Welcome to 2010!  I hope all your professional plans come together and you have some exciting projects.
This year has started with a bang for the executive committee following the announcement, at the end of last year, by Premier, Mike Rann of the introduction of an Integrated Design Commission. 

It is one of the recommendations made by Laura Lee following her term as ‘Thinker in Residence’.  The terms of reference are still to be finalised and we are hoping at least one Landscape Architect will be a member. 

Discussions are well under way with the other design professions led by Australian Institute of Architects SA Chapter.  If you are interested in being nominated by the SA Group please contact me or one of the executive committee. 

Attached is a copy of the letter sent to the Premier following his press announcement.

Please bring any advocacy issues to the attention of the executive committee.  You will be very welcome to lead a response.

I would like to congratulate Aylwen Dennis, the 2009 recipient of the Rodney Beames award.  This award is sponsored by the SA Group and Hassell.  I wish her (and her fellow graduates) successful careers as Landscape Architects.  See details below.

I am heading overseas at the end of March until the end of November.  We wil be appointing an Acting President during my absence. I hope to send the occasional dispatch on places I have visited over the next eight months.

Alison Radford
President
March 2010

SpaceShaper & Healthy by Design Workshop    12th April

only 60 places available!

Flyer attached for the upcoming SpaceShaper and Healthy by Design Workshop. This is a once off opportunity as PLA were lucky enough to catch Michael Westley from SpaceShaper based in the UK on his way through Australia and tie him down for a SpaceShaper tester session.

In the afternoon we will be looking at the ideas of ‘Healthy by Design’ with two speakers for the industry sharing their experiences.

The date of the workshop is Monday the 12th of April
at the Campbelltown Administrative Building in meeting rooms 1 and 2.

SpaceShaper information sheets are also attached for your information.

                                               program and registration flyer   |  what is SpaceShaper   |    CABE Flyer

Places are limited to 60 for this session so bookings are essential.

See (link) to letter sent by the AILA SA Chapter on this important state initiative.

In conversations with members it seems that there is sometimes confusion or misunderstanding about the role of the National Council and its relationship with the State Groups. The following questions and answers should clarify some of the more common misunderstandings.

What is the difference between State Executive and National Council?

The AILA National Council is a body elected by members that has ultimate legal responsibility for the activities and financial performance of the entire organisation. Councillors have a duty to represent the membership to the best of their ability by providing leadership, setting and monitoring budgets, developing policies and identifying and achieving performance targets.

State Executives are committees of the National Council with a responsibility to provide a forum and focus for the activites of members at a local level and promote the aims and objectives of the Institute. State Group Executives are responsible to the National Council through a financial registered member of the Institute elected by the State Group as President. AILA is, however, one legal entity.

Don’t National Councillors represent the State Executive?

No. Councillors are not representatives of the State Groups, State Executives or individual members. Councillors act as individuals with primary responsibility to the membership as a whole, but not to any individual member or group of members. Councillors are elected for a two-year period and at least one Councillor must come from each State, the ACT and the NT. As a National Councillor I have a responsibility to attend State Group Executive meetings on a regular basis and to keep abreast of State issues.

How does the Executive Director fit in?

The Executive Director is appointed by the National Council to manage the day to day activities of AILA through the operations of the National Office. The Executive Director is also responsible for the activities of the organisation and has the delegated authority of a member of the National Council but does not have the power to vote on AILA matters. The Executive Director is the face of AILA and operates to advance the Vision and Strategic Action Plan as determined by the National Council in consultation with AILA membership.

What does National Council “do”?

Over the last couple of years I have come to appreciate the amount of work undertaken by the National Office at the direction of the National Council.

The National Council directs the activities of AILA, through the National Office, with an emphasis on:

• applying the principles of AILA Corporate Governance
• fulfilling the AILA Vision
• encouraging a diversity of opinions within and external to the profession
• promoting advocacy and the unity to speak on issues with one voice
• providing leadership on strategic issues
• identifying future directions and opportunities
• developing proactive policy
• understanding and representing the diversity within the profession of landscape architecture

National Councillors meet in Canberra twice a year, usually for an intensive two day meeting in ‘The Bunker’ at which we discuss the myriad of issues, including those outlined above, that arise in a national organisation of over 1200 members. In between meetings we continue to liaise with each other on issues that arise by email or over the phone and with the occasional face to face meeting and teleconference as the need or opportunity arises.

This means there is always an opportunity for you, the members of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects, to raise any issues that are of importance and concern to you or to any other landscape architects.

Paul Harding,
AILA National Vice President.