Welcome to the Australian Branch

The worldwide membership of IMechE is approximately 75,000 with 1,472 members in the Australian Branch. There has been a 8% increase in the last financial year in Australasia.

The Australian Branch comprises Panels in the larger States of New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland and provides support for regional activity in the Australian Capital Territory (by NSW), the Northern Territory (by QLD), Tasmania (by VIC) and Papua New Guinea (by Branch). 

Branch contacts are:

Branch Chair: Brian Carter
Branch Hon Secretary: Clive Waters
Branch Hon Treasurer: Ken Tushingham
Branch Assistant Hon Secretary: Stan Gafney
Branch IT Coordinator: Geoff Stone

The AGM was held in Brisbane on Saturday 28th March 2009. The event was very well organised by the Brisbane Panel. For the very first time a postal a ballot was held to provide a more representative demcratic election of officers. As it was on the position of Branch Honorary Secretary was in need of such a process. Ian Mash from NSW was elected for the next term.

The full list of office bearers from May 2009 through to April 2010 include:

Clive Waters Chairman
Brian Carter Immediate Past Chairman
Ken Tushingham Hon Treasurer
Ian Mash Hon Secretary
Roshan Dodanwela Assistant Hon Secretary & New Bulletin Editor
Geoff Stone IT Coordinator

In conjunction with the AGM the Australian finals of the Speak Out for Engineering competition was held following th AGM. The winner, David Ackland from Victoria, will represent Australia at the regional finals in Malaysia shortly after this date. Are you participating in this event in your state? His talk on the biomechanical research was both gruesome and intersting. He showed how the limbs from cadervas could be connected to transducers to evaluate the mechanical behaviour of joints, muscles and sinews. This valuable research will aid surgeons to reconstruct shoulders in the future. good luck in the finals.

Following recruitment campaigns in each state the March 2009 Membership figures giving  a total of 1479  in the Panels/States are as follows:

ACT 30 (30)
New South Wales Panel 330 (330)
Papua New Guinea 67 (67)
Queensland Panel  196 (196)
South Australia Panel 185 (185)
Tasmania 17 (17
Victoria Panel 330 (330)
Western Australia Panel 266 (266)
Northern Territory  1 (1)

Numbers in brackets represent December 2008

The News Bulletin editor is looking for interesting articles for the next edition. Copy should be sent directly to the editor whose contact details can be found on the South Australian Panel website or in your last News Bulletin.

Did you work in the UK for a period before coming to Australia? Do you know that you may be entitled to a UK pension? Did you know that you can pay arrears of national insurance contributions to enhance your pension entitlements? Did you know that the UK pension is taxed as income in Australia but is not indexed? Google the UK pension and find out the details. There is a need to hurry as up to 6 years back payment can be made before 5th April 2009.

Geoff Stone is in South Australia giving training on Near You.