Australian Institute of Office Professionals
2009 National Office Professionals' Day
Celebration Breakfast
1st May, 2009
President of the Queensland Division of the Australian Institute of Office Professionals (AIOP), Ms Erika Entz,
Guest Speaker, Mr Peter Blasina,
Generous Sponsors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
- and our stars of the day, Office Professionals,
In the spirit of reconciliation that we wish to promote throughout Queensland, I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered, the Jagera and Turrbal peoples and their descendants.
It is a pleasure to see so many people here this morning - so bright and early - to celebrate Office Professionals' Day. I am very happy to join you, in a dual role, as Patron of the Queensland Division of AIOP and as Governor. It enables me, in a way, to express a double thanks to this very special group of people, who do so much to ensure the effective functioning of so many organisations and yet whose efforts are frequently taken for granted, insufficiently recognised or appreciated.
Evidence of this is the fact that this year, as you have just learned from the President of the Queensland Division of the Institute, no nominations were received for the 2009 Professional of the Year Award. Frankly, I find this very disappointing, as I am sure do members of AIOP. Although there is a good turnout today, clearly we all need to do more to raise awareness of AIOP, to advertise the fact that the award exists - that it is prestigious and meaningful and that receiving the award can make a significant difference in the life of the recipient.
I speak with a degree of inside knowledge here. I am particularly proud of the fact that one of the senior members of our Government House staff - who is here today (along with a number of the Office Professionals from Government House) - is a previous winner of the Queensland award. I am aware that receiving this was an important step in her professional life and development, opening up a range of new opportunities and experiences. And that's exactly as it should be.
Because although today we are celebrating specifically the day now known round the world as "Office Professionals' Day"- previously "Secretaries Day", the Association has a year-round mandate - and far broader objectives - namely to facilitate, assist and encourage the development of office professionals. Although there are many avenues available to do this - and AIOP has to compete with these - you do have a fine history and base on which to build and I believe that the time is right - in fact, has never been better - for the organisation to make a renewed and determined effort to ensure that it is visible, that it is relevant and that it is itself offering valuable services and support to people whose life work - whose chosen profession - is the provision of service and support to others.
This is especially important in the current economic downturn, where it will be vitally important for people to secure their jobs, or - if they have the misfortune to lose their positions, to ensure that their skills are up to date and honed, so that they will out-compete others in an even more competitive environment than exists at this time.
And it is also important to ensure that those who ARE secure in their jobs have opportunities to adapt themselves to new challenges within their offices and work places. We - and they know - that they are already magicians at multi-skilling, but the world is changing so rapidly that there is a constant need to keep pace with new technologies, new systems, new ways of processing and managing data. We're going to hear more about that from today's guest speaker - and I am looking forward greatly to what he has to say.
As you listen to him and as you enjoy the camaraderie of being with fellow office professionals, I'd like you to think about where you, as individuals, fit into the wider picture of office professionals throughout Australia - and how you might, in the future, develop your own skills and capacities - or need to do so. The bigger picture is quite interesting. According to the latest reports from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, the group of secretaries and personal assistants, receptionists, office and practice managers number more than 450,000 around Australia.
Elaborating on my earlier point about changes occurring in the workplace, office professionals as a group have had slower job growth than the rest of the economy, and jobs for secretaries and receptionists have declined; conversely, the number of roles for office managers has grown at the same rate. There are various reasons for this, but patently new and ever more sophisticated technologies are a key factor. Office Professionals may in some respects be ‘back-of-house'- but my sense is that increasingly they are at the forefront - (or is it the ‘front line' - to use the terminology of battle?) - coping with the introduction of these new technologies into the workplace. Sometimes they are the ones tasked with its introduction and implementation, having quickly to familiarise themselves with new systems, in order to teach others.
In these challenging circumstances, being willing, flexible and adaptable - which is the hallmark of so many office professionals - will simply no longer be enough. You WILL need new knowledge and new skills - and this is where AIOP can help. By organising even more training, workshops, seminars ... and by expanding the range of Diploma and Graduate courses in business and administration that it is running in conjunction with our Universities and TAFE colleges and ensuring that these are of the highest quality, so that those completing their courses and flourishing their certificates before prospective - or current - employers - will be able to assert with confidence that they are the best person for the job - AIOP itself will be able to adapt to changing circumstances and position itself to be even more relevant and valuable to its members in the future.
As its Patron, I appreciate the role it plays, I look forward to seeing this expand in the future and assure it of my support as it seeks to do so. In the meantime, I extend my warm congratulations, to all the Office Professionals here today and, as Governor and able to speak on behalf of the State and the people of Queensland, I express my warm appreciation to you for the valuable contribution you make to the State, to the efficient functioning of so many of its constituent parts and I wish you all a very happy celebration of Office Professionals Day 2009.