AIQEF and IQA launch joint bid - members win

The peak bodies supporting the education and career development of extractive industry personnel will join forces from 2020.

 The Australian Institute of Quarrying Education Foundation (AIQEF) and the Institute of Quarrying Australia (IQA) represent the industry’s most precious resource - its people.

 In a move unanimously supported by the AIQEF Council and the IQA Board, the AIQEF will soon function as the newIQA - AIQEF Committee; its charter operationalised by a change to the IQA Constitution.

 ‘We’re both about the continuing professional development of our people’, saidAIQEF Chair, Mr David Cilento. ‘In our industry it’s critical to maintaining industry-wide best practice in: workplace safety, environmental management, community outcomes and business performance’. 

 The AIQEF Council and the IQA Board collaborated in preparing the IQA - AIQEF CommitteeCharter.  It preserves the independence of the foundationand future proofs its operation by extending the benefits of the IQA’s governance and insurance structures to the AIQEF.

 The charter will be put to the membership on 3 October at the 2019 IQA AGM. A vote in the affirmative is anticipated to be announced that evening at the gala finale of the biennial IQA conference in Geelong.

AIQEF Chair, Mr David Cilento explained that engagement between the AIQEF Council and the IQA Board was prompted by the AIQEF’s strategic review.

 ‘The Council and the IQA Board explored how to collectively gain efficiencies and streamline operations of the two not-for-profit entities’, Mr Cilento said. ‘We both hold charitable status. We share a common vision and values and we jointly engage with the IQA membership base’.

 Mr Cilento said the discussion was underpinned by two agreed assumptions -

1. There was no appetite for duplicating the costs of incorporation, insurance and legal fees.
2. The composition, objectives, responsibilities and powers of the AIQEF, operative since its inception in 1982, must be retained.

 ‘Operating as the IQA - AIQEF Committee willeliminate cost duplication and secure the foundation within a sound, future proof legal framework’, Mr Cilento said. ‘We will simply integrate the new AIQEF Committee Charter withtheIQAConstitution and the Committee will retain all our existing Council members’.

 The strategic alliance between the IQA and the AIQEF has always been characterised by innovation.

 ‘We share a commitment to continuous improvement in industry education’, said IQA National President, Mr Clayton Hill. ‘We’re always jointly expanding our vision and responding to ceaseless technological, political and societal change in our operating environment’.

 The administration and conferral of AIQEF industry support will continue business-as-usual through the transition and the foundation’s support will continue for:

• Annual Alec Northover Award.
• Grants for:
  • Training resources – (training reference material, self-paced learning material, videos, assessment tools etc)
  • Training programs – (pilot course to trial training & training workshops in a remote location)
  • Engagement of speakers – (industry dinners, technical meetings)
  • Seminars – (educational presenter fees, equipment hire etc)
• Educational Scholarships.
• Annual auction exposure to assist with fund raising.

 ‘My board and the AIQEF Council are motivated by our unity of purpose and shared values. So, the new charter preservesthefoundation’s heritage’, Mr Hill said. ‘This is important to me and many of my peers in industry whose careers are thriving on the education, mentoring and network development that are made possible by the AIQEF and the IQA.

 ‘Funding from the AIQEF is a vital part of the IQA’s educational and event strategy’, said Mr Hill. ‘We anticipate member support for this change, with the financial benefits of streamlined service delivery, improved efficiencies and lower costs ultimately accrue to the membership.

 ‘The new IQA - AIQEF Committee will strengthen our collective delivery of value to members’.