CAQ Inc. AGM details
Hi All
The CAQ AGM is scheduled for Sunday December 12 at 5pm at the William Duncan State School, corner of Explorers Way and Alexander Drive, Highland Park.
Could you all please double check that you have sent the necessary Blue Card details of your Chess Club committee to the CAQ Treasurer Bryan Moss ( caq.treasurer@gmail.com ) OR send the required Blue Card Information to Bryan by the end of November please? See his email below for full details of what is required.
It would be great if your Club Delegate attends the AGM too. If not, please ensure a Proxy Delegate is in place to represent your Club at the AGM. To check who your nominated Delegate or Proxy currently is, email the CAQ Membership Secretary Gail Young ( caqqld@gmail.com ) It would be sad if your Club was not represented at all at the CAQ AGM. This has happened in the past unfortunately.
If you wish to stand for a CAQ Council position in 2022, you need to make sure your nomination, signed and dated by you and your proposer and seconder, who are both CAQ Members, reaches the CAQ Secretary Michael D’Arcy, by 5pm this Sunday, November 14.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this.
Kind regards Mark C Stokes CAQ President 0431 419 136 3205 6042
From: CAQ Treasurer
Sent: Wednesday, 22 September 2021 3:14 PM
Subject: Working with Children (Blue Card) requirement for club committee members
Good afternoon,
As you may have seen in the minutes from the CAQ Council’s most recent meeting, we discussed the QLD Government’s Working with Children rules and regulations and we advise you of the following:
In keeping with the QLD Government’s rules in relation to Working with Children, it is a requirement that Chess Club committee members (President, Treasurer, Secretary, and where applicable Vice-President) have current and up-to-date Blue Cards. Committee members need to hold a Blue Card before they are able to be part of a committee. Note, the rules are clear, the individual needs to be in physical possession of their Blue Card, not simply have been accepted and awaiting receipt of their card.
With that in mind, and so I can link club committee members to the CAQ via Blue Card Services Organisation portal, can you please send the following to me:
– Legible copy of ID showing full name and Date of Birth of each committee member; and
– Blue Card reference number or Blue Card exemption number (it is important to know that Teachers/Police previously had an automatic exemption meaning they didn’t need a Blue Card but now they need to apply for an exemption card).
If you would prefer to post me the details rather than email please let me know.
We realise that your club may not have been aware of the Blue Card requirement previously which is why we’re raising it with you now. We would appreciate your club providing this information to the CAQ in a timely manner, and no later than one week prior to the CAQ’s AGM in December. Should a club fail to ensure committee members hold a current Blue Card they will not only be in breach of the QLD Government’s Working with Children rules, but their application for affiliation to the CAQ will not be accepted and tournaments/club nights will not be rated until the Blue Card requirement is met.
If a committee member does not yet hold a current Blue Card they should not delay in rectifying this as applications can take up to 2 months to be assessed and processed, and as mentioned above, the committee member must be in physical possession of the card before they begin working with children.
As with clubs, all members of the CAQ Council also need to hold a valid and current Blue Card.
The intention of having clubs provide the CAQ with Blue Card details is threefold:
1. To ensure clubs are meeting their Working with Children obligations;
2. By having committee members linked to the CAQ, clubs may not need to develop their own Child and Youth Risk Management Strategy*, which is a mandatory part of the QLD Government’s Working with Children obligations. Rather, they may be able to use the CAQs strategy, which is attached for your reference. Should it be necessary for clubs to have their own Child and Youth Risk Management Strategy, affiliated clubs will be able to amend the CAQ’s document; and
3. By having committee members (and Arbiters etc) linked to the CAQ it will be easier for us to ensure ongoing compliance with the Blue Card requirement.
*this only applies to not-for-profit clubs. For profit clubs should already be meeting this requirement and evidence of this will be required for CAQ affiliation to be granted.
I know that you have recently received your club affiliation form – this will be updated next year to capture the Blue Card details of committee members.
Further, and so you are aware, any Arbiters or DGT technicians your club wants to use for tournaments must also hold a valid Blue Card and be linked to the CAQ, if they are not already. In due course we will be providing clubs with a list of Arbiters and DGT specialists who hold a current QLD Government Blue Card/exemption and we will update this throughout the year as required.
At this time only the Vice-President and Treasurer of the CAQ have the ability to access Blue Card details via the CAQs Organisation Portal. We expect that following the next AGM this will be expanded to include the President and Secretary. These four people will have the responsibility for ensuring ongoing compliance with the QLD Government’s Working with Children regulations.
We realise the timeframe for compliance is short and we encourage you to act as soon as possible. For your information, please also find attached the Blue Card Services Fact Sheet on the Sporting Industry.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards
Bryan Moss
Treasurer – CAQ
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