Place: Shepparton, Victoria                                                            Date: 17-20 August 2009

Conference Theme: ‘Our Community, Our Future’                  Major Sponsors: CGU; Beyond Blue

Other Sponsors: Arnol Building Surveyors; Furphy’s; It’s an Honour, DPMAC; Cleverpatch

Victorian Delegation: State President Helen Christie (leader), Deputy State President Carol Clay, State Treasurer Kaye Kyle, State Vice President Jennifer Currie, Member of Honour Noela MacLeod (with 50 observers and several husbands)

Report: This is not a complete report of Conference

Opening

The Conference began with an ecumenical worship service at the Uniting Church. After a short walk to the Eastbank Centre everyone assembled for the opening.

State President Helen Christie welcomed National President Lesley Young, national officers, six past National Presidents, Wendy Lovell MLC, State Presidents, delegations, observers and visitors.

Irene Thomas, local elder representing the Yorta Yorta and Bangerang people, welcomed everyone to country.

Jenny Houlihan, representing the Mayor of the City of Greater Shepparton, welcomed everyone to the area and gave a brief overview of the city.

South Pacific Area President Ruth Shanks officially opened the conference and then gave her report. The 2010 ACWW World Conference will be held in Hot Springs Arkansas USA, in April. The nominations for the board are: World President (2), Deputy World President (1) Secretary (4), Treasurer (2), South Pacific Area President (1). Contributions for Pennies for Friendship from the South Pacific: 2007 $33,280, 2008 $36,023. The South Pacific Area gives the largest donation worldwide. The Soqa Soqa Vacarmarama in Fiji is still not viable, but a group in Nadi wants to join ACWW in their own right. Ruth’s excellent power point presentation showed the many activities. The Conference planning for the Area Conference in Tonga 2011 is progressing well.

National President Lesley Young then gave her Triennial Report:

CWA of A received

v     over $30,000 in donations (distributed through the states to families for emergency household expense relief and to communities for special events)

v     $12 million from Federal Government for drought relief

v     $19 million from three Woolworths ‘Backing our Farmers’ days

v     $760,000 from Fonterra milk company

CWA of A distributed

• cheques for over 7,000 emergency household accounts, more than 1,000 grants for community events and assistance with many Landcare projects for families in drought communities over the past three years
• $40,000 from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal for a series for workshops called ‘Birds in the Bush’ days, held in 36 communities with 1,668 women attending

Lesley was invited by the Federal Agricultural Minister to be part of a seven-person panel that visited twenty-five rural communities to assess the social impact of the drought.

In 2008 the first Rural Nursing Scholarship was awarded to enable a rural nurse to undertake a professional development activity. It is funded by royalties from Country Treasures (which became Country Classics). The first scholarship was awarded to Mollie Burley from Moe VIC. In 2009 two scholarships were awarded – to Denise Mitchell from Cowra NSW and Mary-Grace Bingham of Jamestown SA.

In partnership with Penguin Australia, a series of cookbooks (for funds for the nursing scholarship) have been prepared. The first two, ‘Cakes’ and ‘Soups and Stews’ have been released with ‘Biscuits’ and ‘Family Meals’ to be published at the end of the year and ‘Preserves’ and ‘Blue Ribbon’ next year, to complete the series.

CWA of A activities have been publicised through print, television and radio. Lesley has written articles for various publications including Centrelink, Ausveg, The Furrow, New Idea and the R M Williams Outback magazine, as well as participating in many interviews for radio and television.

            CWA of A has representation on:

Ø      The National Rural Health Alliance

Ø      The National Rural Women’s Coalition

Ø      FarmSafe Australia

Ø      Food Standards Australia and New Zealand

Ø      Rural Training Council of Australia, Rural Education Forum of Australia

Ø      ACCC Consumer Consultative Committee

Ø      Australian Communications Industry Forum and Consumers Telecommunications Network

Ø      Personal Tax Advisory Group

Ø      National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Advisory Group

Lesley thanked members for their support and the staff in the state offices for assistance. She also thanked National Secretary Elaine Youd, National Treasurer Keren McCallum and her own family for their support.

The National Treasurer, Keren McCallum presented an overview of the finances for the triennium.

It was noted that the Report only covered two years and 2007 figures were to be made available to delegates. The National President’s allowance was discussed and it was moved that it be raised to 20c per member. This resolution was carried. After much discussion the Draft Budget was accepted.

Lesley Young introduced National President elect, Heather Wieland from Queensland. Heather outlined some areas that need to be addressed such as agriculture, flying foxes, rural and remote issues. She also asked for input from the member states.

That evening the Dinner Speaker was Carolyn Vasey (Surgeon) who spoke on her experiences working in Papua New Guinea. She was an inspirational speaker who backed up her information with an excellent power point presentation.

Resolutions

NSW: “That CWA of Australia lobby the Medical Service Advisory Committee to have MRI Scans for Prostate Cancer listed on the PBS Scheme.” Carried

NSW: “That CWA of Australia protest to the Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water regarding the buyback of permanent irrigation water by the Federal Government without consideration of how this water acquisition is affecting local communities, both financially and socially, and water equals food consumption.” Carried

QLD: “That the Minister for Communication investigate Telstra’s removal of ISDN (September 2008) from the market forcing many rural and remote community users back to the antiquated dial up modem technology or 3G wireless data network, instead of using Extel which is an extension of ADSL.” Lost

QLD “That the CWA of A request the Minister for the Environment to introduce an amendment to the Nature Conservation Act/Environment Protection Biodiversity Conservation Act that pertains to the protected status of the flying fox species, to allow for the management of flying fox colonies, which may be fatal to human life and adversely impact on people’s livelihood.” Carried

QLD “That CWA of A urge the Federal Government to legislate mandatory clearer and larger printing on labels and food packaging.” Carried

QLD “That the CWA of A strongly supports the State Governments and Territories in their quest to urge State Government Ministers to stop issuing licenses for mining in prime agricultural land.” Carried

TAS “That the CWA of A supports the National Servicemen’s Association of Australia in lobbying the State and Federal Governments in their endeavours to form an Australia Guard.” Carried

Items for discussion accepted as Resolutions

NSW “That CWA of A make application and delegation of the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government that funding for ‘Roads to Recovery’ be indexed relative to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Road Construction and Maintenance Index.” Carried

NSW “That CWA of A make application and delegation to the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government to allocate a significant proportion of the Building Australia Fund to the ‘first mile’ of the rural local road network.” Carried

NSW “That the CWA of A make application and delegation to the Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government that funding for federal assistance grants to Local Government be increased to 2% of Commonwealth Taxation Revenue (excluding GST).” Carried

Guest Speakers

Elizabeth Mitchell (Honours Secretariat, Government House, Canberra) spoke on the Honours Awards overseen by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Governor-General Quentin Bryce AC would love to see more women being nominated for this award.

Maureen Campbell (Personal Tax Advisory Group) spoke on online availability and her work. Issues of interest included the simplification of tax returns 2020 and free tax aid for low income earners.

Frank Hay (CGU Insurance) spoke on helping Australian farmers manage risks. CGU is the largest insurance provider in Australia and works with FarmSafe Australia, now sponsored by CGU Insurance, to achieve a stronger link in the safety of farmers. The farming sector is the worst industry in Australia for deaths and injuries in the workplace. Farmers should have a farm risk action plan. For more information visit www.cgu.com.au/riskradar

Toni Nugent (Desperate Farmwives) lives in Tarcutta (pop 400) half way between Sydney and Melbourne. She works on the family farm, a beef breeding and trading operation, and also for the Kondinin Group, an agriculture information group, heading up its research team. Six women started the ‘Desperate Farmwives’; all married with 13 children between them. They decided to stop talking about the drought and get out and have some fun with their husbands. The group aims to raise the spirits of people living in the community through the organisation of events to encourage social interaction, the formation of strong friendships and a connectedness to the village and surrounding district.

Lexia Smallwood (National Rural Health Alliance) gave lots of facts and figures on rural health, one of the most alarming was that only 17% of rural children go on to tertiary education. The organisation started in 1992 and CWA of A was one of the first to join the now 28 member bodies. For more information visit www.ruralhealth.org.au

Christel Leemhuis (Strategic Science Team Leader at Food Standards Australia and New Zealand) explained FSANZ, an independent science based organisation with 130 staff. Its aim is to ensure the safety of food in Australia and New Zealand. This involves cooperation between government, industry, consumers and health professionals. Within the cooperative arrangement, FSANZ is responsible for maintaining the code that contains standards related to the composition, labelling and safe handling of primary production foods. It protects public health and safety by maintaining a safe food supply.

Lin Morris (FarmSafe National Chairman) from Yorke Peninsula SA outlined the FarmSafe mission to improve the productivity of Australian farmers, safer work practice, and enhance health and wellbeing. There has been a reduction in farm worker related death and injury from 150 in 1989-92 to an average of 90 in 2002-04. Serious injury and death resulted from farm vehicles (quad bikes), machinery (tractor rollovers and post hole diggers) and farm structures. Quad bikes are proving to be a particular hazard with young people.

Dr Julie Thompson (National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre) a GP from Warragul, reported that in Australia there is a 1 in 9 risk, as women age, of contracting breast cancer and that women in affluent societies are more likely than women in African countries to suffer from cancers of all types. Other causes are family history, hormones (HRT – combined oestrogen and progesterone) linked to length of treatment, alcohol, being overweight after menopause, physical inactivity, non child-bearing (breast feeding decreases risk). The incidence in 50-69 year age group is still rising. Mammograms every two years in this age group are an effective way of early detection and there is a 90% survival rate if detected early. There is no screening programme for women under 40 years as mammography is less sensitive due to dense breast tissue. A new ad campaign called ‘cheeky check-up’ urges all young women to become familiar with their breasts. Ovarian cancer – whilst not as common has no screening test, symptoms are vague and the gene may be the same as breast cancer. Symptoms such as indigestion, lack of appetite, weight gain, fatigue, back pain, increase in abdominal girth, change in bowel habits and urinary infection may be noticed and if symptoms persist for one month, check with your GP.

Darriea Thurley (National Rural Women’s Coalition Chairman and National President of the Australian Local Government Women’s Association on the Coalition) stated that the Coalition consisted of 8 large groups, including CWA of A. It is a lobby group; writing submissions to Government (eg, Youth Allowance and Dental Health). There is also a strong need for a Department of Rural Affairs. The Coalition’s objectives are to provide a network to represent women’s organisations to government, industry and in other relevant contexts.

Dr Pieter Mourik (Chairman, Specialist Obstetrician Locum Scheme) outlined this essential service that supports rural obstetricians, enabling them to take leave. It aids retention of critically low numbers in regional, rural and remote areas. Federal Funding has enabled 80 locums to work in 63 locations between June 2008 and July 2009. Participating locums receive funding for two weeks, which includes salary, transport and accommodation. More newly qualified obstetricians are needed as 60% of volunteers are city specialists and retired obstetricians.

State Reports

The Tasmanian State President (membership about 500) reported on programs for teaching cooking skills, Women on Wheels and assistance for the Centrelink bus. Attendance at three Field Days, in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness; ‘Birds in the Bush’ days and ‘Backing our Farmers’ funds resulted in 300 families being assisted and 39 community grants made. The Association was represented on all relevant government bodies including Tasmania Together 2020. Funds were raised for Motor Neurone Association, the Fred Hollows Foundation and Juvenile Diabetes. Three Community Support Officers helped coordinate the distribution of clothes for prem babies, baby bundles and handicrafts to needy areas. Two retail shops (in Launceston and Hobart) and selling scones at the Hobart Show all help to raise funds.

The Queensland President (membership about 5000) reported that Ruth Fairfax House was working very well, with a high occupancy rate and no external debt. The accommodation consists of 2x2 bed units and 10x1 bed units, with dining and meeting rooms as well. Many buildings owned by the Association have been improved, one hall had been rebuilt and some holiday units maintained courtesy of the State Gambling Fund. Much was done to assist flood victims in the Gulf area and the Victorian bushfires and 500 crisis bags were distributed.

The Victorian President (membership 5774) reported an increase of 406 members in the past 12 months. The Umina Bed and Breakfast facility is open to the public. The Association celebrated its 80th Birthday during 2008. Activities included a garden party at Government House and the launch of a new history book. Funds were raised for ovarian cancer research, Children First Foundation, Howard Florey Institute and the Bionic Ear Institute. Assistance has been forthcoming for those in drought areas and, since February, bushfire ravaged areas, over and above the normal community and international support work. Thanks are extended to those outside Victoria who have given assistance following the bushfires.