Two orgs presidents are council workers

Eric Frei · 6th February 2011, 08:59 AM

Fair dinkum, you gotta ask about the bias of orgs when they're inside people are council workers.

Source:

The newly formed Arboriculture Australia president is Robert Sutton of Paramatta council.

The QAA president is Tony Cockram of Gold Coast Council.

Quote:

Robert Sutton (MC)
President Arboriculture Australia. Parramatta City Council.
Robert Sutton has been employed within the arboricultural industry in various tree related positions since 1993 including 15 years Local Government experience.
Robert is currently employed by Parramatta City Council in a unique management capacity which has included the responsibility of administrative and technical support
for tree management, the implementation of Council’s tree management policies, enforcement of environmental protection laws and the supervision of Council’s tree
management and tree maintenance teams, tree contractors, development engineers and heritage advisor.
Robert serves on the Standards Australia Arboriculture Committee, the WorkCover NSW Tree Work Code of Practice working group and enjoys participation as a member
of Local Government Tree Resources Association, Australian National Arboriculture Forum and currently serves as the President of Arboriculture Australia. Robert is
the local chair of the 2011 International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) conference and events committee and served 8 years as the President of the National Arborists
Association of Australia.

Tony Cockram (MC)
Gold Coast City Council/President QAA
Tony has a total of over twenty years working in Arboriculture and Local Government within South East Qld. He is a member of the International Society of Arboriculture,
has been an Executive Committee Board member of the Queensland Arboricultural Association (QAA) for several years and is now the 2010/11 QAA President. His
current position is that of Senior Arboricultural Planning Officer for the Gold Coast City Council working within the Planning Environment & Transport Directorate. For
the last twelve years he has supervised a small team assessing development applications and providing specialist advice in relation to management of urban trees. In
this role he is also required to contribute to the advancement of the city’s vegetation management policies, procedures and work practices.

Here's another founding member of QAA.

Quote:

Keith Foster, Senior Coordinator Arboriculture, Brisbane City Council.
Keith holds a Diploma in Arboriculture, with 40 years of arboriculture experience. A founding member of the Queensland Arboriculture Association, Life member of the
International Society of Arboriculture, also a founding member of the Municipal Tree Workers Forum in the south East Region of Queensland, and a member of AESOP
Business Volunteers since 1999 ( during 1999 spent 3 months in the Cook Islands, training the local people in modern Arboriculture).

I wonder if these orgs would take up the complaint against BCC and fix the wrong thing done here? In my experience seems talking to a brick wall gets about the same response.

Do you think that the QAA for instance is becoming a conservation society and not representing the mainstream member base of tree cutters, after-all the QAA did circulate an email which was very biased?

Garry Brockley · 8th February 2011, 07:18 AM

How can an org look after it's members when the main people are part of the problem? so the orgs take the money but don't have any intention of backing up thier members against local auths when needed, because there would be a conflict of interest on the presidents side, also what happens when a main contract comes up is there any evidence to suggest that the presidents pass on those jobs to his friends in the org and ignore the rest of the companies??????

however in saying that in some cases it could be a benefit to have them there IF they were willing to push the ideas to improve the way local auths handle tree matters, but i don't think the president should be part of the council too there should be a law against it somewhere,

jmcg.insight.gardens · 9th February 2011, 09:23 PM

Quote:

however in saying that in some cases it could be a benefit to have them there IF they were willing to push the ideas to improve the way local auths handle tree matters, but i don't think the president should be part of the council too there should be a law against it somewhere,

well there is pretty strict guidelines in the behaiviour of council staff here if a council member is also part of an association, here in NSW. Take the Tendering guidelines as an example, which I have taken an excerpt from.

Quote:

1.4. Conflict of Interests
The NSW Government established the ICAC to protect the public interest, prevent
breaches of public trust and guide the conduct of public officials. ICAC
investigations have identified a number of examples that highlight the need for all
public agencies, including councils, to ensure that they adhere to high standards of
probity in tendering.
Conflict of interests may occur when an individual could be influenced, or a
reasonable and informed person would perceive that an individual could be
influenced, by a personal interest when carrying out public duties. There is a requirement that where such a conflict occurs, it will be declared, assessed and
resolved in favour of the public interest.
Council officials have an obligation to disclose potential or actual conflict of
interests between their public duties and their personal or private interests. The
benefit or loss may be financial or non-financial. The objective of disclosing
interests that are or could be in conflict with official duties is to ensure prompt
consideration, comprehensive assessment and, where necessary, the
implementation of alternative working arrangements or other action by the council
concerned.
A conflict of interests can be of two types:
• Pecuniary – an interest that a person has in a matter because of a
reasonable likelihood or expectation of appreciable financial gain or loss to
the person (s442 of the Act). A person’s pecuniary interest may arise
because their spouse, de facto partner, relative, partner or employer, or
company or other body of which the person or a nominee, partner or
employer is a member has a pecuniary interest in a matter (s443 of the
Act).
• Non-pecuniary – a private or personal interest the council official has that
does not amount to a pecuniary interest as defined by the Act. For example
a non-pecuniary interest could be a friendship, membership of an
association, society or trade union or involvement or interest in an activity
and may include an interest of a financial nature.
The Model Code of Conduct for Local Councils in NSW and the supporting
guideline provides further information regarding conflict of interests and the
requirements of the Act in relation to conflict of interests.

http://www.lpsc.nsw.gov.au/pdf/Tende...DLG_Nov_09.pdf

I'm sure that there must be similar in QLD. I presume a council officer that suggests in a report that work should be tendered to a member of their association would be displaying a conflict of interest.

Darrell Mcleod · 9th February 2011, 09:50 PM

This may sound a little harsh but in my view just a boys club and I think it really sucks

They should be .....

Sunshine Palm and Trees · 12th February 2011, 07:47 AM

Just another tax on hard working small business

Eric Frei · 28th April 2011, 07:15 AM

What agenda is this Arboriculture Australia board member pushing?

15 phone messages left by Mark Hartley

Rob Chace · 1st June 2011, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Frei

What agenda is this Arboriculture Australia board member pushing?

15 phone messages left by Mark Hartley

Mark Hartley, u douche bag!

View Poll Results: Is the QAA becoming a conservation society ignoring tree cutters?
Yes	7	87.50%
No	1	12.50%
Voters: 8. You may not vote on this poll

8th February 2011, 07:18 AM	#2
Garry Brockley Bayside Tree Care Brisbane Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Brisbane Aus Posts: 1,641	Re: Two orgs presidents are council workers How can an org look after it's members when the main people are part of the problem? so the orgs take the money but don't have any intention of backing up thier members against local auths when needed, because there would be a conflict of interest on the presidents side, also what happens when a main contract comes up is there any evidence to suggest that the presidents pass on those jobs to his friends in the org and ignore the rest of the companies?????? however in saying that in some cases it could be a benefit to have them there IF they were willing to push the ideas to improve the way local auths handle tree matters, but i don't think the president should be part of the council too there should be a law against it somewhere, __________________ My business:- Brisbane Bayside Tree Care

9th February 2011, 09:50 PM	#4
Darrell Mcleod Mature tree Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Victoria Australia Posts: 242	Re: Two orgs presidents are council workers This may sound a little harsh but in my view just a boys club and I think it really sucks They should be .....

12th February 2011, 07:47 AM	#5
Sunshine Palm and Trees I'm new here so be nice Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Sunshine Coast Queensland Posts: 4	Re: Two orgs presidents are council workers Just another tax on hard working small business

28th April 2011, 07:15 AM	#6
Eric Frei Admin - Owner Palm & Tree Services in Brisbane Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Brisbane Posts: 12,994	Re: Two orgs presidents are council workers What agenda is this Arboriculture Australia board member pushing? 15 phone messages left by Mark Hartley __________________ Protect your rights to work - Join Australian Tree Association My businesses:- Qualified Brisbane Palm and Tree Lopping \| Stump Grinding Brisbane \| Brisbane - Gold Coast Consulting Arborist

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