More details when Minutes of the
AGM become available.
MESSAGE
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Management Committee Meeting of Sunday 4 May,
2008
I count the
first meeting of the new PNGAA committee a great
success. The 15 committee members present got
through a lot of business and struck a new
direction for their activities over the next 12
months.
The first issue addressed was the committee's
own structure. This may seem rather bureaucratic
but, to achieve some rather ambitious goals, the
organisation must be capable of bearing the load
of an increasing amount of activity. To this
end, we established five sub-committees, each
with a clearly designated role and each with its
own convenor to provide leadership:
- Fellowship
and Caring - Rebecca Hopper
- Papua New
Guinea Relations - Robin Mead
-
Publications and Communications - Andrea
Williams
- History
and Scholarship - Riley Warren AM
- Finance
and Membership - Ross Johnson
Each elected
committee member is attached to one or more
sub-committees and external support is also
being sought. If readers are interested in a
specific area of sub-committee activity, you can
contact the Association by email at admin@pngaa.net
and indicate your willingness to participate.
And on this website in the near future, I hope
convenors will indicate the precise scope of
their sub-committees planned activities for the
next year or so.
The committee
meeting also agreed to establish a task force to
review the PNGAA constitution. Under my
chairmanship, Harry West, Ross Johnson and
Andrea Williams will review the rules of the
Association and make proposals relating to their
refinement and improvement including the
incorporation of State and Territory branches in
the formal structure of the Association. In due
course this will require agreement from the
entire membership, and there will be ample
opportunity for discussion and deliberation
before any changes are instituted.
In terms of the
Association's external activities, the committee
passed resolutions that have generated action on
a number of important matters:
- After a
spirited debate, members agreed to support
the initiative of Chris Viner-Smith to seek
Commonwealth Government recognition of
former District Services personnel ['kiaps']
for their exemplary service to Papua New
Guinea over a period of 75 years culminating
with National Independence. I have written
to Mr Viner-Smith indicating this support.
- I was
asked by the committee to write to Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd urging the Federal
Government to financially support the search
for the Montevideo Maru, the declaration of
the site of the sinking as a Commonwealth
War Grave and the erection of a monument
commemorating the tragedy. I have done this
and issued a news release expressing the
Association's views, which was reported by
Channel 9.
- The PNGAA
has also supported a proposal from Paul
Oates and Norm Richardson that the Federal
Government establish an exchange scheme to
enable young officers from the Commonwealth
and PNG public services to exchange jobs for
short-term assignments as a means of
building understanding and transferring
expertise between the two countries. I have
written to the Duncan Kerr, the
Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Islands
Affairs, on this matter.
- I have
also written to Duncan Kerr urging the
Federal Government to redevelop the former
ASOPA site on Middle Head, Sydney as an
Asia-Pacific institution dedicated to
exchanging knowledge about important
regional issues and improving relationships
between peoples in the region.
I think you can
see from this report that the new committee has
hit the ground running in terms of its own
affairs and that it is also moving to occupy a
more strategic position in PNG-Australia
relationships by engaging productively in
proposing how the Australian Government may
itself be able to do more and do better. As each
sub-committee builds its own momentum, the scale
and scope of the Association's activities will
intensify and broaden.
If you are not
already a member of the PNGAA, I think this is a
good time to join. You can do so now using the
secure membership application form on this
website. The cost? Just $20.
Best wishes.
Keith Jackson AM
President
Papua New Guinea Association of Australia
