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Congratulations to all Winners, Finalists and Highly Commended
The Master Painters Association congratulates all the winners, finalists and highly commended achievers on their professionalism and dedication to our industry. While the major cup 2018 winners should be especially proud of their achievements, each and every entrant is a credit to our industry. Their professionalism, hard work, and dedication to excellence is evident in the high calibre of each of the project entries.
Promote your Achievements!
The Awards are an opportunity for all winners and runners up to build their business profile by promoting their achievement. Winning an industry award is a fantastic accomplishment, so make sure you promote it on your website and through social media. To further enhance your industry partnerships, you can also mention the Awards night sponsors and tag them in your social media posts. @master.painters.australia #masterpaintersawards
Our Association is growing!
We’re very pleased to announce that the Master Painters Association ACT will now be joining with NSW as one Association. This is a big move for any association to undertake and was a unanimous decision, made by
the ACT members and their Executive Committee. I know I speak for our NSW board, staff and members in welcoming the members of the Master Painters Association ACT and we look forward to a busy future working towards successful outcomes for all members.
Painting and Decorating Licence
As you will be aware there was a real threat of the removal of the Painting and Decorating Licence a few months ago, after much work and lobbying on your behalf, we have achieved success in retaining the Licence. This success came after our submissions to government, supportive comments by 2GB’s Ray Hadley and his interviews with our President, Robin Ottowa and our ex-Apprentice Ben Cutting plus our meeting with the Minister Matthew Kean. Our aim was to reinforce the importance of retaining the Painting and Decorating licence and after much effort, this was recognised and the licence will now stay. This is great news for our members, the industry and the consumer.
I would like to thank the Minister for his forward thinking and all of those who supported our goal to retain the Licence. It has now been officially confirmed by The Hon. Minister Matthew Kean that licensing for Painting and Decorating and the other 12 trades will remain.
Minister Kean stated, ‘’Tradies will save $52.3 million over 10 years from not having to renew their licenses every three years, as part of the NSW Government’s Better Business reforms. This reform will reduce renewal fees from up to $605 every three years to just a $51 processing fee for tradies to update their details every five years. That gives them more money to pay the bills, put food on the table, or go out with their families, as well as additional funds to grow their businesses.”
Thank you to all those who made a submission to keep the Licence and undertook the survey. We will now be utilising the information you provided to us in our discussions with SafeWork and further meetings planned with Government.
Thanks also goes to those who attended the meeting with Minister Kean and who were instrumental in alerting the Government on potential hazards and the flow on effects of removing the licencing.
Thank you to Robin Ottowa (MPA President), Ian
Connell (Trainer and Assessor) Stuart Bayliss (Technical Consultant), Mark Roia (Technical Consultant) and Karen Stiles (Owners Corporation Network). Also thank you to Ben Cutting (MPA Ex-Apprentice who together with Robin Ottowa highlighted their concerns to 2GB radio personality Ray Hadley.
A vote of thanks is also due to Ray Hadley, who championed our concerns over the proposed removal
of the Painting and Decorating licences in NSW. By highlighting the absolute necessity of keeping the current licencing, Ray Hadley was instrumental in helping us keep the industry relevant and protecting consumers from unscrupulous and unskilled workers flooding the market. This has been an extremely positive outcome for our hard working tradies who put their hearts and souls into their craft and pride themselves on doing the right thing by their clients. Thanks Ray.
Industry Safety
In regard to industry safety, there is still more to do. We recently had a meeting with SafeWork Australia and we will be working with them on improving safety in our industry.
In conclusion, I would like to thank the board, staff and contractors of the Master Painters Association and the MPGTC for all the hard work they have put into, not only the Awards for Excellence, but also on a daily basis in helping our members and the Industry. Thank you to, Indra Agnihotri, Matthew Page, Lee Jones, Sonia Vedat, Sandy Williams, Paul Vella, John Newman and Stephen Harris for all your hard work.
The Master Painter Autumn 2019 5