge of building on the great work of Sarah & Briony and getting to know the Members over the coming period” said Roger.
2009 STRZELECKI AWARDS
The 2009 Strzelecki Awards will be presented by Peter Batchelor, Minister for Energy and Resources at a ceremony at the Hilton on the Park Hotel on Monday 17th August.
The Strzelecki Awards, established in 2005, were created by DPI to recognise excellence and innovation in sustainable development within the Victorian earth resources industries.
For the first time recognizing the special challenges that the smaller operators face, awards were available for Small Earth Resource Operations.
DPI INFORMATION DAYS
DPI is currently holding a series of Information Days around Victoria to inform industry of the recent changes in the extractive industry legislation.
An outline of the implications of the merger of the Extractives Industries Development Act 1995 with the Mineral Resources (Sustainable Development) Act 1990 and a workshop on the review of this new combined earth resources legislation are also part of the day.
The sessions to date have been well attended by industry representatives, including CMPA Members. They provide a constructive consultative forum for DPI to gain a better understanding of the issues that industry face and for industry to better understand the implications of the proposed new legislative regime.
The CMPA will continue to work with the DPI to ensure Members’ concerns are understood.
CMPA MEMBERSHIP DRIVE
Thank you to all Members who have returned the annual CMPA membership renewal forms and an even bigger thank you to those Members who have paid their subscription. The Association cannot continue to thrive without a strong and active membership base.
New Members are always welcome, with the CMPA providing great value for money, as reflected in the testimonials presented in the special 10 year anniversary publication ‘A Mosaic of Members Views’. This special publication will be available at the August AGM.
NEW ASSOCIATE COMMITTEE
In late June 2009, the new Associate Committee for 2009/10 was elected by the Associate Members.
Congratulations to the following Members who were re-elected:
Chairperson
David Batson (William Adams)
Deputy Chairperson
Frank Santoro (Orica Australia)
Committee
Mark Thompson (Oli Vibrators), Sharron O’Donaghue (Landmark Contracting), Craig Staggard (Terex Jaques), Christopher Prowse (CK Prowse & Associates) and Steve Burgess(Hitachi Construction Machinery).
VCEC INQUIRY INTO ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION
The Victorian Competition & Efficiency Commission (VCEC) is currently conducting an inquiry into the environmental regulation regime in Victoria.
The CMPA provided an initial submission to VCEC in October 2008 and later met with VCEC staff to further discuss issues raised in the submission.
VCEC recently released its draft report “A Sustainable Future for Victoria: Getting Environmental Regulation Right“.
The CMPA made a submission on the draft report, welcoming the Inquiry’s focus on streamlining extractive industry regulations. CMPA outlined how the Work Plan approval process for the extractive industry involving endorsement of the work plan and obtaining a planning permit is still imposing unnecessary costs and delays.
Further comment was made on the issues surrounding native vegetation. The CMPA welcomes the Inquiry’s findings that Victoria’s native vegetation regulations remain unnecessarily complex and costly to comply with.
CMPA supports in principle the recommendations that seek to simplify the application of native vegetation guidelines and improve consistency of decision making.
VCEC presented its final report to Government in July 2009. The Government will take about six months to consider the report and publicly respond.
FREE OHS CONSULTANCIES ON OFFER AGAIN
The CMPA has again entered into an arrangement with WorkSafe to secure a number of free OHS consultancies for extractive industries until the end of June 2010.
These consist of a 3 hour session with an OHS consultant who will develop an action plan for your business to move forward at no cost to you. Th is information is only provided in summary form to the CMPA or WorkSafe.
Any business with less than 50 employees is encouraged to apply – CMPA Member or not. As this is being funded by the State Government, this is an opportunity not to be missed.
To book a session, contact the Secretariat.
CMPA 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY DINNER
As we go to press, the Secretariat is busy making the final arrangements for the CMPA Annual General Meeting and Dinner to be held on Saturday 22 August at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel.
2009 is the 10 Year Anniversary of the CMPA and we hope this year’s function will prove to be the biggest and best yet. On behalf of the CMPA Management Committee, we look forward to celebrating the successes of the past ten years with you.
To keep us all entertained on the evening, Guest Speaker Garry Barclay, Quarry Manager at Local Mix Quarries, will be sharing the highlights and photos from an enjoyable year spent in Antarctica. Special “surprise” musical entertainment has also been booked for the night so it promises to be the social event of the year.
The dinner has been strongly supported by the Associate Members so it should be an informative as well as fun evening.
As a reminder, the event details are:
Date: Saturday 22 August
Time: 5.15pm AGM, 6.30pm Annual Dinner
Venue: Mercure Ballarat Hotel, 613 Main Road, Ballarat (opposite Sovereign Hill)
Cost: $85 per person
Onsite accommodation at the Mercure Ballarat Hotel is available and can be booked by calling 5327 1200.
Additional weekend activities include:
Sovereign Hill, Gold Museum, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat Botanical Gardens, Ex-Prisoner of War Museum, Eureka Centre and many more.
RECENT EVENTS
We attended the Earth Resources Tripartite Safety Forum to discuss current initiatives and concerns with WorkSafe, the unions and the minerals industry sector. WorkSafe informed the forum that diesel particulate matter, silica dust and noise were the three occupational health target areas for the coming year.
WorkSafe also presented their strategy for quarries in its 2009/10 business plan. This includes 400 strategic visits (double the 2008/09 visits), providing guidance on achieving compliance (haul road safety, falls from the quarry face, entering and exiting trucks), and further training for inspectors (and mentoring of new inspectors).
Met with WorkSafe to discuss their future priorities and plans for the extractive industry for 2009/10.
Met with Box Hill TAFE to discuss the future training needs of the extractive industry.
Met with Manufacturing & Engineering Skills Advisory Board to discuss the future training needs of the extractive industry.
Attended several DPI Mineral and Extractive Industries Information Days which provided a good forum for an active exchange of ideas regarding recent changes in the extractives industry legislation.
Provided submissions to the VCAT President’s Review, VCEC Inquiry into Environmental Regulation and Urban Growth Boundary review.
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