CHAIRPERSON REPORT

SPASA continues to improve and expand its reach and delivery of our primary constitutional objective to “promote and grow the industry”. More training, advocacy and promotions were delivered to industry and consumer than ever before. Membership volume ended the calendar year at 834 members, which is a 17% attraction of new members throughout 2019. For a mature industry, this growth highlights the positive changes being made by SPASA to add value to businesses. Last year’s investment of dedicated development staff, Luke Daly and Rodney Smith worked tirelessly and SPASA welcomed new members from all regions including our first Northern Territory, Tasmania and New Zealand members. COVID-19 will provide a challenge for all business including our Association. As the association has been designed to evolve and be self sustainable, I am confident that the structure and strategies in place will see SPASA deliver value to our Members even in these unprecedented times. SPASA’s emphasis on the creation of a professional network of skilled trades people is supported by our Registered Training Organisation. Our dedicated and professional staff, RTO Manager Peter Holland and Training Administrator Nicole Daws oversaw the addition of new qualifications, courses and workshops resulting in largest volume of education engagement in our history. After the success of SPLASH! Pool & Spa Trade Show in 2018 and the expansion of the SPLASH! Magazine, SPASA invested in the purchasing the Pool+Spa Magazine. David Stennett the Media Sales Manager, added this to his portfolio to extend SPASA’s reach to more businesses and provides content and skills to transition towards consumer promotion of the pool and spa industry. The Awards of Excellence exceeded forecasts number of attendees with the Queensland Awards gala having over 30% of first time attendees. In addition to the Australian events, May 2019 saw SPASA host the first ever Pool & Spa Show Auckland, New Zealand providing a new and dedicated promotional event directed at consumers to purchase a new pool or spa. The attendees at the Leadership Convention held in August 2019 received world class speakers prior to the National Awards of Excellence. SPASA continues to add new programs to improve leadership skills with Women in Leadership webinars held through the year. The role of SPASA to promote pools and spas must be balanced with the protection of the industry with hundreds of hours are being dedicated to lobbying for consistent regulations. Fencing standard AS1926.1 highlighted the importance of the value provided with over 3000 submission s received, after SPASA held workshops nationally. The commitment of Spiros Dassakis in lobbying all levels of government continues to set a standard that is the envy of other associations. Communications exploded in 2019, with significant social media supporting our traditional events, Suzie Kent SPASA’s Communications Manager has ensured more businesses and consumers are receiving valued and promotional information.

When reflecting on my second year as Chairperson, I am proud of what we have achieved, but even with the best plans the world can throw a curve ball like we are experiencing with Covid 19. This is when Associations show their importance to an industry and SPASA has done just that, with lobbying for our Members to become essential services to keeping our Industry up to date with all Government announcements and just being there for support. Individually these times would be impossible to navigate through but together our industry will not just survive but flourish. The Boards goal was to build a sustainable association to represent and serve our industry. The performance of SPASA through this epidemic has been outstanding and we should all be proud and continue to support our association. Progress does not happen without hard work and dedication. I would like to take this opportunity to thank SPASA CEO, Lindsay McGrath for his unwavering dedication and passion for our industry. Congratulations on delivering a strategy that benefits not only our members but all of our industry. Lindsay leads a professional and passionate team who continue to put in the hard yards to not only support our members but also propel our industry forward. Thank you to Spiros Dassakis, Nicole Daws, Luke Daly, Peter Holland, Suzie Kent, Rodney Smith, David Stennett and Melinda Zoanetti who gets a special thanks for accounts support as SPASA continues to grow. The SPASA Board is very exciting to be a part of. Amongst our board members, we possess a very diverse and incredibly strong array of skill sets that combined, ensure that SPASA continues to provide our industry with the best representation possible. Thank you to my fellow board members, Troy Cartwright, John Daniel, Neil Davey, Elena Gosse, Garth Jackson, Andrew Jakovac, Adam Jaworski, Lynley Papineau, and Stefan Ossenberg. In summary, the past 12 months has seen SPASA consolidate in many areas for sustainability and growth in areas that add value to members. I am confident that the future will see more members, benefits and influential representation by our Member driven association.

Rob Kruber Chairperson