The TCIA Annual General Meeting will be held on Wednesday September 11th at 7:30pm. Due to most of the current executive members being strewn across the planet, this meeting will be held on Zoom.
Please contact the Secretary or the Treasurer for these details if you are interested in attending.
Similarly, if you have any business for the general meeting that will follow the official AGM elections, please forward them through and we can add to the agenda.
The TCIA have received notification from the Wellington Park Management Trust, and similarly posted on their Facebook page (as below), that The Springs Lookout may not be used for abseiling purposes. They will be posting signage and following up with compliance action, which means those caught using the site are likely to be fined.
The TCIA requests all members share this information amongst their relevant colleagues and reminds everyone to ensure they have land manager approval to use a site for any abseiling/climbing activities.
The TCIA AGM was held 4/09/2023 – click here for the minutes.
Major business as always was the election of executive members. All executive members were re-elected to their previous posts. Following the constitutional ammendments that were passed (as below), the position of Public Officer was also created to assist the TCIA in compliance with lodging their annual paperwork to remain an incorporated association.
The TCIA Constitution was discussed and updated to ensure it reflects the current operation of the association and where we see the TCIA going in the near future. In line with changes approved at the 2022 AGM, the membership recertification process was ratified in the new constitution. To be clear – the two-yearly membership fee remains at $100 providing recertification occurs before the member has expired (i.e. by June 30th). Members looking to recertify between July 1st and September 30th will pay $150. From October 1st, all members that have chosen not to recertify will be transferred to the “Expired Instructors” list – anyone looking to recertify after this point will require reassessment.
A “Validation of Skills” process has been brought online to assist with guides/instructors that hold external qualifications, that wish to attain comporable TCIA qualifications. This process is also available for members looking to recertify, who have not been able to log sufficient evidence to support currency of skills. Please contact us if you want to take advantage of this.
There are also ongoing discussions between TCIA and DECYP, including the current redrafting of the ‘Procedures for Planning Off Campus Activities’ and ways that TCIA/DECYP can work together to ensure the safety of students at all climbing venues around the state.
We hope you all have a safe and fruitful year ahead.
The major discussion this year involved the recertification process and several changes have been made:
Members are reminded that the recertification process is not a reassessment, it merely demonstrates to the TCIA executive team your proof of activity in the industry. It is the individual members responsibility to gauge and assess their own level of current skill and competency, make sure you only operate within your current experience and competence level for all employment. If you are feeling rusty, take time to practice your setup, operational and rescue skills prior to working and as always, contact the TCIA if you have any questions.
To address the chronic number of late recertifications and the ongoing burden to our volunteer executive team in chasing these up, effective for the 2023 recertification cycle, membership fees will be increasing for anyone that tries to recertify after they have expired and a hard deadline of 3 months past your expiry will now be enforced. This is intended to fund the extra work involved in chasing late recertifications and hopefully encourage more timely actions by our members to ensure they remain current in their qualifications.
Those members who recertify prior to expiry on June 30th will still only pay $100 for two years.
Members that have let their qualification expire, and wish to recertify between July 1st and September 30th will now be charged $150 for their two year renewal.
All members that remain uncertified past September 30th will be deemed fully expired and will require reassessment if they wish to reacquire their qualification.
Maintaining the currency of your membership is your responsibility. The TCIA has made significant efforts over the last 10 years to chase a high proportion of our members to encourage them to maintain their qualifications – this will not continue.
Going forward, the TCIA will contact all members that we have current contact details for 3 months prior to expiry (i.e. end of March/start of April) to remind you of the recertification process. It is intended that all recertifications should be lodged by the end of May, so that the Membership Secretary has the month of June to process these, ensuring all members are recertified by the time they would otherwise expire. The hard deadline of September 30th gives you a window of 6 months to address any concerns.
As with all other licenses and qualifications that require periodic renewal, the onus is on you, the holder of the qualification, to maintain it. Please check here: http://tcia.asn.au/instructor-contacts/ to see your current expiry date and make a note in your calendar to check this every year.
The Annual General Meeting will be held upstairs at the New Sydney Hotel and on Zoom for those of us in the north that can’t make it down.
Please rock up early, grab a brew and have a yarn with our good crew of passionate rock climbing and abseiling educators. The TCIA thrives when enthusiastic people bring new ideas, so please drop by and share your thoughts on the direction of the TCIA into the future.
If you plan on joining via Zoom – please email TCIAtreasurer@gmail.com and I will send you the appropriate details.
Fixed protection – Bolts. a new training and assessment module is being developed for the qualification streams AG,TRG,and SPG. To inspect and use bolts safely within our Guided sessions, Once this is implemented existing qualifications will require a refresher session, there will be plenty of time made available to ensure everyone has easy access to this. more details will be sent out once this becomes available.
We have been really busy in the background of the organisation.
For your information; Annual General Meeting – live via Zoom at 7.30pm Tuesday 22 September (Meeting ID is 942 0616 2859). Please let us know if there’s anything you would like discussed for the agenda – email: TCIApresident@gmail.com. Anyone can nominate for President, Vice President, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Secretary and Executive members (brain trust).
Training and Assessment – At Whitewater Wall on 17-18 October. Please let us know if you (or someone else) would like to be included. We need to know ASAP to allow for organisation.
Membership – Matt Jones has been really busy processing the many renewals that have come in this year.
Website – We are in the middle of updating and adding membership details for new and renewing members. Thanks for your patience.
Certificates – Matt and I have dug through the archives and found an original certificate. This has been updated and I will soon send out a certificate to each current instructor or guide.
Training manuals – I have written updated BAI, TRA, and SPG manuals. I will soon do the ICG and MPG manuals. The manuals will be checked by peers and then issued to people as they sign up for training/assessment. If anyone has any photos or sketches they think would go well in a manual then please send through.
Treasurer – Richard has been busy keeping the TCIA compliant with insurance and small business practice.
Blackmans Bay Blowhole – Kingborough Council will soon complete the installation of new fencing. They are also installing a labelled belay bar. Thanks to council for this. Please remember to make your own risk assessment before using any venue.
