From the President

President's Report

It has been an incredibly challenging year for everybody living in the state of Victoria, particularly Melbourne, having experienced over 250 days of lockdown.

These restrictions have really created a year of disconnection for everybody. Being limited in regard to our ability to work, travel, and socialise has had an effect on everybody’s wellbeing. This has been apparent with our members’ welfare, and we have had to find ways to remain connected with our members without being able to have many face-to-face interactions.

With the focus on trying to stay connected, we continued our virtual events from last year including providing regular forums for our members by way of the Virtual Beer Garden and the Back Shed. The Podcast series - The Front Garden - where Chris and Tyson took us on a journey with some terrific guest interviews, informed and entertained us on a variety of topics.

Our major events were severely disrupted again. The face-to-face member events delivered between lockdowns were restricted to our fully subscribed golf day, which was enjoyed by all attendees, our Partner Summit to thank our terrific premium partners who have remained solid with their Association sponsorship during very trying times, and the inaugural Presidents Lunch where past Presidents from as far back as 1977 gathered for a moment of reflection and celebration of the Association’s growth and success.

The main highlight came in May, when we were able to (with one day to spare before another lockdown), present The Landscape Show at Caulfield Racecourse. The event was a tremendous success and received great feedback from both Exhibitors and Attendees. Our membership has increased substantially over the last year and I welcome and thank all new members.

Andrew Grasby, LVML President

A key strategic focus over the last year has been membership communication. This was critically important because of the number of significant changes made by the restrictions, the confusion around the lack of detail, and the constant changes being made to the rules on a regular basis. LVML was able to seek clarity and articulate the CHO’s determinations to our various membership groups, albeit very slow at times waiting for clarifications from the bureaucrats.

We worked extremely hard during the year advocating to the Government to put forward positive recommendations for safe work practices to keep our industry open and protect the livelihoods of our members. Several different strategies were taken in our approach, including joining other industry associations to form a larger advocacy group. The Government response on all occasions was clinical and disappointing at best.

I would like to thank all members for putting faith and trust in your Association to be the professional body to help you navigate through a very difficult situation. My thanks go to your Board, and sincere thanks to our hard-working Executive team led by Megan, who have all worked under extreme pressure at times for the benefit of our members.

We are looking forward to the next year being a year of opportunity, and with the vaccination strategy currently in place, the signs are positive that in the not-too-distant future, we may return to business as (somewhat) usual.

Take care and stay positive,

Andrew Grasby, President