PRESIDENT’S PAGE

Fellow QJA members, As we enter the 2020 winter season, it’s insightful to realise we’ve now been experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and hibernation for more than three months. In mid-March, we issued a membership email message explaining the impact of the pandemic on QJA and its members – the planned event postponements, suspensions and cancellations; the modified functioning of the QJA office; the suspension of community signing site activities; arrangements for volunteering from home and at work; and suggestions for making the most of social isolation. Then, at the end of March, we supplemented the initial message with some detailed guidelines for volunteering from home under social distancing conditions. We are now in the restrictions easing phase of the pandemic and we sincerely hope (a) you are all well – both physically and psychologically, (b) you have not only survived but have successfully managed to adjust to the enforced changes to our traditional way of life and (c) you have even embraced some positive lifestyle changes you will carry forward to the postCOVID phase. This issue of the Journal includes a dedicated COVID-19 section (pages 6-9) with information on the personal experiences of a wide cross-section of the QJA membership community (including front-line health workers) over the last several weeks and months. Thank you to everyone who responded to our call for relevant content. I am sure we will all enjoy reading about how other members have managed and adjusted to this unique period of hibernation, social distancing and enhanced personal hygiene.

Like the rest of the business world, QJA has needed to adjust and respond to the changed operating environment imposed by COVID-19. For example: Board Meetings: Reinforcing the practice introduced several years ago, all QJA’s monthly Board Meeting are conducted via Zoom videoconference. All directors are now experienced and comfortable with this medium and the physical gathering of board members is restricted to six-monthly strategical planning sessions (subject to COVID-19 social gathering conditions). Office operations: From Monday 23 March the QJA office at Woolloongabba was closed for entry by members and the public. The four full-time employees compiled a roster that ensured one officer was present in the office each working day while the others worked from home. From 1 June, this arrangement was adjusted so that two officers are present in the office each day with the other two working from home. A daily Zoom videoconference is conducted each workday morning – allowing all officers to interact with each other and resolve those matters requiring determination. The changed working conditions have functioned very smoothly with the impact on clients and customers being negligible. The arrangement has been so successful it is anticipated that some working from home will be continued post-COVID. Pre-appointment Training: With the imposed ban on the gathering of groups of people, it was necessary to suspend QJA’s face-toface pre-appointment training courses until later in the year. The very popular self-paced online training courses have continued uninterrupted and to cater for those students who prefer some guided trainer tuition but who have difficulty being available for the set-dates face-to-face courses, QJA has introduced a blended course option. This alternative allows the student to supplement their online study and assessment with videoconference trainerstudent interaction. The article on page 5 explains more. Professional Development: To make the most of the social isolation conditions, we suggested members might like to refresh their technical JP/C.Dec knowledge by registering for the free Professional Series courses on the QJA website. Almost 100 members accepted our invitation to use their newlyavailable home-time in this productive way and those who have successfully completed each of the four modules have been issued with a Certificate of Completion. Congratulations all. To complement these technical knowledge courses, QJA is now compiling a library of soft-skills courses (Communication, Leadership, Mediation, Teamwork, Conflict Resolution, Dealing with Difficult People, Negotiation etc.). These additional selfpaced online PD courses will be progressively made available to members in the coming weeks and months). Branch operations: The restrictions on group gatherings enforced the cancellation/suspension of the scheduled March, April, May and June PD meetings, workshops and social get-together functions for our QJA branches. With our March email message to Branches, reinforced by the follow-up personal engagement of QJA directors (each in their role as Patron for a cluster of QJA branches & contact groups), QJA’s regional entities were encouraged to use videoconferencing technology, newsletters, email blasts and personal phone calls to interact with their local QJA constituent members – especially the older cohort who might be feeling socially isolated. Some of the branches have been very successful in adapting to the imposed physical distancing conditions and their stories are featured in the Regional Roundup section (pages 14-15). State Conference: In view of the general uncertainty about the exact timing of pathway out of the pandemic’s social distancing restrictions, the QJA Board decided in April to defer the next State Conference (scheduled for November 2020) until May 2021 to align with National Volunteers Week. More details are contained in the article on page 10. QJA Awards: The next annual QJA Awards (also scheduled to be presented in November 2020) have now been deferred to May 2021 (to coincide with the next State Conference). National Volunteer Week: As the 2020 National Volunteer Week (18-24 May) fell in the midst of the coronavirus lockdown period, the scheduled group function was cancelled and in lieu, QJA issued an “Thank You” eCard to our members together with a special video message from the QJA Registrar, Wendy La Macchia.

Welcome to new board member Julie Arthur OAM and new employee Pamela Currie. The article on page 5 contains additional information on both officers.