Some of these members are one-man operations, who have decided they want to support the Association by taking out full membership (rather than Individual Membership) and, therefore, being entitled to vote on constitutional issues and for the Board – or perhaps stand for the Board. Some of the larger Corporate members are international companies that have large sections focused on the pipeline industry.

Also, some of our larger members have opted to move up to the Lead Membership level as a demonstration of their commitment to APIA and to the industry as a whole.

Now, at the Board’s direction, APIA has restructured the Sponsoring Membership category. For some time there has been a need to bring all the Owner members into one group. However, with just one category of Sponsoring Membership and a fee of $35,550 some of the smaller owners had opted to take out Lead Membership.

Rather than one category with a single membership fee, Sponsoring Membership now has FOUR categories, generally reflecting the size of the Owner-member companies. Of course there was no simple method of calculating the size of the Owner member companies, and the most straightforward method has proven to be simply to add the length of total pipelines owned. (For Corporate Membership, size is determined by number of employees). The top category for companies owning more than 4,000 kilometres of pipeline will have a fee of $50,000; the second category for companies owning 2,000 to 4,000 kilometres of pipeline and for large international companies will have a fee of $40,000; the third category of 1,000 to 2,000 kilometres will pay $20,000; and, the smallest of this group, holding 500 to 1,000 kilometres will pay $10,000.

(Some may suggest capacity should be included. This was considered; however, because different companies use different methods of calculation, it was not practical. Instead, diameter was factored into the equation. Nevertheless, the inclusion of diameter did not change the categories at all, so it was decided to stick with the simplest method of calculating the size of the company – total length of pipelines owned.)

This new system has meant that the smaller Owner members, Enertrade and SEA Gas, and the distribution/transmission company Envestra, which had previously chosen to join as a Lead member, are now all in the Sponsoring membership category.

Lead Membership remains an important category for large and international engineering and construction companies that want to demonstrate strong support for APIA and the industry, as well as pipeline operators, service/manufacturing/supply providers and – possibly – very small owner members (with pipelines of less than 500 kilometres, that are often internal company pipelines).

The Owner members are very positive about the changes and are keen to participate in Owner-related forums and discussions.

Also, as the President has mentioned, your Secretariat has been very busy dealing with the draft legislation for the economic regulation of the industry. The proposed legislation was absolutely inappropriate for the gas transmission industry and, after strong representations to the Federal Industry Minister, Ian Macfarlane, and his State counterparts, there has been agreement to make major changes. We intend to work very closely with the Ministers and their officials to ensure the best possible outcome for the gas transmission industry. I offer my thanks to the APIA Government and Regulatory Affairs Committee – particularly to Chris Harvey (Alinta), Anthony Cribb (DBP) and Suzy Taznady (Parmelia) – for their constant and consistent support.

And, last but not least, the many members who regularly telephone the APIA office will notice a new, bright voice answering most of the calls. We were very sorry to lose Sarah Leavitt, who quickly learnt about the industry and was a tremendous contributor in the office. We are now happy to welcome our new Functions and Administration Officer, Katie Backhouse. I am sure members will also welcome Katie to our terrific industry.

Cheryl Cartwright

Chief Executive