APLA To Raise Membership Fees

This is an email I received from the Secretary of the Mandurah Branch of APLA

"The main branch of APLA has put forward a notice of motion to be raised at the Annual AGM in Leonora in September. This motion concerns increasing your yearly membership fee.
"During last night phone conference with other delegates of the management committee it was raised that an increase to memberships be raised at the AGM and voted on.
Notice of Motion was to increase Memberships,
Individual from $70 to $110
Couple from $70 to $110
Family from $110 to $150
Pensioners from $50 to $80.
This equates to approx a 57% increase and will need to be explained well.
I think it is important to let our members know of the possible increase and let them have their say. If they are not going to the AGM let either you or myself know and we will vote for them by proxy.
It will be too late after they have voted it in."

These increases definitely need to be justified.
Please pass this message to all APLA Members.

Cheers

Ted

 they may end up with less members!
Fingers crossed that doesnt happen

Two votes against here Ted, Carol and myself.

Another 2 against here as well Ted, Jen & Mike.

Cheers.

Mike.

Unfortunately I will not be going to the AGM so I would ask members to pass on their votes to their respective branch secretaries.

let me make this very clear....without APLA you would not be prospecting today and without APLA (and a strong membership) you will not be
prospecting tomorrow. Don't be a selfish b**tard...the membership fee is way too cheap for what you get....for an extra 30-40 bucks a year
it's keeping you in the game....lets say a gram a year. My personal opinion is that leaseholders should be paying 500 plus a year and recreationals about 250 bucks a year. Some of you will find 10k to buy new gear yet balk at a 30 buck increase that will keep you being able to use it!!

I get it...no one want's to pay more....maybe it's time for some of you to take up a different hobby???

goldtalkleonora wrote:let me make this very clear....without APLA you would not be prospecting today and without APLA (and a strong membership) you will not be
prospecting tomorrow. Don't be a selfish b**tard...the membership fee is way too cheap for what you get....for an extra 30-40 bucks a year
it's keeping you in the game....lets say a gram a year. My personal opinion is that leaseholders should be paying 500 plus a year and recreationals about 250 bucks a year. Some of you will find 10k to buy new gear yet balk at a 30 buck increase that will keep you being able to use it!!

I get it...no one want's to pay more....maybe it's time for some of you to take up a different hobby???

Not trying to be selfish
I really feel that a lot of people will drop out if the fees go up..
We recuited a few members from the eastern states, they only come over for about 6 weeks of the year to have a play in the red dirt..
i have a feeling some may not pay the higher fees.  Which will be a shame really.
As you say APLA keep us in the prospecting game.

We will remain APLA members even if the fees do go up.
Sadly I reckon a lot won't re-join.

Hi Jen...I think your right....I reckon if they do bring in some increase in fees you will see a dramatic drop in membership.....perhaps it's time that APLA
stops working for recreational prospectors rights if there is no demand and support from them??? It's not a crazy idea and it would certainly make it easier for those involved.

I hope people equate it out and realise how good a value it will still be! considering the doors it does open and the liability insurance that it includes also. People should price that up by itself and i reckon they will get a rude shock.
We need these few people fighting for us otherwise there will be no legal detecting or camping in the bush.

Tony, I take great offence to being named a "selfish b**tard" for the records have probably been an APLA member long before you, AND for extra support I purchaced an APLA personal number plate many years ago to help put the message out there.
For the records APLA013 if that means anything to you???
We will of course remain members because we need APLA, just as they need us.
What we are protesting is the unrealistic hike in membership dues.
We don't need you stomping in here barking what you believe is right!

BTW: You will not get a gram of promotion for your business from this day forth!!!

G'day fellow prospectors

Whether minimal or exorbitant, right or wrong any current member of APLA, who has an issue regarding APLA's forthcoming membership fee increases, please take your issues up with APLA & not upon one another.

Cheers Management  

Nightjar wrote:Tony, I take great offence to being named a "selfish b**tard" for the records have probably been an APLA member long before you, AND for extra support I purchaced an APLA personal number plate many years ago to help put the message out there.
For the records APLA013 if that means anything to you???
We will of course remain members because we need APLA, just as they need us.
What we are protesting is the unrealistic hike in membership dues.
We don't need you stomping in here barking what you believe is right!

Hi Peter, I wasn't directing the selfish comment at you. It was a dig at people in general (not just prospectors....a common human trait) where greed and selfishness is common. My apologies if you took offence but none was meant. I still think my comment about some people spending a small fortune on gear and then jacking up on a 30-40 buck price rise for APLA is a fair one...always happy to hear a different argument though.
All I can do is talk about what I think is right mate....what else have I got??
I understand your last comment about no support for our training business....no problems...sorry you feel that way.

cheers

Tony

Tony,
I suggest you read what you wrote?
You are not mightier than thou, your comments do more damage to APLA than the "general" public concerns.
Kon, will not comment further on this matter.

I am currently a paid up member of APLA and have been for about three years. I am a also paid up member of the PMAV as I live in Victoria and prospect in Victoria.
I joined APLA primarily as a supporter. I do not go over to WA to prospect and do not see myself heading that way in the foreseeable future so I do not derive any specific benefit from being a member of APLA.  
At the current rate of fees I will continue to give my financial support but as I am retired and do not have an income as such if the fees were to rise significantly I would need to give serious thought to remaining a member.  

The other state based prospectors, miners and detectorists associations are pretty cheap, the PMAV costs $50 per annum and NAPFA is a bargain at $25 so to ensure that APLA membership numbers remain high annual fees need to be kept at sensible prices.
An increase may well be due but to maintain current membership rates and hopefully attract new members my advise is to err on the conservative side.

Perhaps there could be a different category for interstaters who don't head west (like me) or only do so occasionally.

But to me it is logical that those who gain the most benefit from the great work that APLA have done and continue to do should pay for it.  What's the saying, 'support those who support you'.

Then maybe we need to think about establishing a national association - a Small Miners, Prospectors and Detectorists Association of Australia. How many members do the various state associations have? Would it be better in the long run if there was a single national body? Would it give us a better political clout? There is strength in numbers.
Dunno, but every now and then I get this niggly feeling in the back of my mind that the Greens and Labor too are going to give us grief. As we detectorists all know there are lots of people trying to erode our rights, working surreptitiously to lock up currently available land, to make it harder for us to actively pursue that which we love. Time will tell.

Gone bush

Nightjar wrote:Tony,
I suggest you read what you wrote?
You are not mightier than thou, your comments do more damage to APLA than the "general" public concerns.
Kon, will not comment further on this matter.

Hi Peter,
I have taken note of your point of view and think some of it is fair and will cop that on the chin. I'll throttle back my comments. Thank you

Tony

Here is a statement from our APLA President explaining the need for the rises in membership fees which I took off another forum.
I hope Les doesn't mind me showing it here.

[Quote]"There are many reasons why APLA must increase its fee by such percentage.

APLA was in a parlous state prior to two years go. We were losing members, we were losing money, the finances were a mess, the admin was disgrace, the website was also a disgrace and humiliating to read, the membership system was embarrassingly bad. At the time, the membership was handled by a business management company in Kalgoorlie and it was total mess that was costing APLA a small fortune. There hasn’t been a substantial increase in fees for some years but our outgoings have increased. Read on.

After a massive upheaval there was finally a management change. There had to be. Not only was APLA falling into disrepair we were losing relevance, position and influence due to poor representation and internal fighting. The management was comprehensively changed about 18 months ago and here we are today.

The membership system and APLA’s finances are now firmly controlled by APLA thanks to some real heavy lifting and sleepless nights by an APLA stalwart. He nearly had a nervous breakdown recovering the mess we were in. That person now runs the APLA website for us and is at present unpaid for that and the mighty job he did in dragging APLA out of obscurity and oblivion.
Next is the current Treasurer who has now almost completed the Herculean task of computerising the Treasury and the memberships. He hasn’t been paid either as far as I know. I do know that he was often awake at 2.00 am sorting out members that had problems with cards, lost money, etc. That went on for months and I was part of that as well. The phone never stopped ringing at all hours of the day n night and weekends with people that had not received cards, paid 24 hours ago and wanted a card NOW. Next year we hope members realise we don’t get paid a fortune for this work and we don’t have an office with a secretary. I often work from the bush, with a dodgy phone and internet connection – like now.

It’s people like these, good people that put in the hard yards for APLA that need recognition, reward and recompense. Otherwise they become burnt out & quit. We then get another load of newbies and we make all the same mistakes again. APLA must retain the good people. We can’t afford a fortune but we should be able to afford something more than a pittance for the hours that get put in.

The issues and the problems are increasing. When I was asked to take on the job of APLA President I ran a mile! But I was pressured by members to take over. I saw that something had to be done or prospectors would become irrelevant and ignored. If you don’t have a voice, you are ignored and that was what was happening. I came on onboard to rebuild APLA and make it OUR voice to government, to pastoralists, to Members of Parliament, to government departments and private “green” organisations. My take on it all? - we may not win every base but if we don’t have a voice we won’t win any. That takes a lot of effort from the APLA team and myself to maintain that presence, that pressure, that relevance, that persistence takes time and costs money. I can’t afford to pay out for air flights to Kalgoorlie or back to Perth to meet MPs and govt people, pay for fuel for 1000 kms round trips for meetings with politicians etc, wear n tear on my old 1998 Nissan Patrol, motel rooms, fuel, tyres. Would all those who have dissenting views like to take on these costs from their own pockets I wonder?? My time doesn’t even come into it yet!

To do the job of APLA President, you need knowledge, depth of experience and history sufficient to challenge and argue successfully with those that are our opposition, those that would forget we are here and those that don’t want us here. The incumbent also needs to be able to hold together a team of opinionated and knowledgeable people that often have conflicting views on many matters. It's not easy holding "this lot" together lol!

There are people on this forum who have benefited greatly from just picking up the phone and talking to APLA. From there, APLA either talks directly to the people creating the problem or has the right contacts to take it further with the people that can fix it. That takes time and a bloody huge phone bill!! Is that supposed to come out of my pocket along with the expenses I’ve mentioned above? I live on my superann & I can't afford that.

For months now I have made the APLA Executive aware that we need to look for someone to replace the current President. I’m getting too old for the stress and the time it takes from my family. I was only ever a “stop gap” solution to an immediate and threatening problem. But the silence is deafening. Nobody wants the job. I wonder why?

The argument for the increase in fees is simple – the people that keep you out there and provide a united voice for you need to be recompensed for their efforts. APLA does far, far more now than it once did because it must. That effort costs money and that cost shouldn’t be borne by those that put in the effort. APLA needs to compete with the increasing forces that we face and for that we need people and for them to stay, we need to pay them something.

There will always be the bludgers that benefit from the work that APLA does but don't pay up. We can't avoid that but I would ask them to have a good look at what they enjoy doing and then think about those people that enable you do go out there and "just do it" without having a care in the world.

There may well be arguments against the increased fees but I will give you an assurance that if no increases are forthcoming there will be at least one amongst us that will be reconsidering his position in APLA. ‘Nuff said?"[Unquote]

Thanks Les for clarifying the matter.

Thanks Ted

http://www.detectingwestaustraliangold.com/t6208-apla-to-raise-membership-fees

Here's the link to APLA for any that would like to join up.
http://www.apla.com.au/customer_login.aspx

APLA doesn’t have to justify anything IMHO!

The very fact that we have permission to detect on pending leases and on granted EL’s (with a Section 40E) should be reasons enough to support APLA.

Here’s another little take on the proposed fee increase. For most prospectors who detect here in the West, one of the biggest expenses, apart from capital outlay, is fuel costs. . Would we really know or care if we spent a few extra dollars on fuel over the course of the prospecting year?

If $40 is going to cause hardship, I suggest those who oppose the fee increase, either sell up and stay home or join the freeloaders who are not prepared to support APLA for the concessions that it has obtained!

Col