Vic Division President’s Report May 2024

With May upon us, it is almost conference time and with it happening in Melbourne this year I hope many of you are able to find the time to attend and relax in the collegial atmosphere while enjoying some world class CPD. I am in the process of scanning through the program to choose my lectures so I hope to see some of you there! It is also an opportunity for me to connect face-to-face with Division and SIG Presidents from around the country at our Council of Presidents meeting which I am looking forward to.

The AVA Annual General Meeting which has previously been held during the conference is, this year, a virtual meeting being conducted via Zoom on Monday 20^th May. This change in format was approved at last year’s AGM and will hopefully allow more of our membership to attend.

Although the Victorian Division has been a little quiet after an exceptionally busy end to 2023 and start to 2024 with our submission on the Animal Care and Protection Bill amongst other issues, we have continued our advocacy efforts, especially in the workforce shortage space and the Victorian Cat Management Strategy.

I would like to remind you about the important survey available to gauge the amount of unpaid work carried out by veterinarians, both as individuals and as practices. Although there is an understanding within the profession that veterinary services are often free, low cost or discounted, this is not well understood outside of our profession and invisible in economic data. We need data urgently. This crucial information will inform our advocacy for the profession and strengthen our lobbying of government regarding the funding of such areas as treatment of wildlife and stray pets, low cost desexing and vaccinations, and biosecurity and disaster responses. I urge you to make the time to complete this survey, particularly practice owners. Feel free to reach out to Kristen Steele (Kristen.steele@ava.com.au) if you have any questions or require any assistance completing the survey.

See you at the conference,

Dr Cathy Deague
VIC Division President