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Kirk Coningham takes the reigns at Master Builders ACT

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THE President of Master Builders ACT, Valdis Luks, says Kirk Coningham is the Association’s new Executive Director.

“Kirk brings a wealth of skills and experience to the role having served in senior positions in the public and private sectors, most recently in the commercial construction sector,” Valdis said.

“Raised in the ACT, Kirk understands the vital role Canberra’s building and construction industry plays in growing the economy and creating jobs in our community.

“The Board is looking forward to Kirk building on the work of John Miller and leading the Master Builders team of professionals to the next level as the voice of Canberra’s nearly $3 billion building and construction industry.”

Mr. Coningham said he was ‘thrilled’ to be taking the helm of the ACT’s building and construction industry peak body as Master Builders moved from strength to strength and paid tribute to the departing John Miller.

“John has done an outstanding job over the past eight years maintaining the position of Master Builders as the leading building industry voice on issues vital to the industry, the Canberra economy and the community,” he said.

“John’s leadership has seen Master Builders continue to lead in advocating measures to ease housing affordability pressures such as cutting ACT Government red and green tape. He has stood up for the skills and expertise of Canberra’s builders in the delivery of community infrastructure.”

Mr. Coningham will commence on 11th March 2015.

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One Response to Kirk Coningham takes the reigns at Master Builders ACT

Harry says: 26 February 2015 at 3:01 pm

Did the MBA do a google search on this guy. They would have found this rant if they did from 2010,

Doctors’ voice signs off. Kirk Coningham, the AMA’s general manager of communications, left last week. Before he packed up his office he sent the following email to all the presidents and CEOs of AMA state branches:

Former colleagues,

You likely knew before I did that Friday was my last day in the AMA. Francis managed the process with dignity and grace, and I depart with no ill feeling. Indeed, it is the right time for me to go.

From atop my now toppled ivory tower I needed to see the AMA with a very different future. A strong, united, national voice for all doctors (or at least the majority). Alas, it is none of these things today, and I fear it is unlikely to be so in the future.

If your role is to protect the AMA entity that you lead?—?you were right to dispose of me.

You were right to stop me asking the 50,000 doctors who choose not to be members what they want. I wanted to ask them what their priority was: professional or personal? Profession-wide advocacy or individual IR and training support? What flavour advocacy, national or state? Is geographical representation relevant? Then I wanted to ask them what they were prepared to pay. What services would they forgo for a cheaper membership? What do you think about ‘fee for service’ for those individual services they need intermittently throughout their medical journey, (AMA provides the best services at the best price to members only).

From my review of all other surveys I’d guess the answer was going to be something like:

“We want a strong united, consistent national voice for doctors. We want ownership of the agenda?—?short, medium and long term. We want a clear plan that integrates all that we do. We don’t want to pay huge fees to support individual fiefdoms. We don’t want to pay for ten magazines, eight web sites, duplicated services everywhere?—?and duplicated agendas. We don’t want to pay for services we rarely if ever use. When we do want services and benefits?—?we insist they are the best the AMA can provide?—?not the best one state can provide.

I’m not saying the CEOs can’t deliver this without Canberra. But history says you won’t.

As you successfully guard against a national membership agenda, the membership slide steepens. We’re tracking at negative 1.8 percent. Disturbingly we have 16% fewer DiTs today than we had at the same point last year. The biggest threat? 28% of today’s membership is over 60?—?and now that we’ve failed (without even firing a shot) to preserve the professional dignity of limited prescribing rights, why should they stay in retirement?

Other doctor groups are poring into the advocacy arena. They won’t insist their membership is a $1200 job lot paid to preserve a hide bound extraordinarily inefficient geographic structure that was out of date when it came into being 50 years ago.

I found the light at the end of my tunnel was a train. I’d heard the tooting, but genuinely believed my most obvious and essential agenda would get traction. It did so at Federal Council, but that’s not where it was needed. The CEOs, not the members, have the power.

While you exercise that power to protect your state entity ahead of the national interest (and I admit that’s your job), you will stop the AMA becoming the organisation it needs to be to survive.

I was originally despondent on this point. I came to the AMA to help preserve and strengthen the voice of doctors in the health system, and despaired at my lack of capacity to do so. I don’t despair now because I know that this voice is so essential it must ultimately be heard. Someday soon a group of doctors will get together and form a national doctors’ association that delivers the efficiency and unity required with a structure that guarantees it reflects the true voice of doctors and delivers what they want at a price they are prepared to pay. I’d put my hand up to be part of that.

Thanks?—?that was cathartic.

That said, I do very much appreciate the individual kindnesses you’ve all shown me at various times over the past two years. My problem was with the structure, never the fine individuals you all are. Thanks also for your patience in the face of rising provocation on my part.

I hope you will forgive my passing on these final thoughts and wish you all the very best for you and yours, today and into the future.

I’m at xxxxxxxx@hotmail.com and will keep my old number (xxxx xxx xxx) once of got is sorted.

Warm regards

?—?

Kirk Coningham
Former
General Manager Communications
Marketing and Membership
Australian Medical Association

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