QLD President's Column July 2022

I was thrilled to be voted as the next Queensland Branch President and, at the same time, nervous. How do I follow the great work done by Nicole Davis and all the previous branch presidents?

I am so proud to be part of such a great organisation and branch. Great work has been undertaken to drive more local and regional engagement using technology. I suppose that is one of the good things that has come out of the two years of uncertainty during the peak of Covid 19 restrictions. The live streaming of events led to the development of regional hubs where regions can get together to listen to technical events and network with their local colleagues. This is one of the greatest legacies of Nicole’s leadership and the drive of our branch committee to engage with our members wherever they are located.

I would like to say a special thanks to the members who are stepping down from the committee and have contributed so much to its success. We are saying goodbye to Lisa Welsh, Richard Savage, David Merrett and Narelle D’Amico. They have all provided so much to the success of our committee and I hope that they will stay engaged and continue to support our branch.

I would like to congratulate all the returning Queensland Branch Committee members: Amie Aldred, Justine Simonis, Christian Truscott and Janice Wilson. And welcome the new committee members: Charlene Wong, Chris Manning, Leah Sertorio and Michael Puntil. I thank the existing committee members Natalie Muir, Olivia Newman, William Speirs, King Intrapaiboon, Simon Taylor and Jeff Ballard for continuing to help deliver great outcomes for our members.

It is wonderful to have such passionate young water professionals as the future of the water sector. I would like to welcome the new YWP members Leticia Da Silva Pinto, Sharon James, Cassandra Mai, Josh Stevens, Nikki Thomson and Kalen Timbs. They join the existing YWP committee.

We had 17 nominees representing a mix of utilities, consultants, contractors, academia and equipment suppliers. It is a testament to our industry and our members wanting to give back to the industry.

It's been a great year for Queensland with the successful Ozwater’22 held in Brisbane where it allowed us to meet with our colleagues from all over Australia with a few international visitors from New Zealand and New Caledonia.

Looking ahead, we have a fantastic last half of the year to look forward to. Our next major event will be the Queensland AWA Gala Awards dinner on Friday 9 September 2022 at the Sofitel hotel in Brisbane. I encourage everyone to submit for these awards.

We then follow this up with a combined QWater and NQ Conference at the Pullman Reef Hotel Casino in Cairns on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 October. I don’t know of a better way to end a successful year for the Queensland Committee. So start planning early and get your registrations in to attend this fantastic event in Far North Queensland.