I recently attended the Institute of Quarrying New Zealand’s 47th annual general meeting and conference in Hamilton. Hamilton is located in the Waikato/Bay of Plenty region, about one hour’s drive south of Auckland, on the North Island.
I thought with our own conference coming up, I’d share with you how they do things across the “ditch”. The IQNZ AGM runs on a similar format to our AGM, that is, prior to the commencement of the annual conference. IQNZ President Gordon Laing started the AGM by recognising those IQNZ members who had passed on in the previous 12 months. A minute’s silence was held in their memory, which I thought was a nice touch. Is this something that we should consider?
He then delivered his annual review. The IQNZ has a membership of 300, 294 of whom had renewed their memberships within two months of the invoice date, so it goes to show the take-up of the annual subscription is strong. This prompts a gentle reminder to us in the IQA. Our membership invoices were sent out in July and are now due for payment. Have you paid yours? Please check, as we want to keep you as one of our members.
You may be aware that quarry supervisors and managers in New Zealand have to reach a certain level of recognised qualifications with Worksafe New Zealand before January 2016. This was one of the outcomes of the Pike River Mine inquiry. Paul Sutton has been working with the IQNZ to assist with education and training. No, it’s not an IQA takeover – we have a number of recognised Professional Development Programs that can be used by our neighbours, and we want to assist where we can in the Institute of Quarrying family. As a result, a webinar on safety management will be run in the near future, followed at a later date by a PDP on environmental management for quarries.
The IQNZ conference program runs on a similar format to ours with the Gough Cat welcome dinner after the AGM on Wednesday night, technical talks on Thursday, the Orica Partners day, a free Thursday night, technical talks on Friday morning followed by a field trip on Friday afternoon – to major road works bypassing Hamilton and Cambridge – and then the TransDiesel Awards dinner on the Friday night. Gordon Laing stepped down as President and handed the chains of office to Les Ward, of Rocktec/Southern Cross Engineering.
The other highlight of the conference was the exhibition. There were 59 exhibitors and a broader spread of suppliers, with some different products like lubricants, workshop tools, tyres, workshop consumables, and hydraulic hoses. Outside was a mobile plant display, with two brands of mobile crushers and screens, four brands of excavators, three brands of ADT trucks, four brands of wheel loaders, crusher/screen components and a forklift. The IQNZ arranged breakfast in the display area so delegates could visit all the suppliers – a concept that we ourselves “pinched” a few years ago! Most suppliers had the business card drop and prizes were drawn at the Friday morning tea, with assistance by MC Steve Davis (emceeing his 27th conference!). I won a bottle of whiskey, courtesy of Advanced Engineering.
So if you haven’t been to a NZ conference then I strongly recommend it. Next year, it will be in Blenheim, in the Malborough region on the South Island, home to NZ’s largest wine-growing region.
However, before you think too far ahead, don’t forget the IQA’s own annual conference at the Adelaide Convention Centre next month, from 14 to 17 October. Like its NZ counterpart, our conference is also packed with industry speakers, an exhibition of industry-leading suppliers and a social program with plenty of networking opportunities. And Steve Davis will be the MC! Can you afford not to attend? I particularly encourage our South Australian members and their industry colleagues to take advantage of having the conference in their backyard! I look forward to seeing you in Adelaide next month!
Until next time, stay safe!