Mosman Council in Cahoots with NAAA & TCA

Eric Frei

Well, certainly seems a pattern breaking out.

Similar to North Sydney Council and Redland City Council the Mosman Council's website refers people to both the NAAA and TCA.

Attached Files

Mosman Council in Cahoots with NAAA & TCA.pdf (136.5 KB, 41 views)

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jmcg.insight.gardens

so to belong to these associations do you have to pay a fee?

what do they base their selection criteria on, proof of qualifications, documentation of past works?

this quote was taken from the save Mary Street thread, if you can't make a formal complaint against an association member, what are their codes of professional practice, do they audit their members for good practice, I just do not get how they can be deemed meritorious by the government authorities.

I belong to one association where you are subject to audit for non compliance, good practice and correct protocol. Is this the way this association handles itself?

Sorry, I'm not an Arborist, but I do not get it. I understand Associations, but I do not get this one.

Eric Frei

In my experience it is more handled like the Mafia ..... if you do not pay your "protection money" (fee) then "things" can happen to your business.

To prove this I have 15 phone messages and a wad of emails plus letters of lies written to LGA's.

The QAA had openly written on their website (removed after I made it public) that you were not to publicly criticize their members or their work (see quote below)..... gives them a chance of covering it up and back stabbing the person who makes the complaint. But more importantly it can create a safe haven for poor performance and with no acceptance criteria anyone can join including door knocking hacks.

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jmcg.insight.gardens

So what do you get for being a member?

If all councils take this on board, to work for council, all arborists will have to join won't they?

The associations I'm a member of are expensive, by the time you add it all up yearly. I am giving one the flick soon, as they are not answerable to their members. The quality of the service they offer is not commensurate with the fees. I believe they are poorly run, as far as for the benefit of the members go. The continuing development is run by them, usually interstate and expensive, and to be quite honest I believe is not appropriate standard for the money, I could train myself in these matters. I already gained the qualification. I'm currently researching ways I can maintain the accreditation without being in this one, unfortunately to do that job you have to be accredited by them, as they are the only accrediting body Australia wide. So it will be interesting to see if I can beat the current system. A very frustrating experience really.

I hope that this doesn't happen with your profession.

Eric Frei

Over my dead body and the fascists who bring this on know who they are, know their hidden agendas. It is not about industry standards but control and manipulation ... generally self interest for those cronies.

Bottom line is their profit (personal and the orgs).

They are not the source of the education, they are no universities or TAFE.

How many times to do you go to one of their training sessions and all it is is one of them gobbing off about their view, perspective or experience? Too often, big deal ... we all do that daily.

In our industry this is in it's infancy, fuelled predominantly by members who are or belong to the USA ISA.

In the USA unlike Australia they dont have a federal education system anything like the AQF system here. So a private company called ISA (established 1924) was born to spread information. All good intentions and due to timing it grew and became the predominant association for the industry. However as universities researched more, especially the "green" funded projects deeper, information came through and was diseminated via the ISA but was available elsewhere anyhow .... I call this rebadging.

But that is USA. Australia, UK, Europe etc all are different and do not rely on Private Associations like the USA does.

Many of the older tree workers now approaching retirement wave the ISA flag and would take a bullet for them, they have many years of service and there are a few people in Australia like that. The Australian organisations evolved early 1990's onwards, nearly all have under 20 years tenure. However the real need for it in Australia is not there, so they will invent a need.

Things like, we check our members, our members get ongoing professional education, our members are promoted on our website, we promote ourselves to insurance companies and councils etc etc etc. It's the spin working as best it can. Heck the QAA openly advertisied that they send a media pack including stickers for your truck and that'll make you look more professional.

The new NAAA & ISAAC merged entity now wants to come up with it's own version of the ISA CEU's and tack some crap onto their members annually (for a fee I bet), they'll then scream from their pulpits that their members are the only ones keeping up with the latest.

I assure you, it's all spin and intervention into a market place, manipulation to make themselves needed.

You don't need them.

You have countless seminars, books, CD's, Internet downloads, colleges etc to get information and training from.

All customers have to do is check the company's or individuals (for consulting) qualifications, insurance etc. Not rocket science and we've covered all of this before. The consumer has sufficient protection with places like The Dept of Fair Trading, who are an authority and arm of the government not some Mafioso association.

For an industry so small with so many small operators there sure is far too much BS going on.

One organisation says that it's members must have $20million PL insurance, many small operators only carry $5million so there you go, quadruple your expensive insurance bill to suit who? The org not the client!

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