President's Desk

December 2011

I have recently returned from a quick trip to central Queensland and can report that the country side is in excellent condition. There are large wheat paddocks awaiting harvest and already a number of grain silos have external storage. It is tremendous to see the farming community has finally had a good season after the droughts and floods of previous years. This is good news for our rural members!!

Country Surveyors Conference

Once again I had the privilege of attending the October Conference organised by NSW Country Surveyors in conjunction with Consulting Surveyors NSW. This year the conference was at Mount Panorama in Bathurst and as usual an exciting and thought provoking agenda was arranged for the delegates. In addition there were the social events for which the October conference has become so famous.

The highlight of the conference for me was the keynote address from the Federal MP Tony Windsor and a Planning Legislation update from Dr Lindsay Taylor. Both these gentlemen provided a lot of information and provoked much comment. This is what makes attending these conferences so rewarding.

Another issue raised at this conference and which had also previously been discussed at the Southern Group Seminar in Canberra is the use of GNSS for Cadastral Surveys. Having now heard a number of surveyors talk about their experiences with GNSS, both for cadastral surveys and for control surveys, I am convinced that we need better guidelines about how this exercise should be undertaken. The use of GNSS, especially amongst rural surveyors, has had widespread acceptance. Most surveyors are attempting to do the right thing and would welcome some direction on what is an acceptable method to achieve the accuracies required. The widespread availability of CORS only adds to the confusion.

BOSSI Exams

It was a pleasure to be invited once again to assist with the BOSSI examinations. Generally the candidates were well prepared and performed very well at the examinations. Part of the reason for this is the excellent workshops run by ISNSW. On the downside it was disappointing to see the number of candidates presenting for their examinations was less than in previous years. In spite of this, 10 candidates completed all their examinations and will be eligible to receive their Certificate of Competency later in November. In addition 2 candidates have already completed the ACS Workshops in Engineering and Town Planning plus another candidate from earlier in the year will make the total of 13 land surveyors and 2 mining surveyors for the presentation ceremony. The total for the year will be 21 land surveyors and 7 mining surveyors. Not too bad!!

The total of land surveyors in NSW entering the profession over the last few years has been consistently high especially when compared to the rest of Australia. However I am concerned that we may have reached a crisis point as there does not appear to be many candidates now available to present themselves for the exami nations.

In this regard I have recently read an article by Jeff Thurston at www.asmmag.com entitled "Are Surveyors in Decline-or has Precision Taken a new Decline?". This is an interesting article and makes the comment 'If we look around today we can find many non-professionals are employing high-accuracy positioning technologies'. I wonder if this is what is leading to a decline in the number of registered land and mining surveyors or is this only part of the problem. If it is, what can we do about it? This is a problem that the Institution and others will need to confront in the near future if we are to maintain our number of registered surveyors.

Australia Day Seminar

ISNSW has once again decided to hold the Australia Day Seminar. Next year it will be held at the Four Points by Sheraton, Darling Harbour on 24th and 25th January 2012. This will lead into the Australia Day Holiday and then on to the weekend. An excellent program has been arranged with the highlight being a talk from Peter Fitzsimons about the release of his latest book.

This seminar is a great opportunity for those surveyors living in the more remote locations to take advantage of the holiday season, travel to Sydney and attend a very interesting and diverse seminar. This will allow these surveyors to satisfy their CPD requirements for the year. More information about the seminar is included in this edition of Azimuth.

Year 2011

As the year draws to its conclusion it is interesting to look back and see where we have been this year. I am pleased to report that we have been able to keep controversy out of most of the activities of ISNSW and also we have been able to return a tidy balance sheet which is in the black.

For me one of the highlights for the last year has been the diversity and breadth of the various seminars, conferences and CPD events that have been held right across the state. I have attended some but there are far too many nowadays to get around them all. Not only is CPD allowing us to continue our registration with BOSSI but it is also bringing information, discussion and enlightenment to many of our members. As I have said previously, the Groups are the backbone of our Institution and our thanks go to them for organising these functions.

Finally I would like to thank the dedicated office staff at HQ for their outstanding effort over the last year. Without such staff ISNSW would not exist as it does today. To Terina, Natasha and Linda, thank you very much for your wonderful devotion to duty above and beyond what would normally be expected. You all make the job of being President so much easier.

"To all readers, members, their families and staff; have an enjoyable festive season, a restful break and lets look forward to an even more prosperous New Year"

Grahame Wallis
President ISNSW

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