26 FEBRUARY 1992: VCCA32: RICHARD RAXWORTHY TALKING TO PETER WESTON
I will ask you Mr Weston, where were you born and when?
PW I was born in Melbourne in July 1953.
You grew up in what suburb?
PW I grew up in Essendon and moved out to Doncaster in 1978.
So where did you go to school first?
PW To the local primary school, St John Boscoes in Niddrie. Then I moved to St Monica’s Primary School under the Christian Brothers. Then the whole of my secondary education was at St Bernard’s Christian Brothers College.
What sort of influence do you think you got from your parents?
PW I think they taught me a good deal of proper social behaviour, how to act towards other people. Generally speaking I think they gave me a good base to build upon.
What was your father?
PW He was Sales Manager for Australian Airlines, which was TAA in those days.
Was there any political influence in your life when you were a child?
PW None whatsoever. My mother thought very highly of Bob Hawke in his early days and always wanted him to be Prime Minister. I think she may have changed her mind a little, given subsequent events.
Well what about religious influence? Obviously you were a Catholic, you went to Catholic schools.
PW That’s correct. Probably in the early life I was very independent and it wasn’t forced upon me, so I took a fairly backward step towards religion. Over the last ten or fifteen years I have become fairly well involved with local parishes and our children now are going to Catholic primary schools. We are fairly strongly involved with the church.
So when did you first become involved with co-operatives or credit unions?
PW My first introduction to credit unions was during my early teens. My father was involved on the Board of the Niddrie Credit Union, originally called Sunshine Boscoes Credit Co-operative which became the Essendon or Niddrie Credit Union. Subsequent to that my involvement was as an auditor with the Association which ultimately led to me seeking a position with the VCCA.
When you first left school did you go straight to an accounting firm?
PW Yes I did. I worked for some eight years in professional practices.
At school were you good at maths and that sort of thing?
PW I think my parents would say that I was never great at anything. But in my Higher School Certificate I excelled both in maths and accounting and I think that determined my future to some extent.
So you were a number of years first as an audit clerk and then as an accountant. What made you move to the credit union movement, to the VCCA?
PW Firstly the scope for advancement and level of interest in the work. The scope in the professional practices I was working with was fairly limited. I was seeking different goals and I had a philosophical comfort level with the credit union movement. I saw some opportunities to help participate in its future growth.
So had they advertised? How did you come to be employed by them?
PW I came to know of a position being available from one of the people that was working here and I spoke with them and applied for the position. So it was more personal knowledge than actually an advertised position.
So you had already been doing auditing here, had you?
PW Yes that’s right, for some three years.
So they already knew you?
PW They did. I knew a number of the personalities here.
When you came to work here what exactly was your job?
PW The initial job was as a Business Services Manager. The objective of the business services area at that time was to assist credit unions in developing their systems and procedures and providing relief management to smaller credit unions when the Managers went on leave or had problems with sickness and in some cases change of management. We would go in and fill-in for the Manager and I was involved with that for a period of probably two years. I spent the first twelve months, almost, permanent at a credit union by the name of STATAX, which was the Federal Taxation Office State Branch, who had had some difficulties. That was a very interesting period of time and it was certainly being thrown in at the deep end.
What sort of difficulties did they have?
PW They had systems that didn’t reconcile. They had a Manager who had been terminated and there was some question as to whether there had been some less than satisfactory goings on with the management of the credit union. So there was a lot to do to just in fact reconciling historical records and insuring that all the members funds were actually intact and all accounted for.
Who did you work directly under, at first?
PW Michael Jolley.
What was his job?
PW He was the Business Services Manager, or General Manager Business Services was I think the correct title at that time.
What exactly does business services mean?
PW Well essentially it is providing services to credit unions that their size does not allow them to provide internally on an economical base. Branching out from the direct consultancy type work, the Association established a computer bureau not that long after I commenced. That was another way of business services providing a service to the smaller credit unions in particular that they couldn’t afford on a independent basis.
So which accounting service was that? What was your software then?
PW It was based on a Teledata system, which was the company that the Association got involved in in the late 1970s and ultimately acquired one hundred per cent interest in.
When you got there they hadn’t acquired that interest?
PW No, they were involved with the company. The major interest was acquired during the period I think 1979, late 1979, early 1980.
What was your view of the Teledata system? Was it as good as the FCS one, better?
PW In retrospect the FCS was substantially better. Easier to manage and a far better system all round.
Did you know anything about the development that was going on in Canada re Teledata systems?
PW I knew a little bit about it, but it never came to any fruition as far as I recall. It just meant further funds going out the door for no result.
Did you have any dealings with the Manager or owner of Teledata?
PW Yes I did. For a period I was heavily involved in the operation of Teledata on behalf of the VCCA. That was more after Mr Steele had left the company. During the period he was there I was involved with the installation of a couple of credit union systems with him, one in Illawarra in New South Wales and one in Bendigo. So yes, I knew Mr Steele.
Did you have any problems with those installations that you put in at those two places?
PW The involvement with Illawarra, which was my first occasion to be involved with an installation, I was there as an observer with Michael Jolley just to learn and go through the procedures so that we could assist credit unions in Victoria. What was to be a two-day visit to Illawarra turned out to be a week working day and night and it was probably a very unsatisfactory conversion.
Who was actually doing the conversion?
PW Ken Steele.
Nobody else?
PW With his staff, yes. It was a very large installation and certainly called for his involvement, yes.
The other one in Bendigo?
PW From memory the Bendigo conversion went quite satisfactorily, yes.
Was that a bit of coup getting one in at Illawarra?
PW I believe so, yes. It is difficult to recall all the details at the time, but yes it was a major achievement.
Later on did you have anything to do with Brian Dean and the other people from FCS, or GCS originally?
PW Yes I did. That is the period post-Ken Steele when it was still Teledata and into the period when GCS took a large interest in the company. I was heavily involved as the VCCA management person. I think that things improved substantially following GCS’ involvement.
Which one of the partners were you involved with? I mean was it Brian Dean?
PW Mainly Brian Dean, yes.
I saw him the other day at Albury but I couldn’t get him away from his business dealings. I wanted to interview him, because I have heard several versions of all the ramifications of how FCS came about, you know. Did Les Robinson, former Manager of New South Wales Association, come round selling FCS at any time? Well GCS in those days.
PW Not to my memory.
So, did they tell you where the installations came from to Victoria? Did they come directly from Western Australia or what?
PW During that period I knew of a number of credit unions that were using the GCS system. I understood that they were marketing directly by AWA during that period.
Yes I have heard various versions of this. The first ones were in Perth I believe. Defence had one and Defence got the first one in Victoria, that is what I heard. The next thing I heard was that the McIntyres saw the Defence one operating in Victoria and they got one at each of their credit unions in New South Wales and it went from there. That is independent of Les Robinson. But at that stage in the proceedings he had been off ill and had heart surgery and that is when he started selling them. Of course by that time he was too late virtually because the New South Wales Association had then bought into it and cut him out. But it is not clear what came first. You don’t have any knowledge as to how or where it was transferred from Western Australia?
PW No. Well I understood that the marketing of the system, I don’t know the personnel that were involved over here, but it was done directly through AWA.
No I wouldn’t have thought of that. AWA were AWA at that time and then Bell Douglas. So when you were involved with the business services here, the bureau arrangement did it continue here under the FCS regime?
PW Yes it did. The system transferred across and I think we ended up with a much more satisfactory system from an internal administrative view point and also from the bureauing. The bureauing was in fact not under the guise of VCCA at that point though, it was done directly with GCS, or the Teledata company as it was still at that time.
Did you have anything to do with the actual accounting of Teledata and their books and that sort of thing, as a company?
PW Yes towards the end of the era.
Did you have a Daimler and a Jaguar on the books at all?
PW Yes there was, and an aeroplane.
Did you keep them?
PW I believe they were sold before the VCCA ultimately took over the balance of the holding in the company.
Now what was the main part of your work? You have told me what the title was, but exactly what did you do?
PW As you’d realise during that period initially as I explained I was with this Business Services. The Association went through a great deal of turmoil.
Over what?
PW Well it was related to the Teledata experience and various other things that had probably left the Directors of the Association and the members feeling a little bit left out. There were problems with the housing fund, there were problems with a project development up at Daylesford. The financial position of the Association had substantially depreciated. There was a gradual restructuring going on there. The General Manager left the Association.
Was that Mike Hildebrand?
PW Yes it was.
Do you know anything about the circumstances of his departure?
PW I don’t recall all of the things that went on at the time, but it did cause a substantial amount of internal turmoil at the time. But no I don’t recall all of the circumstances.
Do you recall why he left and how he left, whether he resigned or whether he was fired?
PW I believe he resigned. In fact I know he resigned. At that point one of the Senior Managers of the Association at the time took a pro-tem position as General Manager. At the same time the Board became more directly involved until that position could be resolved. There was a restructuring going on while we established what the true financial position of the Association was, given that there were losses related to Teledata and to the Daylesford venture.
Jubilee Lake?
PW Jubilee Lake, that is correct. I remember it now. At that point I became the term was Accounting Manager.
Did you have much to do with Ed Forth, who was Finance Manager?
PW Ed came in not long before Mr Hildebrand left. Yes he was the Finance Manager during that time and I was very involved with Ed in the administration.
It occurs to me that Ed Forth might have had more information than you on the matter of how it went on, the policies. He for instance said to me that they asked him to borrow some money for the project. He said after looking through the papers he wouldn’t be prepared to go out and borrow it. Did that become known in the VCCA or was that kept quiet?
PW I know that we had been undertaking discussions with the view to some overseas borrowings, I think, at the time. I don’t recall but I think there was some reluctance from a number of people towards any further borrowings on that project.
You see you were here before he was and it occurred to me that the previous Finance Manager didn’t appear to have blown the whistle on the project. When Ed Forth, if what he says is correct, came and he was immediately given the figures and they said they wanted to borrow some money, he immediately said, ‘You can’t borrow money on these figures, they are in the negative.’ Now the previous Finance Manager must not have alerted Mike Hildebrand, or the Board for that matter, to the situation. Were you aware of that sort of thing?
PW No I wasn’t directly involved with the financial situation at the VCCA or its projects as such, only from an overview viewpoint. So I wasn’t privy to the full financial information at that time. I think probably for some time there were a number of question marks from a number of quarters, both within the Association and from its member credit unions, as to the ultimate viability of the project. I think that ultimately the project had to be terminated, there was no other choice.
But it got to that point, presumably, because a lot of money was spent and nothing to show for the project. Do you know how this came about or why? Did you have anything to do with it?
PW I think, from memory, one of the problems was that the project had been re-designed on a number of occasions and all of that re-design cost a substantial amount of money. It also was funding the employment of a couple of people, virtually full-time, before the ground had been turned. So a lot of money went into design and re-design that ultimately never showed any return.
You were there when Mike Hildebrand resigned and Phillip Elliott took over, were you?
PW Correct, yes.
How did you get on with both of those?
PW I didn’t have a lot to do with Mike Hildebrand until I became the Accounting Manager and moved into that area, which was at about the same time that Ed Forth joined the Association. I didn’t have a great deal to do with Mike Hildebrand, as I say. I had quite a bit to do with Phillip Elliott prior to and during his period as Acting General Manager and I think I got on reasonably well with Phillip, yes.
What about with the next General Manager, David Dinning?
PW I got on well very well with David, very well. I think he did an extremely good job in pulling the Association together with the Board and the staff there at the time. In pulling it together and putting back into a position of usefulness to its members.
David Dinning felt that he was not getting enough support from the Board. You weren’t here when he went, of course. But he felt he wasn’t getting enough support, particularly latterly. Did you see any evidence of this or was it too early?
PW I think that was too early. During David’s commencement at the VCCA through to when I left I used to have a good deal to do with the Board as well and attended the majority of Board meetings. I would believe that during that period up to when I left, I would certainly think he had fairly strong Board support. The Board were critical of some issues from time to time but that is the Board’s right.
Can you remember what those issues were?
PW Not at this time. They weren’t major issues by any means no.
He mentioned a couple of issues then he drew away from it. I have been trying to confirm what they were from somebody else. But you don’t know at all?
PW No. I think at the time there was one issue that generally permeated throughout the Victorian credit unions and it was the potential for involvement with New South Wales, whether or not Victoria was acting on an independent basis. But I believe that was probably a misinterpretation, because I think it is important to the Associations from State to State to work co-operatively and share resources. I believe that really is the way things were happening, not only with New South Wales but with Adelaide as well and to some extent with Queensland.
Yes of course David Dinning was involved with Queensland and he was involved with South Australia , before. Of course he is friendly with Terry Fitzgerald amongst other things from his South Australian days. Terry is up there in New South Wales now and very much part of their establishment. So I suppose he had lots of contacts didn’t he.
PW Well I think getting the job done, no matter what sort of business you are in, is very much about contacts. About using the knowledge of others as best as possible to get the job done as effectively as possible.
End Tape 1A: 3154 Words: 1 hour 10 minutes.
So you felt then that the issues weren’t important?
PW: Just from that period I don’t recall anything that was of a major concern no.
In the years that you were there, throughout the whole financial problems, how did that affect you as a senior staff member at the time? Did you actually go to those meetings when the whole thing was in the balance?
PW: Yes indeed, as did all virtually all of the staff. I think right through that period that probably accounts for the loss of quite a substantial amount of my hair and many sleepless nights, both in concern for the job and what the member credit unions were facing. It wasn’t a pretty time. I guess certainly it was good experience. Once again, I believe that the credit unions showed their true co-operative spirit in banding together and supporting the Association and getting it back on its feet. I asked Ed Forth here about the position that the Directors of the credit unions faced at that time, whether or not they were Directors of the Association. On the one hand were they doing the right things by their members by leaving the money in the VCCA. I know they had a duty to the VCCA but they also had a duty to their own members and often they must have conflicted in a situation like that.
Should they take their money out or put it in?
PW: This was a substantially difficult decision for Directors to make. I think what assisted them in making their decision was the support that was made available from AFCUL and from the New South Wales credit unions through the New South Wales Association. They were prepared to provide some funds, backing, to enable the Association to get through that critical period. Again it shows the spread of a wider co-operative interest. Obviously while it would have a substantial effect on New South Wales credit unions if there was a collapse in Victoria and VCCA’s position was made public in the newspapers. I think it was essential nationally that the Association did survive. From the Victorian credit unions viewpoint the potential for very negative publicity was turned into something that was positive. I think one could say clearly in retrospect that yes it was a very difficult decision for Directors to make, but I believe they made the right decision because of the future successes that the Association made.
That is substantially the same answer that Ed Forth gave me. If the whole of the VCCA had gone down, then quite a lot of the other credit unions might have gone down too. The whole movement might have suffered.
PW: Indeed that is true. That is part of the nature of the co-operative movement and credit unions demonstrate probably better than others. We may have our negative issues, but I think at the end of the day when people are in trouble that is when their philosophy is strongest.
Now one of the jobs you used to do was go in to assist part-time management, or temporary management in credit unions. Now were you in fact going in when a credit union was in trouble? Were you going in under other circumstances as well?
PW: Usually when a credit union was in trouble.
They had fired the Manager?
PW: In one instance. In the two major instances I was involved in that, yes the Manager had been terminated.
I don’t know if you had an overview of the stabilisation system that was operating in Victoria did you?
PW: Yes. That fund essentially was more in a wind-down mode when I first came to the Association.
The Reserve had already been set up, or was about to be set up?
PW: It wasn’t far off being set up, yes.
Do you know where they got their money?
PW: Deposits from credit unions.
So they took over the money that was already in the Stabilisation Fund?
PW: The Stabilisation Fund, from memory, was all paid out. Then with the Guarantee Fund each year each credit union had to hold on deposit with the Guarantee Fund a percentage of their total assets.
That money that was invested in the Stabilisation Fund was also just invested by the VCCA wasn’t it through their central? Or was it invested totally separately?
PW: Generally those funds were deployed back to credit unions by way of borrowings. I can’t recall in much detail the operation of the Stabilisation Fund, but I think the surplus funds were invested, but they were invested, from memory, on an independent basis from the general finance.
So the taking of that money out of the general revenue of the VCCA could not have contributed to the collapse, or the fact that there was a very near collapse.
PW: I believe that had nothing to do with the problems, no.
Well that clarifies that. Again Ed Forth didn’t know. He said he had no idea because it was before his time. But it occurred to me that there was an amount of money. You see if you go back to somebody like the person I interviewed yesterday, he was the Manager of the Stabilisation Fund, Don Matlock. Now he didn’t have any idea because he left before the end of that. So there is a bit of a gap there, but I think you have just about covered that. That’s good. That covers the little gap between the two, you know. When you were going in these circumstances to assist credit unions who had a need of a Manager on a temporary basis, it wasn’t stabilisation was it?
PW: It was credit unions taking advantage on a fee for service basis of a service that the Association was providing. It was only in exceptional circumstances that we would be requested to play a holding position as a Manager for a credit union, during which time if there were any questions about the operation of the credit union we would look at those issues. But principally it was a holding position to keep the credit union operating effectively until such time as a replacement Manager could be appointed.
So apart from going in and temporarily managing credit unions, what other services did you operate for the credit unions?
PW: There was the computer bureau, there was assisting them in developing policies and procedures, both in management terms and for the Directors. It was particularly important in delinquency control, helping them in the production of financial statements and the interpretation of financial statements. A fairly broad number of services. There was also personnel services where we would actually assist in the appointment of Managers and senior staff. Yes that really covers most of the activities and the computer bureau, as I have mentioned before.
So what were the changes in the computer bureau during the time you were there? From when you started until you finally left?
PW: There were no major changes. The principles of the system as a bureau worked fairly efficiently and effectively. Ms Toni Borrick came in to the manage the computer services probably within six months of it commencing. Toni was a very effective Manager of that service.
All on-line was it?
PW: No, a lot of it was batch for small credit unions. I recall going out and assisting Spotswood Credit Union on a couple of Sunday mornings after mass going through various reports with them, etc. But the bureau operated very effectively and it was ultimately transferred down to Teledata, still under Toni Borrick’s control. I believe it continued to operate quite effectively there.
So when did it come on-line? Not during your time?
PW: During my time it came on-line.
With what equipment?
PW: Originally with the Teledata equipment and then it was converted across to the GCS equipment.
Under AWA?
PW: Using from memory AWA equipment, yes.
By that time did they have the FCS software?
PW: Yes.
So you had seen the conversion from batch right through to the FCS?
PW: Yes, most definitely.
It was on-line by that time to all the credit unions? Or were you still doing some on a batch arrangement?
PW: We were still operating some on batch.
Were any of the credit unions operating the FCS system with shared computers?
PW: No, not at that stage.
They were all coming through your computers or they were on batch?
PW: They were either coming through the system here, or they were batching, or they operated their own system.
Had their own system, I understand, individual. But there weren’t any that were jointly having a computer?
PW: No, not at that stage.
That is amazing. You also were there at the period of the introduction of the plastic card weren’t you? Did you become involved in that?
PW: Very heavily involved in that. That was also a very interesting period with the introduction of plastics, automated teller machines and the chequeing.
What about CUE card?
PW: CUE card?
Did you have anything to do with that? Credit Union Exchange.
PW: That was started in Queensland?
No. It was the local one.
PW: That’s correct. I don’t think that lasted very long. It doesn’t stick very heavily in my memory.
Did you have anything to do with it? It was a lemon wasn’t it?
PW: Yes it was.
It was trying to compete, but it was too late.
PW: That’s right, yes.
Everybody went every which way, but they didn’t go that way.
PW: No, not with an independent one.
I just wondered if you had any information about that, you know? It sounds as if I have more than you?
PW: I think you may have. I really don’t recall much now about the CUE card, maybe for the reason it was a lemon. What was successful was the credit unions’ own plastic.
Some of them went the other way as well, and that was quite successful. Some of them went through the State Bank.
PW: That’s right, yes.
Well now they are going to get through the back door into the Commonwealth Bank and Westpac.
PW: Yes, that would be the situation I am sure now.
Redicard has gone round the other way through the ANZ and the NAB.
PW: That’s right. Well it was accepted by the NAB at the same time as the member chequeing was put together.
Have any in Victoria done a crafty move in that they kept clear of the whole lot of them and went in via Visa?
PW: Sorry?
Some other States, the individual credit unions have kept clear of all the various Associations via plastic cards, but their people can still access the whole system via their Visa card.
PW: Yes that is right. As I say, credit unions can be very co-operative and they can be very unco-operative in putting certain services together. But obviously each credit union has to look at its own requirements and the needs of its members and make its decisions on that basis.
Do you remember how the automatic teller machines went in, in Victoria? Who put money up front and that sort of thing?
PW: Yes. Originally the SEC Credit Union installed two machines.
On-line?
PW: On-line, yes. They may have initially processed it by tape.
That was the Queensland one, they used to change the tapes every day.
PW: Yes. I think they may have operated off-line in the very initial stages. But there was, from memory, SEC, PostTel, Piccol, I mean. That is all I can remember.
You didn’t have anything to do with it?
PW: Only from a monitoring viewpoint, before they were all connected into the Ausnet facility.
But in New South Wales there was a small company started, EFT wasn’t it, to put the first machines in and seven credit unions put the money up front. Did the same thing happen in Victoria at all?
PW: Yes certain credit unions effectively put their own machines in.
Oh, they put their own machines in? Right. That didn’t happen in New South Wales. Oh, occasionally it did, but not very often. Mainly they put the money into the company.
PW: That was the proposal for Victoria as well. Some credit unions already had machines operating, but the principle was that credit unions would participate by way of placing money into a company here and that system would be available to a wider network of credit unions. The transaction cost depended on whether or not you had put the money up for the machine, or what your initial contribution to the system was.
Yes, the ones that didn’t come in at the first instance had to put it up later otherwise they wouldn’t get into the system.
PW: Yes. One way or another. It was either being covered by transaction fees or by capital injection.
What else were you involved with in your job? Did you have another job or were you just in that job right through the time?
PW: No. I was involved with accounting for the Association for a period. I acted as Administrative Assistant to David Dinning for a period of time. I was Manager of Special Projects for a period of time. We tended to go through quite a number of re-organisations during the three or four years before I left the Association. Subsequently I had quite a number of different titles.
The Manager of Special Projects, were there any special projects in actual fact, or is that just a title?
PW: There were certain special projects. It was as much as anything to do with assisting with the introduction of member chequeing, the plastics, acting as much as anything as an Administrative Secretary to the various committees that were involved and providing input and administrative support in those areas.
The committees that you were involved with, which were they? Were you involved with the Legal Committee for instance?
PW: Yes. The legal service that was developed in conjunction with Marnie and Galvin, the first solicitor that was involved in that service was Peter Frances. I was the contact point here for Peter and provided the exchange point with him, referring the various legal queries we had on to him. That was when he was operating from his office, later Peter would spend three to four days a week operating from the offices of the VCCA. I believe that was a very successful service and I understand it still operates.
Any other services you introduced?
PW: Not specific services, more administering some of the minor services that were still provided to credit unions such as the credit union superannuation fund, which a number of the smaller credit unions participated in. Representing the Association on the Credit Societies Conciliation and Arbitration Board. I was involved in assisting the Department of Housing, who at that time had created a section, or initiated a program called the Co-operative Development Program. I was involved on the Funding Committee of that particular program.
Was that successful?
PW: It was to do with non-financial co-operatives and it was still continuing after I left the VCCA. Our involvement was simply my time and also providing some input to the Funding Committee on a fee-for-service basis. This particular program was providing government funding to non-financial co-operatives in their development.
Were any of these housing co-operatives, for instance, equity housing co-operatives?
PW: No, that was another program again that I had involvement in where the Department of Housing was looking at introducing equity housing co-operatives. They were looking at the various examples that came from Canada and Spain. I don’t know whether anything got off the ground, I don’t believe there has been anything put together. But there were quite a substantial number of papers developed and I attended quite a number of meetings of that committee.
I thought that it was more successful. There has been very little in New South Wales, but there has been some. It is funded by St George Building Society up there. But I was under the impression that it was much further advanced down in Victoria. That there had been many more equity housing co-operatives.
PW: That may be the case. I didn’t maintain any contact with that area after leaving the Association.
I think you can count on the fingers of two hands the number that are actually operational in New South Wales.
PW: Maybe for good reason.
As a matter of fact there are arguments between the State and Federal Governments. The Federal Government put up some money and the State Government put up the land. That left St George to find the money, but they didn’t. That was all right, all the funding was there, just couldn’t find the people who knew what it was about to be able to get into it and do it. One of the reasons was they found that you had to have a proportion to qualify for the Federal Government funds you had to have a proportion of welfare housing recipients to go in with a number of people who were prepared to put their money in as well. For these two disparate groups, well one of them wasn’t a group at all, to come together effectively to form a co-operative. For that reason you had to have the two halves, but it isn’t working. The ones that actually do take the plunge, are working.
PW: The principle and the philosophy behind it is sound, but I think people generally have a dark view of its potential for success.
Well the attitude is of course that part of the people haven’t got any equity in the project.
PW: That’s correct and very little capacity to contribute financially.
That’s true too. Were you involved with AICUM at all, Australian Institute of Credit Union Management?
PW: No. ICUM and AICUM and the marketing group, the only involvement was very much a passing involvement and certainly participation in various conferences from time to time.
The Chapters?
PW: Yes, right through my history with the Association my participation involved attending Chapters on a regular basis. Certain Chapters I probably became a fairly regular attendee of, as the VCCA representative. That was a very pleasant part of the task because it gave one an opportunity to get to know a fairly wide variety of people obviously all with a common interest. Most of the Chapters I believe operated very effectively as discussion groups and feed-back organisations.
Now is there anything that we haven’t covered of your experience in the VCCA?
PW: Not that I can recall. It has been a number of years since I parted with the VCCA and I have lost contact with it to some extent. Probably a number of things that I was involved with during the time have now escaped my memory.
Now you are on your own as a consultant?
PW: That’s correct yes. I have been doing that for nearly two years now and it is good. It probably draws on some of the things that I learnt over the period with the VCCA.
Right. Well if we have got no further questions that we can ask, I will say thank you very much Peter Weston.
End Tape 1B: 3224 Words: 1 hour 30 minutes.