President ’ s Report
Peter Berryman | ATMS President
Our energetic lobbying work throughout this COVID-19 pandemic has been focussed on keeping our members able to work wherever and whenever legally possible . One recent success was achieved in December 2021 , with the assistance of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia ( COSBOA ), when working together we secured written confirmation by Treasury that online consulting was a valid and safe workplace for us , allowing third party deliveries of medicines , while vaccination mandates are reducing the scope of face-to-face consulting in other spheres of health care . No matter what your position may be on COVID-19 vaccinations , these mandates have been highly contentious for all concerned , and members ’ emails that we have received have all been reviewed and acknowledged in our new pro-choice Vaccination Policy . Our staff have continued to be as supportive as possible to members , clarifying the potential confusion about working in different jurisdictions and with different modalities . Many thanks to those who participated in our letter writing campaign to ministers and senators , which has been drawing as much attention as possible to the injustice and inequalities that our profession has been facing . Our lobbying has also recently renewed its focus on the Restore our Rebates campaign , in conjunction with the “ Your Health , Your Choice ” movement . Most of this activism has been online , though significant campaigns have also been conducted live and in-person around the nation .
Our 2021 Annual Gala Awards evening was finally held in January 2022 and was a digital streaming success , with small parties of finalists connecting from all around Australia , hosted from our Head Office in Sydney . Special mention here to the winners , Emily Fidirikkos ( Student of the Year ), Pat Collins ( Practitioner of the Year ), and Tanya Edwards from Performance in Health Wellbeing Clinic ( Clinic of the Year ). A special shout out also goes to all the Highly Commended finalists too .
Our Fertility Symposium has also been moved twice due to the pandemic , and will now be presented on 22 May 2022 at the Sydney Hyatt . Hope to see you there .
The Corporations Amendment ( Meetings and Documents ) Bill 2021 has now passed into law , establishing a permanent mechanism to enable us to hold hybrid and virtual online formal meetings . Exercises in the novel streaming of formal events , such as our last Annual General Meeting ( AGM ) and our Continuing Professional Education ( CPE ) seminars , which we facilitated from a television studio in Warriewood , Sydney , in November 2021 , may now become much more common . The good news here is that member attendance at our AGMs , where members gain information about the Association ’ s activities on their behalf , is much larger in the online mode . At our most recent AGM we announced the two teams who won $ 10,000 Research Awards , and the ten members who received $ 500 Simon Schot education grants .
The nine Directors of the ATMS Board for the coming calendar year have now been assigned their Executive and Committee roles . The new Director , following the 2021 Directors ’ election , is Chantel Ryan , from Perth , Three existing Directors , from Brisbane and Sydney , were returned to the Board , Though we save on travel costs , as required by our Green Policy , through holding most Board and Committee meetings online , these meetings may now be split over three different time zones while daylight saving is in place .
Over 1,800 members of ten or more years standing have renewed their memberships and consequently been recognised as Fellows of ATMS . Their continuing membership is not only an expression of their loyalty to ATMS , which we deeply appreciate , but also testimony to their own professional competence , arising from their years of experience and service to our communities . Special acknowledgement is also owed to our 58 members who have been with ATMS for more than 35 years , and to our 12 accredited members over 85 years of age who are still in practice . Well done to all of them .
Always in your service …
Peter Berryman President
JATMS | Autumn 2022 | 5