Speak Out low res October 2016

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October 2016 Speak Out 3
From the President
Gaenor Dixon
Gaenor Dixon
National President
A s I write this introduction, Brisbane is just beginning to develop a
purple tinge as the jacaranda trees burst their buds, reminding us that
the year is progressing. For the northern half of Australia, it is time to
start cranking up the air conditioning, and for the southern half turning off the
heating.
It seems such a long time since I last wrote the introduction to the August
Speak Out . Since that time we have celebrated Speech Pathology Week,
launched the Speech Pathology 2030 document; worked with the NDIS
and others to understand and fix the problems with the NDIS Portal; liaised
with the NDIS to manage the registration issues occurring in some states;
presented to the Victorian inquiry into Autism services; finalised research
grants; attended the IALP (International Association of Logopaedics
and Phoniatrics) conference in Dublin; commenced a project looking at
credentialing; the Ethics Board conducted their annual training weekend and
continued to provide the regular ongoing member services. That is only some
of the activities that your Association is carrying out to ensure that speech
pathologists are well placed both now and into the future to provide the best
service that they can.
While we (CEO Gail Mulcair and I) were at the IALP conference in Dublin we
took the opportunity to meet with the other countries in the strategic group
of the International Communication Project. This face-to-face meeting was
very beneficial for progressing the ICP actions, as well as a great opportunity
to meet and form better ties with our counterparts in the countries involved
in the mutual recognition agreement. We were able to network with the wider
group of professional associations present at IALP. I also managed to fit in
a visit to the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, which was
a great chance to explore how another speech pathology professional body
does its business.
This month the Board will meet with Branch Chairs, members and some
senior national office staff to determine the framework of our strategic plan
for 2017-2020. Thank you to those people who will give up their Saturday
to come and meet with us. We will also be presenting the Book of the Year
awards to the successful authors and inducting a new author into the Hall of
Fame – that would have to be one of my favourite parts of this job! My thanks
to the judges for the Book of the Year – you read a large number of books.
In addition to these stand out activities, we continue our day to day work of
providing advice and support to members, advocating for speech pathology
services and ensuring our high professional standards are maintained.
I hope that you enjoy reading about all these activities and more in this edition
of Speak Out . I look forward to sharing the outcomes of our strategic planning
early next year.