Both the ANCOLD Executive Committee and the Perth Conference Local Organising Committee have persevered with preparations for the ANCOLD conference in Perth in October 2020. Unfortunately, the effects of COVID-19 are still being felt at a national scale with recent developments leading to hardening of travel restrictions across the country. For the conference to be viable, Western Australia’s hard border restrictions would need to be relaxed some time prior to the conference such that attendees would have sufficient time to organise travel arrangements. At this stage, Western Australia is unlikely to transition to Phase 6 of the WA Roadmap prior to September 2020, with a commitment from the WA Chief Health Officer that the hard border will only be removed once he is confident that the spread of infection is controlled in the eastern states. There is significant uncertainty when this will happen.

After much consideration, we have concluded that the best course of action is to postpone the conference for 12 months, with the aim of holding ANCOLD 2021 in Perth. This decision was not made lightly, but it is our firm belief that by delaying the conference by a year, we will have the best chance at running a successful conference in 2021 to the benefit of attendees, presenters, sponsors and members alike. We are currently considering options for a shorter format, online event that could be run later this year in place of the conference. We will provide an update on any alternative event in due course.

Papers and presenters for the Perth Conference and Workshops

The Perth Conference Local Organising Committee will be in touch with paper authors and presenters to discuss options for carrying papers/presentations over to the 2021 conference or possibly providing an opportunity to present at an online forum later this year.

Attendees and sponsors

The Perth Conference Local Organising Committee will contact all attendees and sponsors who have registered to attend the conference to discuss whether you would like to carry over your registration/sponsorship to the 2021 event or whether you would like your registration/sponsorship to be refunded.

Annual General Meeting

ANCOLD is required to hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) in 2020. The AGM will still be held on 7 October as previously announced in the 1st Notice of the AGM distributed by email on 9th July 2020. It will not be possible to run the AGM in Perth as indicated in the 1st Notice of the AGM. Under Clause 39 (4a) of the ANCOLD Constitution “A general meeting may be held at 2 or more venues using any technology approved by the executive that gives each of the members a reasonable opportunity to participate.” On this basis we now plan to hold the AGM electronically via an online webinar and voting platform. We are exploring options to facilitate the AGM.

The details for joining the AGM and in regards to voting protocol for Voting Representatives will be provided, in full, in the 2nd Notice of the AGM, at least 1 month prior to the meeting, as per the requirements of Clause 35 (2) of the ANCOLD constitution.

We hope that these arrangements meet the satisfaction of members in these unsettled times. If there are any concerns that arise in relation to the issues noted above please feel free to reach out to the ANCOLD Executive via the Secretary (ancold@ancold.org.au).

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Reynolds
ANCOLD Chairman