Report from the National Commodore
April 2007
Dear Commodores,
I welcome you to our National Board Meeting in Melbourne. I thank the Victoria Squadron for hosting this meeting and Commodore Campbell and his officers for arranging the organisational details.
It is disturbing to see so many reports to the Board reflecting negative, despondent, pessimistic and emotive feelings. While I accept that we have, and will always have, problems, some short term; others longer, we need to work through these in a logical, collaborative and non-emotional manner. However when we allow the negatives to weigh so heavily on us that it effects our capacity to look forward, to govern responsibly and to feel positive about what we have achieved, then this can be self-destructive.
We all need to be reminded about the positives and our capacity to work through issues will be rejuvenated. Don’t for a moment believe that we are the only organisation to be beset by disgruntled members, in-fighting, ‘axes being ground’ or negative external attitudes towards us. These are universals and by themselves cannot demean or damage us.
In the case of every ‘glum’ report I know of absolute positives that are also occurring in those regions. Just look at your own reports and these achievements are there. I encourage you to embrace and present these achievements and be proud of them.
I endorse and commend to you the spirit and content of DNACO McCombie’s report to the Board. I am sure that we have many officers within our Association who do not have as in-depth an understanding of our rules and principles of governance as they should. When we fail to inculcate these principles by example and training then we create problems for ourselves.
At this meeting we have devoted almost all sessions on Saturday to “Future Directions” in which, through presentations and workshops, we will look to future strategic planning for the Association.
At long last our waterproof binoculars have arrived from overseas suppliers and at this meeting I will give you the latest updates and an apology from our sponsor for the delay.
Since our last meeting the “Cost of Volunteering” survey, which was an initiative of the AEMVF and in which randomly selected Coast Guard members took part, has been published. It is interesting to note that the average, first response, volunteer spends about $1700 per year for the privilege. This cost is reflected in travel costs, lost wages and many other hidden expenses. While this is not really news for us it does underline the fact that cost or lack of reimbursement, is not a major factor for the vast majority of emergency volunteers.
Where the AEMVF take this is yet to be seen. Government does not seem willing to address these issues in case they create a precedent for the 8 million other volunteers in the country.
There is a lot of other very interesting data in the results and I will give you an overview, if time permits at this meeting. I have copies for anyone who wishes the full survey report.
At out last meeting I mentioned the intention of SLSA to expand their blue water operations with the support of the RNLI. Since then, an RNLI lifesaver has spent the last 6 months with SLSV, assessing the local scene. He and SLSV have met with SCO Campbell on a number of occasions and have been clearly told that we will resist, at all levels, any attempts for SLS to move into blue water operations.
I met with this same gentlemen in Sydney and he indicated that SLSA had no coherent policy or strategy to expand but wanted to explore how to best support the isolated units that they already have operating outside the surf zone.
He conveyed our position to the national hierarchy of SLSA and they admitted that they had not tried to discuss the issues with us. I have made an offer to them for just such a forum and I await their response. I believe that there is room for us to work together and mutually benefit but to compete for resources in similar areas will not be tolerated. I seek your input to this position.
I hope that we can all approach this NBM in a spirit of positive cooperation to achieve efficient strategies for the future.
Chris Gillett
NACO