Hello and welcome to May!
Election year continues! Only now it’s our federal representatives vying for your vote this coming Saturday, 21 May….
Whilst I am sure many of us will be glad when it is over, I will be camped by my television glued to the ABC coverage watching for Antony Green’s call on what is very important election for Australia. As the climate and biodiversity loss emergency rages, who is best placed with the right commitments to take action now?
Hopefully you all have had a think about who best to represent you and our profession, and the best bit is of course the democracy sausage. Who needs Bunnings….
Thank you to all entrants, practices and most importantly those who joined us for the online entry reveal recently – we had 70 people on the call which is a great outcome! This year’s event is shaping up to be a great night out and for us to celebrate the best of South Australian landscape architecture on Friday, 1 July… Tickets are now on sale – Click Here to register!
Last Friday Sally and I were invited to the Greening Adelaide Leader’s Breakfast, held at the National Wine Centre. As part of the consultation on the coming Green Adelaide strategy, leaders from across state and local government (including a lot of Mayors, which was great to see) and industry gathered to hear from Prof Chris Daniels, Chair of Green Adelaide, Dr Ariella Helfgott – Director, Strategic Foresight at the Department for Premier and Cabinet and Mr Craig Holden – Chair, State Planning Commission. There is a full day Practitioners Workshop Summit on Monday which I will be attending and will report on progress in our next update.
As we recognise and support National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), I have been encouraging the AILA executive to consider how we acknowledge Country in our meetings.
I have discussed this with a few Elders, who have encouraged me to acknowledge Country authentically: with my heart more than my head. So, I now introduce our meetings with my own acknowledgement, that has deep meaning to me as my commitment to authentic reconciliation.
It is a small, but important step, in our journey of reconciliation.
Finally, it is National Volunteers Week and we would like to thank all our volunteer members that contribute to the diverse work the SA Chapter undertakes, without your ongoing support and passion AILA SA could not achieve so much! Your time, contribution and expertise are very much appreciated.
Happy voting on Saturday.
Cheers
DJB