Thought you may want to know.


Maurice Williamson 28 June, 2011

New appointments to Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Board

Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson has made three new appointments to the Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Board.

Craig O’Connell, Sue Simons and Ian Rowe have been appointed for terms of three years.

Mr O’Connell is a director of Recruitment and Performance Consulting Limited. He was also the acting Chief Executive of the Board from February 2010, until the appointment of a permanent Chief Executive in November 2010. He holds a BA in Psychology and BCA in Economics.

Ms Simons is a partner in a law firm specialising in public, administrative, resource management and local government law. She is an expert in the of the Local Government Act, Public Works Act, Building Act, Property Law Act, Unit Titles Act, Government Roading Powers Act and specialist legislation relating to local government administration. Ms Simons holds an LLB and BA.

Mr Rowe has been a registered plumber, gasfitter and drainlayer and has taught in polytechnics, and been an associate director in a fourth polytechnic. He has skills in management, eductional planning and delivery, and policy development and implementation

The Board consists of ten members and must include plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers.

The new members replace former Board members Hazel Armstrong, Stephen Parker and Mark Whitehead.

Mr Williamson thanked them for their service and welcomed the new board members.



Linkback: https://www.plumbers.nz/pgdb-new-zealand-plumbing-gasfitting-and-drainlaying-board/30/new-board-members-june-2011/703/

Hmmm those Board appointments are interesting.  Not surprised to see Ms Armstrong and Mr Parker gone, but wondering if Mr Whitehead resigned due to the situation in Christchurch and his need to put his focus there instead of here.  I don't think this Board has been that wonderful, but then again I do realise that it is a thankless job and not one too many of us would put our names forward for.  It seems to me that it is one of the quickest ways to become one of the most hated people in NZ as far as the plumbing, gasfitting and drainlaying industry goes.  Not so sure I share your optimism Robbo - I just keep thinking about Wal's monkey story when I see new faces on the Board.  It's bloody hard to change an ingrained culture - and there is certainly an ingrained culture in this Board.  As far as Mark Whitehead goes - he does have a huge passion for this industry and has put in many, many, many unpaid hours in his former role as MP chair.  While non MP member's won't give a damn about that (and fair enough) - I have to say he has on occasion been extremely hard worker for the members of Master Plumbers.  His position on the PGDB was not as a result of being a Master Plumber member, but more because he put his name forward.  Could be that in the future we see Federation member's gracing the Board table - again it won't be because the Federation put them there as individuals have to submit their CV's to the Dept of building and housing, and it will be because these people want to make a contribution.

Odds on how long this Board will stay in power.  The Minister has a mightly big broom and he did promise to make people accountable.  Can we read for this that the Chair and Deputy Chair were held accountable for the debacle over the Gazette Notices which resulted in the Regulation Review Committee's decision - and if so big ups to the Federation and the two gentlemen who took the complaint.  Karma is a bloody wonderful thing!
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"Ms Simons is a partner in a law firm specialising in public, administrative, resource management and local government law. She is an expert in the of the Local Government Act, Public Works Act, Building Act, Property Law Act, Unit Titles Act, Government Roading Powers Act and specialist legislation relating to local government administration."

So as soon as i saw this i thought this person was appointed not to keep the PGDB in line more so as to cover there arsses and find legal loop holes in local law that will allow them to keep on persuing the same path that they always have...And also to combat the federations moves for the pgdb to be held accountable for there illegal actions!...Thats sort of what popped in to my head as soon as i saw this anyways hope to hell im wrong...but i see and feel no good coming to the industry from this appointment.

I would like to see more industry represintation...at least 60% directly from the industry...the very people that must abide by the legislation that they set...the very people that know how shitty this trade can be sometimes...I am not too fond of chaps that dont appreiate what we have go through to provide for the public.

In my view people that can only look at the legal aspect of the industry can not do any good for the industry...we need people with a allround understanding of what happnes in the real world of plumbing.
But hey thats my view anyways.

Hi everyone

The 26th July 2011 will determine the direction of the Board for the next couple of years.  This is the day the Board votes for their new Chairperson and Deputy Chair.  I hope common sense prevails and they don't vote on present or past members of training providers, as this creates a huge conflict of interest and will be a backwards step.

Hopefully the person will have strong leadership skills and is able to affect change not just go with the flow and try to implement what has been started in the past.

Time for someone who understands that if the industry is not with the Board, with the polices and procedures, then it's against it.   It's a fight or not fight situation. Time for someone to give the industry back to the tradespeople whilst meeting the Boards objectives.

Is Tuesday the day we see a new beginning?