From the President - March 2019
AITPM’s website remains our most effective tool for communicating with membership and the wider industry, and for maintaining a central repository of information. As a significant enabler to deliver on AITPM objectives we continue to invest in our website, with this month seeing significant improvements in functionality. I invite you to explore the new features. These include:
- New dedicated member portal with customisable content and account information;
- Ability for members to enter into an auto renewing subscription based membership;
- Fully integrated membership and communication databases with members able to manage & update;
- A full member directory for members to showcase their services & connect with other members.
With the AITPM community increasingly using social media, direct links to LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been improved.
You will also receive your Membership Renewals this week and your Board hopes this is considered of significant value to you. As always, we are continually thinking about and discussing how to increase membership and sponsor/partner value, and welcome your feedback.
Solid Technical Skills for a Diverse Community
The range of stories in this edition of the newsletter remind me of how broad is the impact of traffic and transport in our community. We have stories about how poor access is one of the prompts to the current French riots, how autonomous vehicles are not just for private motoring and how our work embraces huge infrastructure projects right down to day-to-day maintenance.
I would like to add two items that have caught my attention to this mix.
Engineering skills represented in parliament
At the last Victorian State election, Paul Hamer won the seat of Boxhill from a candidate that had held the seat for 26 years.
Hamer (no relation to the former Victorian Premier) is a civil engineer with expertise in public transport. Here’s a quote from his maiden speech to parliament.
Engineers are, and have always been, poorly represented in this Parliament. Since the election of the first Victorian Parliament, there have been just 31 members who have had some form of engineering qualifications. Even fewer have spent the majority of their careers, prior to entering the parliament, in the engineering or related industry.
I believe that it is critical that engineers and others from the science and technology realm become more involved and engaged in politics. Indeed, one of my motivating factors for choosing to stand for election was to bring the forensic and analytical skills that I have applied to my working life to help address our state's biggest challenges.
Now the transport profession is more than just engineers, but it still embraces much of the skills and insights that come from people who have studied and worked in this discipline. And it is a broad church. After his election The Age newspaper reported that “It’s arguable that a generation ago a person with a professional background such as his might have been more inclined to run for the Liberals”. Engineering skills knows no boundaries.
Mr Hamer is striving to break down barriers. In his speech he recalled how, his father, as a four-year-old boy during the Second World War, hid in a cellar to escape the holocaust and Paul Hamer has witness and been subject of racial vilification.
Inquiry into automated mass transit
The House of Representatives Infrastructure, Transport and Cities Committee inquiry into automated mass transit, focusing on developments in the use of automation and new energy sources for land-based mass transit has taken submissions and has completed some public hearings. The committee is being chaired by John Alexander MP. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/ITC/automatedmasstransit
Autonomous vehicles are being strongly campaigned by car makers and other companies with a focus on individual mobility.
At the AITPM we have highlighted in this newsletter and other locations the need and the opportunity for autonomous technology to be firstly applied in defined corridors for public transport and the freight industry.
Adelaide holds a conference every two years on autonomous vehicles which focuses on cars, but it is a city that has taken on the O-Bahn bus system. How much more affordable would that system be if it were now to be designed around autonomous buses. This is one of the points made by our David Brown in his opinion piece for Sydney University’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies From their 'Thinking outside the box' series.
Vale Margaret Hagan
It is with great sadness that the AITPM has learnt of the passing of Margaret Hagan, wife of Barry Hagan.
The AITPM has been supported by great people who, themselves, have great support. Establishing and maintaining a predominantly volunteer organisation has always benefited from the backing of family members.
Barry’s contribution to the AITPM is well documented including being the driving force behind the establishment of the South Australian Branch and ultimately as National President.
Margaret is remembered as being a very kind and welcoming person, which came to the fore when hosting and mixing with members and their partners. Her role and value epitomised the concept of the AITPM community.
I am sure you will join me in passing on our best wishes to Barry.