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Read a roundup of activities around the AILA and NZILA chapters South Australia by Scott Duell No one expected 2020 to pan out the way it has. While the pandemic has disrupted our daily lives, we find ourselves adapting to the new “normal”, and what comes with it. Welcome to Zoe Dempster, from Gilchrist Connell, SA’s newest committee member. Although joining at this time means we are yet to have a face-to-face meeting! SA’s planned program has had to be altered. A joint social event with AICLA has been postponed, as has a second breakfast briefing scheduled for April. As with most organisations, AILA is looking to technology to continue providing a quality program with worthwhile, relevant content via webinars. One benefit is more collaboration and sharing information across state lines when putting together the education program. Many topics have national relevance and appeal, so electronic delivery has made it possible to expand our reach to members and provide additional value. Thanks to branch committees around the country and the national team for bringing it all together.
Queensland by Berren Hamilton Queensland is very proud of its series of Ethics Bites podcasts. If you have not listened to them, members can access them free on the AILA website. There are six episodes presented by Nola Pearce, a barrister at Level 27 Chambers; Alison Haly, mediator from Haly & Co; Associate Professor Kay Lauchland, from Bond University and Alexia Education & Training; Robert Cooper, director of CPR Insurance Services; Stafford Shepherd, director of the Queensland Law Society Ethics and Practice Centre; and Brett Heath, in-house advocate at Carter Newell. Unfortunately, due to the unprecedented Covid-19 crisis, the annual Qld Insurance Law Intensive planned for 5 June 2020 has had to be postponed. A new date has not yet been set. We will reschedule the event when it is again safe for large group gatherings to be held. In the meantime, we will release some sessions as stand-alone webinars. To continue to deliver the usual educational program to members and friends until the Covid-19 pandemic is over, we adapted to providing webinars that can be viewed on screen without having to leave the office or home. On 29 April, Qld held its first webinar – A Lighthouse in the fog? Impacts of the new financial accountability regime on policy interpretation & coverage. The panel of presenters was three barristers from Level 27 Chambers – Christopher Johnstone, Kristi Riedel and Nola Pearce. The seminar discussed the new regime recommended by the Hayne royal commission, to whom it applies and the impact on financial lines policies. On 6 May, a second webinar was on issues arising from the Covid-19 pandemic – Socially distant mediations and medical examinations – Meeting (without meeting) the Covid-19 challenges. The panel of presenters was Vanessa Hermann, acting COO of Red Health; James Bell QC, from Carbolic Chambers; and Michael Drummond, barrister’s clerk from Hemmant’s List. The session was moderated by Kevin Holyoak, a barrister at Callinan Chambers. Webinars in the pipeline, yet to advertised and scheduled, include The High Court verdict of Lee v Lee – the journey, the evidence, the decisions, the lessons. It will be presented by a panel of Qld barristers who appeared before the High Court in the matter – Michael Grant-Taylor QC, Geoff Diehm QC, Donna Callaghan, and Jennifer Hewson. There will also be an update on Jurisprudence from the plaintiff’s perspective, by Travis Schultz, from the Qld Law Society Accident Compensation/Tort Law Committee; and an update on Developments in defamation law by barrister Anastasia Nicholas.
Western Australia by Justine Siavelis The WA committee has been working hard to redesign its educational offering within Covid-19 restrictions. The committee looks forward to being able to announce the release of some of its seminars in webinar format before returning to a face-to-face program, as government guidance allows, in the latter half of the year. It will be great to reconnect with colleagues and clients as soon as we can.
Tasmania by Kate Stockford Tasmania is adapting to the new Covid-19 world with seminars to be rolled out virtually between now and the end of the year.
New South Wales by Nicholas Zambetti What a difference a month can make in the age of Covid-19. Because of the exigencies resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, AILA nationally and in NSW has had to postpone several of the traditional face-to-face seminars and events that were planned for the year. The Twilight series of seminars, for example, has been postponed to 2021. However, AILA National has been working hard to examine alternatives to enable us to continue delivering educational content to members and a new webinar service has been started via GoToWebinar. The service enables live-streaming of seminars around Australia which has the advantage of giving AILA members nationwide access to live seminars in other states and territories they would not otherwise have had. The first seminar was hosted by the Queensland branch on 29 April and was a tremendous success with registrations coming from AILA members around the country. The next webinar was again hosted in Queensland on 6 May, followed by the first NSW webinar on 13 May on the topic Pandemic problems in insurance: A focus on policy response in business interruption and directors & officers. It washosted by Angus Kench and delivered by Clyde & Co, to whom we are very grateful. By April 30 we were thrilled to already have 160 registrations for the 13 May event and were encouraging more. We are pricing the seminars attractively to encourage members and friends of AILA to participate. AILA National has created a Covid-19 response team with delegates from each branch. Thank you to thank Angus Kench who has been involved on that team from NSW and been instrumental in spearheading our line-up of webinars. We are now keeping a close eye on government restrictions and rules. These are changing daily and will have a bearing on when face-to-face seminars and networking events might resume. The NSW committee is working hard to try to re-arrange preparations and negotiate changes to the October 2020 Sydney National Conference arrangements. We are keeping alive the possibility it can still go ahead, if circumstances permit. Given signs that restrictions are being slowly lifted in Australia, we are quietly confident. I sincerely hope all members and friends of AILA and your families stay safe and well during these challenging times. I am confident AILA NSW will ride this storm and come out even better and stronger for it, having learnt how to adapt and work through the challenges.
Victoria by Andrea Petrocco Victoria started 2020 with its annual dinner and AGM at the RACV Club in February. The night was a great success, where attendees had the absolute pleasure of listening to guest speaker Virginia Trioli, from the ABC. Many thanks to our generous speaker sponsor, Thomson Geer. Unfortunately, Victoria was then locked down by Premier Daniel Andrews and is now tackling the challenges of Covid-19 by organising webinars to deliver to its membership base and the wider AILA community some great seminars for 2020. The first event kicked off on 27 May on Worksafe and TAC: A statutory compensation update. The next event is the Geoff Masel lecture on 10 June, presented by Federal Court Chief Justice James Allsop on The changing manifestations of risk: Comments on innovation, unconscionability and the duty of utmost good faith. The program continues with seminars on:
Thank you to outgoing committee members for their dedication and commitment. They are:
A warm welcome to Victoria’s new committee members for 2020:
Thanks also to the outgoing Victorian President George Karalis and welcome to Andrea Petrocco, the new Victorian President. The Victorian committee thanks its AILA community for their ongoing support during the pandemic; it is much appreciated. |
Resolve is the official publication of the Australian Insurance Law Association and
the New Zealand Insurance Law Association.
