TAS Division President’s Report March 2024

Welcome everyone to 2024. It is hard to believe that we are in March. I suspect that everyone has been as busy as myself at work, and we are all feeling the effects of workplace shortages. This is the main point of focus for your local AVA team going forward.

We are working hard to find solutions and encourage vets to move down to our beautiful state. This includes talking to state and national parliamentary members. We are also looking at how we can attract students down here, hopefully increasing those wanting to move down after graduation. If you have any thoughts or comments on this, please get in contact with myself or Dr Kristen Steele.

We will also be looking at issues that concern you locally and nationally. These include unpaid welfare work, after hours, restricted breeds, biosecurity concerns, climate change, antimicrobial stewardship, social supports for animals owned by vulnerable people, disaster relief, and many more.

The team of volunteers and AVA employees are incredibly passionate about advocacy and our profession. If you are passionate or want to know more about what the AVA is doing, please consider joining your local committee.

We are a welcoming and friendly crew that would love to make new friends!!! If joining the committee is too much of a commitment, then please support us by completing the surveys that will be sent around this year. In this newsletter you will see a survey about unpaid veterinary work and the cost to the clinic and the staff. Please take a moment to help us gather the data we need to advocate for you. 

There have been many changes to the way the AVA is supporting our profession. There is a push to spend our time focusing on advocacy concerns rather than other areas such as education. There are many seperate companies that have CPD as their business, and we don't need to spend our valuable time and money adding to these.

You might notice that this year, the only education event being put on by the AVA in Tasmania is our local conference. Keep your eyes out for information on this as we have a new date for the conference this year. I hope to see all of you there so we can chat face to face.

Dr Rhianna Booth
TAS Division President