Chatswood Hills State School Tree Issues| NT school tree kills boy and were advised!

rangitata

I hope that the final result of this Ekka, is change for the better both from our Government departments and the QAA.

In regards to the brewing legal action, I believe that Seans post is one of the best pieces of advice/writing I have read for along time

I already do know of changes (advancements?...to early to tell) in regards to Government Departmental procedures that Ekka could take credit it for. Lets hope that the changes have the effect of creating a more professional and level playing field, for the benifit of all.

In regards to the QAA I have never been and most probably will never be a member. My first experience with them left me with a sour taste (elitist, condesending and basically rude behaviour from a so called "trainer" in the mid 90's) and it has never been washed out. Also the so called QAA "charter" that limits comment on fellow members has never sat well... for any organisation to move forward wouldn't the encouragement of reporting/exposing dodgey behaviour have the effect of making everybody concerned to lift their games?

In regards to training, Ekka, when you are up and running prebook two seats for a couple of my crew members.

treevet

You blokes obviously missed a chance of a lifetime!

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Eric Frei

Funny, there's a video you need to see.

Notorious Door Knocker Juliamafina Bloom| Current Affair Footage

Beating my own drum eh. I have shut my mouth for many years, when QAA would not support me, I had roles of footage and evidence and knew I was a one man band to make a difference.

Coincidentally today an opportunity came to light where Current Affair was doing a story and it just happened to be the same guy I busted (on my own with no drum beating) back in 2005.

It's one of many, and of the many unknowns that have been going on in this town. Meanwhile the QAA's resident experts stab you in the back. A man who asks few questions is seldom intelligent, I got sick and tired of being told from an ignorants point of view.

For Lance especially, today the Current Affairs crew had no trouble videoing, naming and shaming a door knocker ... hidden cameras and microphones all a set up. Covert Ops eh.

Why do I know so much about this type of stuff? Because I ask a lot of questions and dont make assumptions or talk out of my ass.

I have a stack of cases here, no thanks to you QAA people for helping. And it's making a HUGE DIFFERENCE that other companies are benefiting from.

And the QAA's answer to me, verbatim after I heard that my activities and videos were illegal etc was that they want to have all these people join and abide by their code of ethics ... that was their solution.

Listen to Joan at around 2.15 into the video, what did you try to do, I had a smile when she said that on camera because I took a stand and tried, one flamin man with a camera and PC.

I have had to throw entire PC's in the bin due to viruses sent to me cleverly encrypted into .jpg pic files. I have had tradesmen calling and quoting a myriad of BS I never organized, I have had personal phone calls, threats etc continually and what did you do ... turn your back and shit on me. Other forums trolling, your members trolling, lies, deceit and child porn scum bags tagging me. You have no idea but thank God I was born with an above average IQ and determination to ensure good comes through.

Had I have been beating my drum as suggested by your ignorant perspective you would have known these things.

I had to build a place where I could trust the person running it, me. A person who wont stand down on orders by ignorants or threats. I paid for every cent with thousands of hours of time, I only got a PC online in 2004 and a digital camera late 2005 but studied like a mule both arboriculture and web skills to build something that would make a difference ...

... I have footage now that Current Affair are interested in viewing, the cat is out of the bag.

I said it clear as a bell on camera, WE NEED REGULATION by government not a pack of cronies feathering their own nests while our livelihoods are undermined.

You have no idea the hardship I have endured. Only a few months ago I was about to chuck it all away as the burden was too much, some say they have no time, they're too busy, cant even make a lousy post on a forum and you wonder why I get a little short because I need help and solid strong people with vision not excuses.

Amongst all this I just today handed in all the TAA40104 trainers assignments. That was going on too, and then I read QAA wants to stick their fingers into that pie, well, I hope readers here see that the world has changed, that the intimidation tricks dont work, and that we have a world class platform and call it luck, fate, goodwill or Gods the media exposure that now puts us on the map.

Have a good read of the letter and the dates on it. That same idiot who told me not to make an Arborcamp video challenged me and said, "what have you done that's so good eh?" I didn't tell him, because it would be blowing my own trumpet, but the story Current Affair had run into today is the one I live with every day and have been fighting for years ... as you can see I have no need for the QAA. And will fight tooth and nail so people have access to information, training and a place like this to make a difference (anonymously if they choose).

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Garry Brockley

Eric with your hard work you are begining to build a small army of activists against these unscrupulous traders, it may take time for people to make a stand but it is coming, slowly but surely coming, your inspirational views on poorly run assosiations, hacks and alike; you are like a breath of fresh air to every honest business owner in this and many trades throughout the world, You stand for fairness, honesty, proper taining and policed regulation in a trade that is rife with underhand dealings, hacks and rip off merchants.
You get the threats because they feel threatened and dont seem to have the intellegence to train for the job in hand or have the integrity to charge a fair price for an honest days work, deep down they know they are con artists and for the ones that don't then wake up do some courses and be honest with people.
You are making changes even if you can't see them yet they are coming like baby steps at first maybe and there may be some comprimises made but they are coming.
well thats my opinion anyway
take care out there, be safe, be honest.

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phill ellison

I have to agree with Galbee on that one, said that quite well

Drouin Tree Service

Quite clearly Lance needs to get out of the buisness,I hope his days are numbered.

Current affair may very well have him in there sights

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

Drouin Tree Service

The silence from the QAA is deafening once again,SHAME ON THEM.

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Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

Eric Frei

I'll be writing a very detailed article on this, and I assure you it has to be printed on my media because any other other industry media out there most likely is so far up QAA's ass they cant see daylight.

I'll link it to here as I will be using this thread as the focal point. The public and fellow tree people deserve the truth, and so far in this country the truth and freedom of speech is desired.

And as you can see here, it's not as though they give you any feedback, one of the gospels of human communication is feedback, all I got was little comments and off the record style chats at Aborcamp one of which was video suppression and censorship.

I want all of the public, council's alike to know of the farce that this little bit of advertising is.



Other organisations as we have spoken here will also go under the scope, an article clearly showing how industry people exploit organisational memberships for their marketing advantages and vice versa for organisations to raise revenue.... via selling credibility.

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treevet

I want to apologize for this lame attempt at humor. I couldn't sleep the other night and looking at the box of cereal and memories of a similar humorous post it just struck me funny. I only picked up this thread at the pictures of the tree company using practices inconsistent with commonly accepted procedures. I had downloaded the thread and meant to read it but only a few minutes ago had done so.

The death of a child the heart and sole of this thread I can only say I am sorry and would like the picture I posted at an attempt for a laugh and this related post to be deleted.

I have given much thought to the need for culpability regarding hazard trees over the years and it is hard to pin down viable answers. Probably my favorite direction would be the town, or regional arborist. This employee would be hired and paid by the government but not have to answer to them possibly resulting in intimidation,nepotism or cronyism, etc. The "compulsory six month inspections being done by arborists" mentioned by the Coroner is dead on. I'd like to see "one" arborist, credentialed and chosen by a counsel of detached arbs such as a volunteer UFB. He would do risk appraisals, reports, contracting and inspecting Just like the building inspector but not rated by an arboriculturally uneducated council but rather the UFB. I think there needs to be ONE very qualified person to point a finger at, not a committee (share the blame) if the public is threatened by hazardous tree conditions existing from negligence, happenstance, or misfortune.

Apologies again to anyone/everyone offended by my lame attempt attempt at humor esp. parents of the 9 year old killed by the falling limb. My deeply heart felt sympathies only go out to you and a prayer.

Eric Frei

Dave, we know it was fun and a joke, it's OK but you put the dollar sign the wrong wide of the 4 and that made me laugh more.

I think, and Australia is different to USA as we don't have the UFB thing going on, that level5 arborists should all be able to freely have their name on a list that the govt "minders" of these public places can rotate the work through.

The arborists, when it's their turn can accept or decline the task. Some agreement would have to exist as far as fees go, and equipment.

This arrangement suits the medical profession well, doctors have scheduled fees too.

So Q-Build could say, our fee rate is $90/hour or $100 per tree etc. The cycling can be transparent and you can perhaps even see it and where the list is up to and who got the last job etc. The cycling prevents ole boys and buddies giving work to those they play golf with or get cashies from. Imagine how you'd feel knowing some-one else is getting the work and you are not just because they've been there longer? Hardly inspirational for a new guy to learn, or an old one to either.

Seems life's hardest decisions are so simply solved when people are allowed to think and have their say, we want transparency and fairness with quality results.

A doctor can choose to bulk bill the govt scheduled fee etc or he can charge more if he likes, so I could for example do govt tree appraisals for a fixed fee but charge more for private consults etc, my choice, at least then I could say to people that the benefits of education are getting the work.

The argument of one consultants work not as good as the other can be solved for sensitive cases with two reports, happens in the real world anyway, but for the bulk of it most work would be fairly routine, the dead woods, crown lifts, thins and dead removals etc. If there's a serious deficiency of a particular consultants advice/work then you know you better go back to his qualifications and training and start digging because he might be a tick and flick. Overall fairness and transparency is the way forward, and this day and age with instant internet access there's no need for boys clubs.

Look at us here, takes some gall at first to post your work and videos, then you get used to it and can handle public scrutiny. They could have a SPECIAL FORUM FOR QUALIFIED PEOPLE LIKE I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THE SENSATIVE CASES TOO rather than write the report thinking about who is going to knife you, of course only the Level5 consultants on the list would be members of that forum.

Oh, life is really easy, just humans have a disposition to complicate it ... must have been when lawyers evolved.

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treevet

Lawyers evolved...................when????

See ya tomorrow.

Eric Frei

Here's another little one most likely unknown.

Big company perceptions right, people think that big companies and associations etc mean good treework and advice.

Doubt QAA knew about this either, you'd need a decade of time to get the approvals to make a change but in the midst of our drought, trees even dying you get one of these in your letterbox.



And no thanks to the crony's at QAA here's the response. I wonder how many people got that flyer and pruned their trees? We'll never know but I know when crap like that passes by me I dont turn a blind eye.

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newguy18

So how do you know the owner of the company isn't lying,do they actually do an investigation?

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old schooler

Eric Frei

Flyers after that which I received didn't have it

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OutofMytree

Ekka I don't understand how this flyer is wrong or misleading? Is it wrong to prune trees that are drought stressed? If so, what do you do to preserve the tree and the people below it?

newguy18

I figured its bad to prune drought stressed trees so you don't take any nutrients or food from them.

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old schooler

Eric Frei

IMHO shows the bias of people with chippers to feed to think of such utter nonsense. In the midst of the worst drought in 100 years they think of that and market it, and that's what sort of rubbish the general population gets swamped with by ignorance and greed.

Yes I had a hard job explaining it, supplying enough evidence to support the case, but if it were a true knowledgable professional arborist it would not have been required, because every arborist should know removing leaves, limbs (storage) and leaving wounds means the tree will possibly get sunburnt, draw more from depleted resources to try to replace the foliage gone.

Source:drought
Pics from: To TOP or Not to TOP

Tree died as heavily topped in a drought. To suggest pruning aids it's recovery is HOGWASH.

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Garry Brockley

Easiest way to put this is imagine if you were starved for three days had the flu, would it be sensible to operate on you? say remove your arms, then not give you any thing to eat, drink or medicine afterwards what would be your chances of survival?

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Eric Frei

What ever happened to mulch and water, grey water will do.

If the drought is pro-longed etc you do your best but only deadwood. Then a debate will break out about the dead wooding too.... do you cut back to live tissue, to target or stay just in the dead zone (not cutting any living tissue)?

In a drought, stay in the dead zone just. In good times target cut.

I'll leave it for others to explain or figure out why.

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Garry Brockley

Can't put it better than that just use common sense and read the books

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treevet

Nothing wrong with deadwooding (technically pruning ) if proper cuts are made to not break barriers and tax storage. But this fellow gave the impression that this pruning would aid in drought recovery which would have to mean removing live tissue and not inert deadwood just for safety.

OutofMytree

Thanks for the detailed explanations folks.

The water table here is dropping rapidly. I hope we do not experience drought conditions like Qld has of late but this is useful knowledge in any regard. Once again, this is why I come here. To learn and to share what I have learned.

Eric Frei

The key was, dead wooding is a form of pruning however it does not aid recovery at all, it's just an aesthetic and safety prune mainly.

For a drought affected tree to be aided it needs water, mulch.

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Eric Frei

Oh, and for the record it seems Stumps is a QAA member.



I also wrote this:-
QAA|Queensland Arboricultural Association Incorporated| unqualified members and selling credibility

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newguy18

Wow,any idiot can join an org an its a garunteed money ticket.

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old schooler

Eric Frei

The following pics are actually scanned in from The Australia Arbor Age October/November edition, pages 74 and 75 where QAA has written their propaganda, in my opinion blatant lies.

Watch how they word it so they look good. I rang Kurt and had a chat, he's no longer in the know with that magazine as he has so many now. I wonder if Kurt's interested in printing the truth? Whilst they couldn't respond in any fashion (letter or forum) they run to the Arbor Age and print absolute trash, I couldn't make a story up this bent! For the people who did make it change we get nothing but grief, whilst the industry so called representative body lies about what really happened.





Now lets home in on some of the absolute pie in the sky fantasies, remember, they got a visit from Q-Build and most frowned like crazy when they discovered anyone could join and plaster stuff on their advertising and then the caught in the act contractor threatens to sue!

Natural progression my ass, more like caught with your pants down and one of your members breaching several acts on a govt job and then questions get asked.

Raising the bar, well, since there was never a bar to begin with raising is the only option isn't it, but that change didn't happen until there was external pressures.
Funny that, I campaign hard for it but when I asked for help I was told that the goal is everyone has to join the QAA and abide by it's code of ethics. Any regulation of the industry needs to have QAA as far as possible away from it.

It was Treeworld that protected the people not you. and when a whistle blew with them in ear shot then things changed.

Don't know how the author of that article, Craig Reed, could sleep at night. At Arborcamp they were sucking up, "did you get a letter yet?" Nope, and then print that absolute load of rubbish.

Look close people's. This is the organisation that runs around labelling themselves as the "lead industry body" more like the Lead industry liars in my opinion. For those of you watching this case by detail you can see the deception laid down. And many posts ago I wrote "told you so" because I live here. And unlike The Australian Arborage I try to get the facts and print the truth, lets see if they will, I will write a response and lets see what Kurt does, this will be very interesting. I have said for a very long time that it's a boys club, slowly the evidence is laying down and you can see with your own 2 eyes I don't make this up.

Think about it Queenslanders

Do you want the QAA to control ....

1/ Training, when it's supposed to be an accessible to all without strings attached entitlement in Australia?

2/ Approved contractors scheme run by them?

3/ Possible industry regulation with them anywhere near controlling it?

Think long and hard, because I can tell you one think confidently. Control and money, that's the two motivators they have in my opinion. No other organisation is so hell bent on control, imagine telling me not to put videos on the internet.

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Eric Frei

Copy of email sent to Kurt. kurt@trademags.com.au

For the record software here can parse links to the page title.

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treeseer

If I was a QAA member I would want to know how their new programs will interface with govt work on the same issues--collaborate or conflict? Adapting the UK work sounds like a plan; you guys seem to follow that lead on other stuff, like spelling and all.

Eric I don't know what goes on inside QAA so I can't say just how much of their article is misleading. Sure there is self-aggrandizement in it, and yes they co-opted your efforts. This is all SOP for orgs; they don't pin ribbons on outsiders. Your letter in response tootles its own trumpet too. What matters now is that QAA members get involved and make their org something they can be proud of. Deleting that hush hush bit out of the ethics code would be good for starters.

If you are hellbent on getting the truth out, perhaps a chronology of events written objectively without hearsay would have a greater chance of getting printed than the above which to this outsider seems a bit rantish and quite combative.

Your work caused (the possibility of) change--thank you!-- and I hope others will do the same in a spirit of cooperation.

Eric Frei

You dont see the problem of them not even responding to us here and then writing that? Yet they ask to work together.

You dont see problems like Tree C saying he'd tell the new committee to give us a wide berth, yet they claim their protecting the industry from hacks.

Rather trust the devil thanks.

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treeseer

No denying there are problems with all that.

What's to be done about it though--rant and alienate further, or seek solutions?