Tena Koutou,
During this time of Matariki we look to the stars to acknowledge joy and peace in our lives, remember past loved ones and celebrate new life. It’s a special time for all of us as New Zealander’s, our communities, on behalf of IPWEA NZ we wish you a wonderful Matariki!
I have many questions to ask, and news to share with you today. Most topical for many of us right now is reform. Water reform and the announcement of four proposed new entities last week will be a period of uncertainty for many of our members. We would like to support any concerns and your challenges as this changing of the landscape is lasting and profound, and can also be polarising. Please get in touch with us and collectively we can share information as we receive it.
Local government reform and the review of local government is also underway – taking a backseat to water reform in the media presently, but coming towards us quickly with a first scene setting report in September of this year followed by a period of consultation. We are cognisant of how this review could impact on our members and will keep you abreast of news in this area.
IPWEA NZ recently prepared a submission response on behalf of members to the Infrastructure Commission on its 2050 Infrastructure Strategy, available to view here.
Here in the office Murray and our team are doing well and there are a number of new faces to say hello to. I wanted to shout out to Mike Curry in our product development area who is working on our digital badges, completing the release of our next tranche of badges and reviewing the content of our existing badges to ensure they are up to date with the release of IIMM 2021!
Over the past three months the Board have been reviewing and agreeing the key focus areas to 2023 for the organization supporting our Vision of: Sustainable Communities Enabled by Asset Management Excellence. These three focus areas are sustainable communities, sector reform support and overall evolution of IPWEA NZ. Our strategy will shortly be available on the website.
Membership is so important to us, we are growing! Your membership renewal for the coming is now due. We encourage you to continue your support of IPWEA NZ and ensure that you maintain your continuous membership. Emma Liddell joined us this week supporting branch and member activity so you will see and hear more from Emma over the coming months.
Our AGM and annual accounts are currently being prepared and finalised. There are some minor constitution changes to be made and you will receive more information on these shortly.
Our Annual Conference Future Fit Aotearoa is 7-9th September in Auckland. I strongly encourage you to attend, the speaker lineup, vital conversations and energy of this event is not to be missed. You can expect to enjoy an amazing showcase of asset management best practice and innovation, this year extra special as a joint effort with ACE New Zealand. The awards night will be spectacular I am sure.
Thank you as always for your work supporting our communities, and being a part of our organisation.
Priyani de Silva-Currie
