Why does this association have to be south east queensland? I am looking at joining aksa. as i understand it I can join the state organisation which will then provide me membership with aksa - only trouble is I live in townsville and I dont have a state body to represent me other than the SEQA.
Surely we can just have a queensland wide organisation. As for comps and benifits would it hurt to spread them out a bit across the state? I guess it's like our taxes and everything else in queensland revolving around the southeast.....
Qld is big. Even South East Qld is big. Maybe you should start a northern qld association. Lots of people in a similar situation to you I assume. I'm in Far north coast NSW, meaning SEQKA is by far my closest association even though its over the border and I pay aska membership to NSWKBA. If there are plenty of motivated kiters in your area it may be worth organising yourselves.. Not many kiters would regularly travel from north to south queensland for bbqs and down winders IMO. But If you live close enough to an organisation, they can be great. I imagine organising comps to be spread out across the state would involve a lot of extra time and effort from volunteers. Sure it would be good but sometimes events are best organised locally I would imagine. Just my thoughts.
i just started taking kiting lesons and was told to join sequa - what are the benefits of joining and what is aksa.
SEQKA is the Qld affilliation of AKSA
Membership of AKSA is necessary to kite on some beaches in Australia.
Membership provides a public liability insurance against damage to persons or council equipment whilst kiting
Seqka runs a variety of ride days and social days/evening during the season.
Fitzy
Hi, I understand your frustration bargearse.
Not sure if you realise that the guys who run SEQKA are NOT getting paid, they do it out of love for the sport.
The club does not make any money, so its not like a corporate money making machine and you poor soles up north are missing out on all the gold encrusted sausage sizzles.
Step up and start the ball in motion ,create a club.
Please let everyone know how you go.
SEQKA would only be too happy to disperse the funds in the bank, if other indiviuals got together to form a sub-branch (hint hint)
We are non profit but due to the large amount of money in the bank, maybe some of the riders could approach us with ideas that would be beneficial for their particular area.
Or we can bet it all on 'Black or Red'
Whichever comes first[}:)]
I have just started kiting and want to join SEQA but if you have so much money in the bank why don't you lower the fee. as a student it is expensive and the membershio season ends in september.
also i notice aksa have published thier accounts on there website and some other states do - do SEQA let members know how much money they have?
I have to agree wholeheartedly with Bargearse. Why cant QLD have one state KSA representing them all as in other states. As can be seen from Paulios reply SEQKA are more than happy to share the joy of kite association with as many others as possible.
The fact is that QLD is different. It is the only state with a very significant % of kiters operating in significant centres beyond the densely populated SE region. Because of this fact QLD is the only state which has developed multiple AKSA affiliated bodies over the years. Most of these minor groups, which continue to come and go, typically represent one population centre. At the moment none of them appear to be very active so perhaps now is an ideal time to rally all QLD kiters around the one state affiliate which is both actively operating and growing in efficiency and level of service to its members; ie of course SEQKA.
What Paulio is alluding to re the funding is that local groups can apply to the state affiliate for a share of the $65 subscription which is currently shared between AKSA & each state affiliate. As most kiters should know AKSA is now operated by a board made up of one representative of each state affiliate. This will to be a milestone in the development of kiting in Australia. The next ideal situation for moving kiting forward in Australia is the growth of strong local beach user groups within the large metro regions and similarly strong local kiter groups in all significant regional centres. If these local & regional "clubs" can come together under the umbrella of this new federal system then they can gain instant credibility, structure and financial support from the existing kiting structure.
With beach access protection being the primary goal of all levels of kiter organisation there can be nothing more effective in achieving this goal than having strong, active, responsible local groups that can monitor local issues, assess all local issues and deliver policies and actions which are specific to their own beach/s. Unfortunately until now local group interest has not been apparent anywhere until a specific threat becomes a catalyst to bring kiters together and act. It is always far better to ahead of the game - pro-active rather than re-active. Just ask anyone who has fought a re-active battle. It is extremely hard work to build creduibility overnight.
It would be a great incentive to other regional centres in other states if the ones in most need right now (& that is the central and far north QLDers) could begin to work towards creating satelite clubs with the assistance and support of SEQKA as their state voice. Perhaps a name change would become appropriate but its not really an issue. From returns sent to AKSa thus far in the season 08/09 SEQKA have already segmented their membership into 3 data base group - sunshine coast brisbane & the goldy. It would appear that they could accomodate regional clubs quite effectively and as suggested funds are there to be used to strengthen kiting for the state of QLD - not just the big city interest groups.
Now none of this is really my business as far as QLD itself goes but is the structure that I, as an AKSA board member, will be promoting all states should follow. I also believe it is a fairly widely held believe of the majority of the existing AKSA board and of most kiters as well. It is a system which gives local kiters a direct link to the state & national bodies and gives local the power & wherewithall to determine the direction of kiting in their own area.
It is time for local kiters everywhere to start talking about strength in numbers for the future of kiting in your own area. Not to mention the great social benefits to be gained on a day to day basis.
Getting back to Bargearses original question. The reason SEQKA cant deliver to regional QLD is simply because as individuals you are all just long distance individuals. To gain any benefits you can only band together and let SEQKA assist you to deliver the benefits to yourselves. The bottom line is you have to be a group to make that possible.
Keep the ball rolling Bargearse (& others). SEQKA is just a name. Kiters everywhere is where kiting is at. If AKSA can help you can always contact the board by email to info@aksa.com.au.
A united QLD would be an awesome achievement.
