ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

This 'Letter to the Editor' is in the current issue of the ABPA Magazine. It was just brought to my attention, so the response won't be in the current Mag.

My response is at the end of this letter and I'll submit it in the next issue ...

Manfred.

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Title:- Should I cancel my A.B.P.A. membership?
For many years now Hunter Bush Poets, (like many poetry clubs throughout Australia), has conducted a variety of events. This was done on the assumption that we had Public Liability Insurance covering those events (and therefore protecting our members) through another organisation with which we are affiliated.

We have recently discovered to our horror that the cover we thought we had was not applicable to us and that we had been exposed to enormous risk over all these years.
What risk you ask?
As I understand it, following considerable research, in the event of a successful claim for compensation against our club for injury or whatever, at an event we have conducted, all our current members are liable to equally share in the cost of the awarded damages!!

That means I, along with everyone else in our club, would potentially have to find tens of thousands of dollars to cover the claim and legal costs. What would I do? Take a mortgage on my house? How am I going to pay that back at my age? Imagine my wife’s re-action!!

Consequently we have taken steps to incorporate our club and take out the appropriate insurance because incorporation alone is not sufficient to protect our members. I recommend that every poetry club investigates their situation and their vulnerability.

The points made above bring me to the question of my A.B.P.A. membership.
In this open letter to the Executive members of A.B.P.A. I ask them to provide me and all our members with proof that they had adequately protected us against litigation that could arise from any events that is run under the A.B.P.A. banner. If there is no Public Liability in place then we are all, as members, liable to provide a share of the costs of a successful claim.

If such proof is not forthcoming I will cancel my membership and will encourage our Hunter Bush Poets to do likewise as I don’t want to expose myself or my fellow HBP members to the enormous risk.

I do appreciate the A.B.P.A. Magazine and would like to continue to receive it so I also have a question for the editor – can I subscribe to the magazine without being a member of A.B.P.A.?

Keep up the good work Frank.

Regards, Bill Luders,
Treasurer of Hunter Bush Poets.



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Dear Bill,

I'm trying to understand why lapsing your ABPA membership is even being considered.

Bill, you say that you assumed that you had Public Liability Insurance covering your events through another organisation with which you are affiliated.

Checking that the required Insurances are in place is the responsibility of the respective club committees. So I'm having difficulty trying to understand why are you holding the ABPA responsible for your error??

The ABPA have (to the best of my knowledge) has NEVER offered a blanket Public Liability Insurance for CLUB events. What the ABPA does offer, is a competitive rate for Public Liability Insurance for INDIVIDUALS.

January 2013, the ABPA will be running the "ABPA Golden Damper Awards" in Tamworth. The ABPA will be looking for Public Liability Insurance for that event. I believe that this will be the FIRST time that the ABPA has run an event.

There are some exciting things on the horizon for the ABPA.

A sub-committee is currently undergoing in-depth analysis of the association for the ABPA Strategic Plan. The successful outcome will depend on member's participation and views. Yours included Bill.

The objectives of the Australian Bush Poets Association is to foster and encourage the growth of Bush Poetry in Australia.

Bill, you've put your money where your heart is, in support of the ABPA and it's Bush Poetry objectives. Cancelling your membership and encouraging others to do the same is a bit harsh under the circumstances, don't you think?

With Respect,

Manfred.

I think he means Manfred, that if anyone decides to commence an action against the ABPA, does that mean that we, as members of an association all become liable in that action.

Well that's not what's being said Neville!

It's a bit rich encouraging others to cancel their memberships and still get the magazine ...

Let me throw the question back, "What activities have the ABPA been directly involved in for a sizable action to have taken place?"

manfredvijars wrote:Let me throw the question back, "What activities have the ABPA been directly involved in for a sizable action to have taken place?"

Excellent point Manfred.
and what occurrence could possibly involve the ABPA in a sizable action ? I can't think of any.

I understand where Bill is coming from in relation to liability and it is a growing worry for many informal and small groups but incorporation solves the problem by making the incorporated body an entity in its own right which then becomes liable for any legal action; not the members.
As the ABPA is an incorporated body I think everyone is safe from litigation and Bill can remain a member without too much worry!
By the way incorporated bodies can make application for any of the numerous grants available through government and semi government sources to further their activities.

Vic Jefferies

@Neville ... Me neither Mate. What worries me is that this was compounded by the threat of (encouraging) members to pull their membership. Proper homework and/or a simple question to any of the committee would have resulted in the appropriate answer without any ungrounded grandstanding or hollow fanfare.

@Vic ... Incorporation limits the liability, however it's the directors/committee steering the association who would be libel for any activities on behalf of the association. To that end the ABPA committee is finalising "Directors Insurance" to mitigate the risk. This is a FIRST for the ABPA.

The ABPA Golden Damper Awards in Tamworth 2013 will be thoroughly looked at, in terms of what insurances need to be in place to host that event. This is ALSO a FIRST for the ABPA.

Members can rest assured that there is a hard-working committee in place, working diligently for the longevity of the association and benefit of the members.

Manfred.

That sounds well covered Manfred.

I have been in many different clubs over the years, and have looked at insurance, particularly in the last few years, fairly closely.
It is only a non-incorporated club that opens all its members to liability. Incorporation will protect a clubs general members from legal action, as it is the incorporated club that will be sued.
However, incorporation, as Manfred states, will not guarantee the committee members safety from the risk of being liable in the case of legal action. Clubs should take out a directors liability, which covers the committee members for the liability from legal action - except in the case of negligence on an individuals part.

Certainly, any club, incorporated or not, should have third party insurance + if they are running an event.

Manfred, I would doubt that Bill was being malicious when he put his letter forward - perhaps just a little misguided in the way to find out the answers. Once someone is made aware of the extent to which an individual can be held liable, they often go into a panic, and over-react a little. I have seen that myself, and just some reassurance will usually settle things down. The 'threat' to get others to cancel their membership, I am sure, would have just been an over-reaction to the concern that they will all be liable if the ABPA are not covered, and the subsequent need to warn others if indeed that threat was real. The whole tone of his letter to me appears to be one of fear after finding out the risk they had been running for many years, not of any malicious intentions.

Unfortunately, many people have grown up believing and trusting that others will do the right thing by clubs that they are a part of. The reality of today says that nobody is free of the threat of legal action, and every club needs to be aware of their legal responsibilities. This is a hard concept for some of our older generations to grasp, because it is foreign to the way they are. When reality hits them, it can be scary to consider the possibilities, particularly if the ways to counteract those possibilities are not explained to them clearly. I am sure that when Bill has the situation explained to him, he will be quite happy to continue with his membership.

Catchya
Irene

Absolutely correct. Things are no longer as they were and we have now become a litigious society willing to sue wherever we think we can get a dollar!
Talking to some of those involved in organising the recent National Folk Festival I was informed that thanks to recent legislation and other rules everything has become very much harder in terms of staging the festival. This year it became necessary for the committee to employ paid consultants to review and report on the festival's security, insurance and occupational health and safety plans, so as to satisfy the bureaucracy! The festival uses in excess of a thousand volunteers each year and each one of them had to undergo training to comply with the OH and S requirements and frankly the committee are beginning to wonder just how much more nonsense the festival can endure!

Irene, Vic, the issues you discuss are relevent to events I'm sure, but they relate to the responsibilities of the event organisers.

I can't see that it has anything to do with the ABPA or membership of the ABPA.

The Association has people who are state representatives on the management committee, I wish that in instances like this the person who has a concern about legal matters to do with the Association, would discuss it with their representative before going into print without any apparent proper legal or authoritative basis.