Feb 2001 Volume 82 Number 2 "serving the protectors"

2001 – CHANGES IN THE AIR

The New Year has much potential to create change. It is likely that, in these 12 months, we will have elections for both state and federal governments, changes to the SEG (through some possible retirements), a new police HR director, and a Police Association committee election (probably first off the mark in February and March). If that is not enough, we will be in full enterprise bargaining mode.

The full Police Association committee is up for election. All positions will be open. Every member of PASA can stand and vote. But what does serving on the committee mean?

Election to the committee is for a four-year term. The rules of the South Australian Branch of the Police Federation of Australia and PASA mirror each other, in the sense that election to one means election to the other. With fortnightly five- to six-hour meetings, PASA takes most of the time, but monthly PFA branch meetings formalize the running of that separate function. All members of the PASA committee are also members of the Police Club board. This requires another monthly meeting but usually one of relatively short duration.

There is a number of seminars, delegates’ meetings and conferences to attend during the year. The actual hours per week needed vary by the number of working parties, but it takes about two to three hours excluding meeting times. The work is very much reading, assessing, debating, and deciding. The committee meetings are run in a style that is about providing all the information available and having full debates where required.

The committee day meetings are crucial to PASA’s performance. If members cannot be sure of getting to two out of three, it will be difficult for them to be up to the mark at following meetings. Things are very fluid within the workplace and every meeting has a number of critical decisions to be made for policy setting, responses to government or departmental initiatives, or membership issues such as legal support.

Apart from the normal committee days, there are usually four to five days required per year for seminars and special meetings. Included in this is a two-day strategic planning get-together held shortly after the election. Given that 2001 is an EB year, there is the potential for a few extra meetings as we work through the issues.

While it can be useful to have some time as a delegate or in a branch-officer position, it is not essential. Historically, there is a balance between the various work functions on the committee. There is no plan to this, but it is something that I suspect the membership considers as it casts its votes.

To nominate, you are required to have your nomination form countersigned by two members. You are entitled to have a photo and a 300-word overview to be sent out with the ballots. It is personal choice if you do any campaigning or send out other promotional material – at your own cost.

You can nominate for one office bearing position (president, secretary, deputy president or vice-president) and the committee. The deputy and vice-president positions require more involvement at the federal level and, with working groups such as the Police Club, monthly luncheons and rules reviews. The PASA deputy president role currently includes Police Club president and a significant number of extra hours.

I have enjoyed my time on the committee and I believe that the others would also count their time as positive. Diversity is a positive to the committee and the debates are sometimes long and heated, but always with the interests of the membership as the priority. None of us has all the answers, but together we do. Unity is strength.

Whether you have the time available to consider running for committee or not, remember that you will have the opportunity to vote. Take the time to read the profiles that will come with the ballot papers and, most important – vote.

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