At their recent Annual General Meeting members of the state-based Commercial Vehicle Industry Association of Queensland took the unprecedented step of unanimously approving the transition to a national mandate and the creation of a new national representative body to be called Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia. As a consequence, the CVIAQ will exit a federated body it has been a part of since 1986.

‘With the transfer of responsibility for regulation of the heavy vehicle industry from the states to the Commonwealth and the creation of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, our industry needs a strong national voice dedicated solely to the interests of our members,’ said CVIAQ CEO Brett Wright. ‘Unfortunately, within the old federation policymaking was in the hands of the passenger-car dominated motor trades associations.’

The vote was the result of an intense 18 month period of work which included attempts at reform of the old federation, a national consultation of members and industry leaders, creation of a robust business plan and the development and delivery of a communications campaign. CVIAQ was advised throughout by association consultants THINK: Insight & Advice.

‘We were in unchartered territory and we relied on the expertise of Randall Pearce of THINK to navigate our way through the myriad issues,’ said Wright. ‘He provided clear and wise advice at every step along the way to this terrific result,’ he said.

‘Many professional and industry groups complain that the old federated structures are no longer fit for purpose but don’t feel as if they have any options,’ said Randall Pearce, managing director of association consultants THINK: Insight & Advice. ‘Fortunately, Brett and his board exercised real vision and courage to bring about the change.’

Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia is designed to be a modern national association. Instead of state-based offices, HVIA will have three regional offices in Melbourne serving Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, in Perth serving WA and the Northern Territory and Brisbane serving Queensland, NSW and the ACT. ‘We are implementing a matrixed management structure where each national manager will be responsible for a national program as well as a geographic region,’ according to Wright.

To ensure that the new association is seen as a truly national organisation, the new offices in Melbourne and Perth will open on the same day on 1 March 2016. The board is already reflecting the new national character of HVIA with three new directors elected at the AGM from outside of Queensland. ‘Our board meetings will rotate through the regions and we will continue to recruit directors from across the country as we make the transition,’ said Wright. ‘Exciting times indeed!’

This media release was directly sourced from the CVIAQ website.

For more information contact: Brett Wright, CEO, CVIAQ, 0419 716 050