QCWA Annual Report 2018-2019

The Queensland Country Women’s Association • Annual Report 2018–2019

EKKA was a busy time which included a visit to the Auction Arena where, again, I accepted a cheque on behalf of the QCWA from Santos for the Drought Appeal , with the Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries, the Hon. Mark Furner mp, present. I was also invited to attend the Show night and fireworks display by Telstra , which has given us great support and presented us with a cheque at the Conference. I attended the Capricornia Division Annual Meeting in Rockhampton which was great and, as it was Gloria Wakefield’s last meeting, I was so pleased to be able to attend. It was a good meeting and lovely to catch up with the ladies from in and around the Division. I attended the CWA of A Conference in Canberra, 27–30 August, with the other State Executive Board members and many other members from the QCWA. It was great to meet members from right across Australia and hear which they are all doing. The drought was a main topic as it has affected all the states, with New South Wales and Queensland being the worst hit. I flew up to Longreach as I was invited to an event that was being televised by Channel 7 and, to as it was in the Central Region, I invited SV-P Jan Street to attend with me. Emily Dwyer, our Membership, Media and Marketing Officer, was the main person who organised this event in co-ordination with Channel 7. This was a great event and a lot of money was donated on the night to the Drought Appeal fund. September was busy with the administering of the Drought Appeal funds. This is very time- consuming and I seemed to just about live in Brisbane during this time and until Conference. It was and is very important that applications are administered as efficiently and effectively as possible. When one reads the applications, I know I say ‘thank-you, dear Lord, that I live in an area where I can get food, etc’ … but then I remember that without the farmers I wouldn’t get the food I need to keep going, so we must help as much as we can. We also need to be more aware that by sending parcels and so on to affected areas that we are not helping the local communities as a whole. If people are not purchasing from the local stores they will shut – and, believe me, many have. In the big picture the drought won’t be over in a year even if we get rain, so we need to be mindful of all our country people and look after them – after all we are the Country Women’s Association.

PAST STATE PRESIDENT REPORT Joy Coulson (July–October 2018)

EXECUTIVE

The last few months in office were extremely busy with the drought appeal happening. July started off with Annual meetings being held in and around the State at Branch-level followed by August and September division meetings. July was also a busy month with the audits starting to be prepared and all the necessary paperwork coming in from branches, divisions and committees to be collated ready for our auditors. From all accounts, the paperwork was well-presented with only minor problems; a big thank-you to Finance and Administration Manager Mike Harpley, for having run successful Treasurers’ Workshops during the year that helped all our ladies doing the Treasurer’s role – well done, ladies. I was lucky to do the rounds of the branch Annual Meetings in the Central Highlands Division and meet all the lovely members in and around this Division. It is always a great opportunity to experience and mix with the members. Thank-you to Division President Jenny Ryan and Carol Ferguson for looking after me so well during this visit, which covered altogether over 900 km – a great trip. Southern Region Conference was held on the Gold Coast, hosted by the South East Division. This was a good meeting, friendly and welcoming to all. Thank-you to Elaine Keiseker and Gai Johnson for your hospitality to the State Executive Board members, who all enjoyed meeting the delegates from in and around Southern Region. Central Region Conference was held in Gympie in the second week in August, which was hosted by the Gympie and South Burnett Division. Thank-you to State Vice-President Jan Street for the invitation to myself to join you. I was able to attend for two days but had to return to State Office as there was an important event happening at the EKKA which I was required to attend. This event turned out to be a special presentation by Premier the Hon. Annastacia Palaszczuk mp regarding drought relief. On behalf of the QCWA, I accepted a cheque for $100,000 to kick-start the Premiers Drought Appeal for the farmers who are doing it so hard at the present time. This appeal took off like a house on fire and donations started to pour into State Office for us to administer.

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