Sourced from: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2015/03/overhaul-definition-volunteering-australia

Volunteering Australia is reviewing the definition of volunteering in Australia and has proposed three alternatives for discussion in a new document.

According to the national volunteering peak’s Issues Paper, National Review of the Definition of Volunteering in Australia, is “the start of a national engagement on the definition of volunteering,” which will see stakeholders consulted Australia-wide.

Volunteering Australia CEO Brett Williamson said the definition of volunteering in Australia was developed almost 20 years ago in 1996 and did not reflect the extent of volunteering today, given it only recognised formal volunteering undertaken for Not for Profit organisations.

“A lot of volunteering that is common today simply didn’t exist 20 years ago,” Williamson said.

“The spirit of volunteering hasn’t changed, but it’s important we refine what volunteering means in Australia to make sure we better recognise, measure and support it.

“The rise of internships, work for the dole programs, and community service orders has created grey areas for organisations. They want to know if these activities overlap with volunteering, particularly around roles, rights and responsibilities.”

Proposed alternative definitions put forward by Volunteering Australia include:

Option 1

Volunteering is an activity undertaken as an individual or in a group, for the benefit of the community, without expectation of financial reward. Volunteering is a choice freely made by each individual and can include formal or informal community participation.

Option 2

Volunteering is doing something willingly, for no financial gain, that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives or the individual.

Option 3

We define volunteering as any activity that involves spending time, unpaid, doing something that aims to benefit the environment or someone (individuals or groups) other than, or in addition to, close relatives. Volunteering must be a choice freely made by each individual. This can include formal activity undertaken through public, private and voluntary organisations as well as informal community participation

The peak body said the development of the Issues Paper is the first phase of the review process, to be followed by a program of “national engagement,” which will result in a final recommendation on a definition of volunteering to be made to the Volunteering Australia Board.

Volunteering Australia said that one of its proposed definitions may be adopted or modified for use, the current definition could be reaffirmed, or an alternative definition may emerge as a result of the Australia-wide engagement process.

“ABS figures show one in three Australians – 6.1 million people – volunteered in 2010. If we don’t accurately recognise the types of volunteering people do, we risk undervaluing it,” Williamson said.

“In reviewing what volunteering is, we also need to be clearer about what volunteering isn’t.”

The existing definition fails to recognise aspects of virtual volunteering, social entrepreneurship, corporate volunteering, volunteering for government organisations such as museums or informal volunteering in the community.

It states that formal volunteering is an activity that takes place in Not for Profit organisations or projects and:

is of benefit to the community

is undertaken of the volunteer’s own free will and without coercion

is undertaken for no financial payment

occurs in designated volunteer positions only.

VA will hold stakeholder information sessions and that an online survey for all Australians to submit their views will be open from 16 March to 17 April 2015 on its website.

Review of the Definition of Volunteering in Australia can be viewed at www.volunteeringaustralia.org

BY MEG SMITH

Recently released earnings data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) indicated a gender pay gap as high as 45% among managers. Yet basic myths continue to obstruct informed debate about why the gap exists.

Myth 1: Women are less qualified due to interrupted careers.

This myth has been debunked by a wide range of labour market studies which investigate whether women receive the same labour market rewards as men with similar qualifications, experience and personal characteristics. Both in Australia and internationally, such studies consistently show that only a small proportion of the earnings differences between women and men can be explained by differences in education and work experience or other productivity related characteristics.

While it has been assumed that women’s poorer earnings relate to their lower levels of education and qualifications, recent data demonstrates clearly that the earnings gap has persisted despite women’s increased entry into higher education. Today a higher proportion of women (26%) than men (22%) hold a Bachelor Degree or higher qualification, while a higher proportion of women (42%) than men (36%) are currently engaged in undergraduate education.
Grading earnings data indicates also that the gender earnings gap cannot be simply equated to women choosing to have children. Relevant here is the evidence of a persistent gender pay gap among graduates in their 20s, a period that predates career interruptions due to childcare.

Myth 2: The statistics are wrong. Organisations treat all employees equally and pay them fairly.

The statistics are not wrong. The WGEA data is derived from the data organisations have provided to the Agency. The strong story to come out of this evidence is of ongoing gender pay inequity, and its cumulative impact on women’s current and lifelong earnings. Even allowing for the different labour economics paradigms used to investigate the gender pay gap, a significant proportion of the earnings gap remains unaccounted for by what economists term “measurable characteristics”.
The determinants of the gender earnings gap cannot be easily reduced to a single factor.

Contributing factors to the gap include the undervaluation of feminised work and skills, differences in the types of jobs held by men and women and the method of setting pay for those jobs, and structures and workplace practices which restrict the employment prospects of workers with family responsibilities.

Looking at management and leadership positions within organisations, a number of key barriers to the earnings recognition of women in leadership positions and their progression within leadership structures have been identified. These include negative perceptions about competing work-life priorities and women’s ability to lead.

These perceptions not only rest with individuals within an organisation but are embedded in organisational structure and practices. Within organisational settings, unconscious biases specifically related to or informed by expectations about what is appropriate behaviour for men and women, including masculinised models of leadership, do have a systematic and sustained negative impact on women.

Myth 3: Women don’t ask for pay rises and don’t make their case well. Women lack competitive drive and this has an impact on their performance and their pay.

These myths blame women, linking the gender pay gap to women’s capacity to bargain rather than to institutional and workplace practices that fail to organise and value work and performance fairly. These practices include the assessment of the value of a job and performance including recruitment processes and selection criteria, as well as benchmarks used to assess promotion.

On the issue of negotiation, research has highlighted differences in negotiation styles, behaviour and outcomes between women and men. Such differences may contribute to gender differences in earnings, noting also that there is a larger gender pay gap among top income earners. Studies also suggest that these differences are not innate and can be shaped by the organisational environment, which includes cultural stereotypes about gender and negotiation styles.

Myth 4: Women have broader personal goals and benchmarks for success so they don’t care as much about their income.

This myth conflates a number of key factors. The disproportionately high burden of caring work that falls to women does shape the labour market choices made by women, including women in senior positions. Yet such choices are clearly constrained ones and are impacted by a range of factors including the impact of effectively high marginal tax rates (on the income of couple households), the availability of child care and gender norms about what constitutes good parenting.
Within workplaces, opportunities for women, particularly those who have caring responsibilities can be enhanced or restricted by the availability and quality of flexible work practices that support rather than impede career progression. These factors are also linked with gendered constructions of what constitutes “leadership”. Hannah Piterman has noted that it is the fragility in the link between women and authority and between men and family responsibilities that continues to marginalise women’s position in the workforce.

The inequities in the distribution of unpaid domestic work do not mean that women in leadership lack interest in their career or the conditions that attach to it. Rather than a lack of interest, much of what shapes women’s aspirations to leadership lies in factors such as insufficient career development, promotion pathways and mentoring provision and the cost of childcare.
Progress to gender pay equity is not assisted by myth-making. What is required is support for effective and sustained institutional and cultural reform capable of addressing the factors that shape the earnings gap.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

AuSAE are delighted to announce Alex Malley, Chief Executive of CPA Australia, host of the Nine Network's The Bottom Line and author of the bestselling book The Naked CEO, will deliver the opening keynote address at the 2015 AuSAE Conference and Exhibition (ACE) on 18 June in Brisbane.

From suspended schoolboy to disruptive CEO, Alex Malley has led a life rich in career accomplishment and mistakes. Through it all he has learned a lot about what it takes to successfully build not only a big career, but also a big life - the secrets of which he shares in his book and will share with you at ACE 2015.  

        

To celebrate Alex Malley's involvement with a 2015 ACE Keynote, AuSAE will be giving the next 100 ACE registrants a complimentary copy of "The Naked CEO" valued at $24.95.

AuSAE are simply thrilled Alex is able to share with our community his extensive experience and knowledge as to what it means to be a true leader in the not-for-profit sector. We confirm new speakers and exhibitors every day so please visit the official ACE Website for up-to-date event information. Stay tuned for the full ACE program release soon.

Special thanks to our valued ACE Location Partner, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Enterprise Care is excited to announce the release of its suite of Governance Intelligence® Health Checks. Initially it has the following Health Checks:

• Board Performance
  
• Board Intelligence®
  
• WHS Governance
  
• OHS Workplace
  

Embracing Health Checks is a positive step in gaining credible and practical visibility and understanding of what is happening organisationally. Enterprise Care’s Health Checks offer your Board, executive/senior team, and staff the opportunity to readily identify the actions needed to focus on improving organisational performance.

Each Enterprise Care Health Check provides your organisation with a targeted holistic, aligned, integrated and systematic evaluation in your selected area of choice.

The Health Check report strongly supports the Board, CEO and staff having a clear and common understanding of the next actions, knowing their contribution matters, and knowing they have a valuable impact for good.

The Governance Intelligence® Health Checks contribute to a governance approach with an organisational dimension enabling you to:

• holistically engage and make sound organisational decisions;
  
• meaningfully and professionally contribute to a better performing Board and organisation;
  
• gain practical insights into all key performance areas;
  
• schedule the tracking of key functions, projects or activities annually;
  
• identify measured key interventions against each of the agreed strategies;
  
• test and even audit current practices;
  
• determine the level of responsiveness to changes in management and operational issues;
  
• receive potential early warnings in any area of the organisation;
  
• review reports on how stakeholders view your organisation; and
  
• confirm the confidence levels you hold in various aspects of the organisation’s operations.
  

The Governance Intelligence® Health Checks are powered by governABILITY, the leaders' choice in governance for advancing your organisation's performance.

To discuss any aspect of Enterprise Care’s Governance Intelligence® Health Checks please contact Damien Smith on +61 3 8862 6315 or smithdj@enterprisecare.com.au

About the Conference

ASAE's Great Ideas in Association Management Conference, Asia-Pacific, is a unique opportunity for senior staff of industry and professional societies in the Asia-Pacific region to expand their knowledge in association management. The event will take place 22-24 March 2015 at the Kowloon Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong. A community of attendees and presenters from Asia-Pacific, as well as the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, will gather to learn and share knowledge around key association management topics and to improve the effectiveness of professional societies and association executives.

AuSAE Delegation

On March 22-24 2015, a group of AuSAE not-for-profit professional members will be travelling to Hong Kong for the Great Ideas in Association Management Asia-Pacific Conference organised by our sister society, ASAE.

We would love you to join our delegation and take the opportunity to gain valuable ideas to help you manage your association more effectively, build fellowship and learn from your colleagues, and share one journey to strengthen the association profession.

To join AuSAE’s delegation*:

1. Click here to open the Great Ideas 2015 registration page.
   
2. Follow the registration process and when prompted, please select ‘AuSAE’ as your delegation from the dropdown box.
   
3. Finally enter the code GIA2015IND to receive your delegation discount (AuSAE has secured a special registration price of $495 USD for our delegation).
   

The Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) are seeking the use of boardrooms around Australasia to hold our member Executive Briefing’s in 2015. If your office has a boardroom or meeting room available that can seat 10-15 people, we would love to hear from you. Please email me at toni@ausae.org.au. We value our members support.

Warm regards,

Toni

Toni Brearley
Deputy Chief Executive Officer
Australasian Society of Assocation Executives

For immediate release
Friday 30 January, 2015

Visitor arrivals hit new high in 2014

International visitor arrivals for December have rounded out an impressive year of growth with total arrivals for 2014 up 5.1 per cent.

December saw over 400,000 arrivals, marking the highest number of visitors ever recorded for any month, pushing total arrivals total arrivals to over 2.8 million.

The data, released today by Statistics New Zealand, reveals that total holiday arrivals for the year ending December are up 6.9 per cent topping off a great year for the tourism industry.

Tourism New Zealand (TNZ) Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says, “It has been a stellar year of growth which we expect to see continue into 2015.”

Overall growth has been supported by strong holiday arrivals from Western markets with holiday arrivals from Germany and the US up 18.8 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively.

“These figures are outstanding for the industry as both Germany and the US are long-staying, high-value visitors. We know that these results are strongly linked to our efforts in promoting New Zealand as the real Middle-earth.”

Holiday results are also strong out of the Asian markets of Singapore (up 9.9 per cent), Japan (up 6.7 per cent), Korea (up 9.9 per cent) and China (up 15.2 per cent).

"The year has seen a significant shift in the China market, with holiday stay days having increased by 29.9 per cent for the same period," says Kevin.

“These are great indicators of a shift towards higher quality and higher value Chinese travellers as we approach the Chinese New Year in February – a peak travel period for the market.

“We can see that the industry is reaching capacity and over this peak period, the ‘no vacancy’ sign-is out. As far as problems go, it’s a positive one to have.

Tourism New Zealand’s priority emerging markets are performing well with total arrivals from India up an impressive 20.7 per cent, Brazil up 15.2 per cent and Indonesia up 11.6 per cent year-on-year.

“The new year brings with it a number of key opportunities to further leverage New Zealand on the international scale,” says Kevin.

The 2015 International Cricket World Cup which kicks off in two weeks will see New Zealand broadcast live to a global audience of a billion people.

“Tourism New Zealand is working to leverage this exposure of New Zealand in our key markets of the UK, Australia and the emerging market of India.”

ENDS
Contact Georgina Maguire, Communications Advisor, Tourism New Zealand
georgina.maguire@tnz.govt.nz; phone +64 21 478 659

Western Sydney’s prime facilitator of business engagement, The Western Sydney Business Connection (WSBC), is proud to announce the promotion of Michael Sugg from General Manager to CEO as part of the organisation’s continued transformational process.

WSBC’s President Troy McPhee said “the new appointment marks the first stages in the process of WSBC’s transition from incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee, as voted by the members at our recent AGM”.

“Michael has delivered on his proven reputation for transforming and growing member organisations both here in Australia and overseas. His engagement with our members and the wider community over the past 18 months has allowed WSBC to transform and deliver more relevant programs to its members and reinvigorate its presence in Western Sydney”, added WSBC’s jnr Vice President Brendon Noney.

“The new structure of WSBC will enable the organisation to continue to grow into a larger not-for-profit organisation, providing for a greater diversity of membership. It also better aligns with the new strategic direction of WSBC to be an organisation that not only connects the businesses of Great Western Sydney, but engages in industry support initiatives and advocates for and provides education to those businesses”.

Michael’s role will include leading and managing the organisation’s growth and ensuring it remains progressive, productive and relevant to its membership base. He will also lead the organisation’s new advocacy role, beginning with the campaign to ensure that the businesses of Greater Western Sydney directly benefit from the proposed billions of investment dollars being injected into the region.

“I very much look forward to continuing and leading the great work of the WSBC team”, commented Sugg. “The last year has been an incredible year of evolution and transformation here at WSBC as we strive to bring our members a modern and relevant business community that supports their growth and connections. WSBC continues to develop and make itself more and more relevant in Sydney’s West and I look forward to even more progress in 2015”.

Further information on WSBC can be found on their website at www.wsbc.org.au.

Michael Sugg can be contacted at msugg@wsbc.org.au and on 02 8896 6045 or 0401 326161.

Notes:

WSBC:
Western Sydney Business Connection is the prime facilitator of business engagement and growth in Western Sydney.

We exist to support the growth and connectivity of the Western Sydney business community.
We do this by delivering an innovative vehicle of engagement, collaboration, branding, regional promotion, thought leadership and a 'Voice' for Western Sydney business.

We promote and connect the people, places & businesses of Western Sydney.

Michael Sugg:
Michael is an entrepreneurial leader and experienced in engaging organisations with their audiences.

He is well known for his client and member engagement as well as his energy, passion and professionalism. A key strength he brings to WSBC and its members is his commerciality and knowledge of association management and the challenges and opportunities facing membership based organisations in today’s economic climate.

Did you know Perth Convention Bureau offers a range of professional development awards on an annual basis?

And did you know that WA has an organisation whose role is to assist you and/or your staff in securing and hosting conferences in your field of endeavour?

Perth Convention Bureau is a non-profit government and industry-funded organisation that promotes WA to attract national and international conferences.

The aim of this workshop is to assist potential award recipients with the application process, educate attendees on the role of the Bureau and answer any questions you may have.

The 2015 Aspire Program Awards will be awarded to the successful applicants from our associated partners of the program. The awards aim to assist in the professional and personal development of applicants, through attendance at a relevant international conference relating to their chosen field of endeavour. Awards are up to $10,000.

WHEN: Friday 6th February 2015 12pm - 2.30pm
WHERE: Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre
RSVP: Full name and dietary requirements by Friday 30th January 2015 to Jacqui Roberts - Stakeholder Relations Officer at Perth Convention Bureau Email: jroberts@pcb.com.au

Please find attached full event information here.

OFFICIAL MEMBER NOTIFICATION: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS TO THE AUSAE BOARD

FOR THE REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR NSW/ACT and NEW ZEALAND

The Australasian Society of Association Executives (AuSAE) is calling for nominations from members interested in serving as a Director of the Board. 

 

The positions of NSW/ACT Regional Director and New Zealand Regional Director are due for election. Current financial members are invited to express their interest for appointment to fill this vacancy for a two year term commencing in April 2015.

 

To express an interest for the Board positions you will need to provide by 5pm 10 February 2015.  

• a completed nomination form
• a statement outlining why you would like to be appointed as an AuSAE Director that would be suitable for circulation to all members.

All nominations must be received by 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday 10 February 2015.

 

Appointment to the board will be determined by election from the members within the region.  Please note that the nominee must be a current financial member of the association on application.

Please click through for a copy of the AuSAE Constitution, By-Laws and Governance Manual.

Questions and nominations may be submitted electronically or by post to:

 

Nominations Committee Liaison Officer
Australasian Society of Association Executives
PO Box 752
Stones Corner Q 4120

toni@ausae.org.au

Warm Regards,
Toni Brearley
Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Australasian Society of Association Executives