Bill for standing in for me and running our meetings. Much appreciated.

Two of our members will reach milestone achievements in the next couple of weeks – one 25 years service and the other 30 years. Further details to follow.

Important to note that on Thursday 3 September our meeting is a ZOOM meeting and we will have the District Governor with us. Please all join in.

We have had two Board Meetings now and all Directors have plans in place for this Rotary year. Sharon has been very active with her Membership Committee and has some good ideas to help grow our membership. I ask that all members help where they can in this area.

Don’t forget that dues should be paid by now – the Club has already had to pay its contributions to Rotary District and Rotary International.

See you all at the ZOOM meeting.

 

There is nothing government can give you that it has not taken from you in the first place.

We will be addressed by the District Governor, Michael Moore AM PhD. Dr Moore was an independent member of the ACT Legislative Assembly for four terms, from 1989 to 2001 and Australia's first independent minister (Health and Community Care) from 1998 to 2001.

Our speaker was Gary Petherbridge, President since its foundation in 2008 of the Owners Corporation Network in the ACT (OCN), an association of unit owners and body corporates established to further the interests of persons living in the ACT.

Gary is not himself employed in the building industry and so was able to present an unbiased view of the current industry issues. For a very long time human beings have been familiar with the places called buildings where they live and work. Many buildings have been known to last many hundreds of years, some even longer. In Canberra their life is considerably shorter for a number of reasons. Planning changes, such as the new Light Rail, caused a few building removals, and there is the gradual obsolescence of many non-iconic structures.

There is considerable community concern over the construction of new buildings and the OCN organisation is helping Canberra’s community to address several major issues and the high associated remedial costs. Of special interest are: building materials quality. building design and structure, water penetration, fire safety, rates (including unevenness in land valuation), the lack of economic analysis of the impact of proposed rate freezing, governance and strata management inadequacy (including dispute resolution), and inadequate building certification procedures.

Canberra’s present population of 457,000 is expected to become 500,000 within a decade. We need adequate planning in the expansion of our new buildings and the message given by Gary is that planning is far from adequate at present. When I first came to Canberra as a young student in 1948 the population was only 17,000. It’s grown a little!

Who am I? … George Wilson

Born in Sydney, George studied veterinary science there before joining the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service in 1970 as its first kangaroo biologist. After completing a Masters degree on the use of tranquilliser guns to immobilise kangaroos, he moved to Canberra in 1974 to establish the wildlife section of the new Federal Department of Environment. In 1976 he took leave and travelled overland from Kathmandu to London. 

In Scotland he completed a PhD on the integration of wildlife to agricultural production systems, focusing on grouse and deer on Scottish estates. Returning to Canberra, he became Director of the National Conservation Strategy, before moving to the Department of Agriculture responsible for the management of feral animals in exotic disease emergencies. He worked for John Kerin during those years, and has maintained the connection ever since. 

In 1995, after a period responsible for all animal health and science in Australia (including as Chief Veterinary Officer), he left the public service and prepared the Rural Industries Strategy for the then Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander Commission. Consultancies continued for 20 years, in particular with the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, working with Indigenous communities all over Australia.

George has a commercial pilot's licence with over 4500 hours, and as an aircraft operator he has conducted low-level kangaroo and other wildlife surveys over the whole country at 250 feet. Since 2010 he is an honorary Professor at the ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society. He maintains a continuing interest in the role of wildlife management to support Indigenous communities. Through the RCCBG, he was instrumental in establishing the Club's Angas Downs project and other projects in support of Indigenous communities. 

He has been involved with community organisations, including a continuing role as a Scout leader and, initially with Bill Andrews, as President of the Deakin Residents Association. Today, as a member of the NSW Kangaroo Management Task Force, the Australian Rangeland Society and the Ecological Society of Australia, he is leading a push for stronger more nationally effective kangaroo management to try to combat the recent catastrophic death of millions of kangaroos during the drought.

 

Our speaker will be the Swedish Ambassador.

 

 

 

Our 1.2 million-member organization started with the vision of one man—Paul P. Harris. The Chicago attorney formed one of the world’s first service organizations, the Rotary Club of Chicago, on 23 February 1905 as a place where professionals with diverse backgrounds could exchange ideas and form meaningful, lifelong friendships. Rotary’s name came from the group’s early practice of rotating meetings among the offices of each member.