QPSU: About - Your Voice

About: Your Voice

Message from Vivienne Doogan, union president

In my experience as a union member and workplace delegate, I have discovered that the most important reason that unions exist never changes - it is enabling workers to have a say in the important decisions that affect their working experience. In the same way, a strong effective union is one that allows all union members to contribute in as direct and open a way as possible.

Even a strong constitution and formal representative structure - like our union has - is not enough to guarantee real, effective member involvement in the union. I believe in empowering all members to directly express the opportunity to express their aspirations for their union - whether that takes place through formal ballots or simply through the ability to have their opinion respected at a local workplace meeting.

About the QPSU

Your Voice

Workplace Health & Safety Committee

Frequently Asked Questions

I urge all QPSU members not to limit their contribution to QPSU governance to voting in a ballot periodically. Rather, I believe members should engage themselves with formal and informal structures wherever possible - at a local, agency-wide, or union-wide level.

You can participate in a committee that focuses on an area that interests you - and if there isn't one, then you can start one! Even if you are not a member of Council or a committee there is plenty of scope for you as a financial QPSU member to make a contribution to union policy and activity.

Vivienne Doogan
President QPSU

You can always contact me or General Secretary Alex Scott if you have questions and suggestions, or if want to become more involved in your union's operations.

Working together helps us build a stronger union that wins for all members

Your Voice

Our union is a democratic organisation of workers. The basic principle of our union is that all financial members should have a say about the decisions and actions that directly affect them - whether that be through informal consultation at a local workplace level or formally constituted representative bodies at a whole-of-union level.

Union Council is our union's peak decision-making body. It is composed of elected representatives for all areas of QPSU coverage. There are around 300 members of Council, elected at regular intervals from the members in each of the various agencies.

Union Council is responsible for setting policy, overseeing the work of the union's committees, hearing reports, approving the union's budget and fee policy, making changes in the union's rules, and helping to create and elect representatives to any new committees that may be established.

Because Union Council is a large formal body, decisions are often arrived at by smaller elected bodies or groups and then presented to Union Council for approval. The QPSU has special committees that focus on specific policy areas - for example, the Women's Committee, the Workplace Health and Safety Committee, the Individual Representation Committee, and ad hoc committees that may be created to assist in the running of a particular campaign.

The other key to the QPSU's formal structure is the Union Executive. Executive meets regularly to deal with the day-to-day business of union operations. The QPSU President, Treasurer, General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary are all ex officio members of executive and report to it on a regular basis. These positions are elected by direct ballot of the membership. The remainder of the QPSU executive is either directly elected by the QPSU membership or by members of Union Council.

Separate from the QPSU's representative structures is the Union Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is an independent figure whose role is to investigate complaints about the internal operations of the QPSU. To find out more about the Union Ombudsman, visit the Ombudsman's section of the QPSU website.

If you would like a copy of the union rules, please click here.

QPSU Council Meetings

CLICK HERE to view a list of 2010 meeting dates for the QPSU Council.

A summary of QPSU Council meetings is produced after each meeting. CLICK HERE to view a list of downloadable summaries of previous meetings of the QPSU Council.

Executive

President,
Vivienne Doogan

Senior Vice-President,
Dr Alexander Donald

Honorary Treasurer,
Peter Devey

Assistant Hon Treasurer,
Michael Dempsey

Junior Vice-President,
Peter Cattach

Junior Vice-President,
Peter Knack

Junior Vice-President,
Penny Toland

General Secretary,
Alex Scott

Assistant General Secretary,
Brett McCreadie

Council

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Origin

Kevin McNulty

Brian Peacock

Australian Agricultural College Corp

John Cuskelly

Child Safety

Alison Bond

Katherine Clancy

Mrs Glenys Davies

Francisco Estevao

Patricia Hall

Mrs Janine Hope

Neisha Keys

Stephen Louwrens

Ms Joanne O'Shanesy

Shirley Roy

Margaret Savic

Mrs Melissa Venn

Terri Wood

Communities

Miss Anna Beere

Mr Jeremy Hore

Mrs Helen Hamley

Mrs Christine Peacey

Mrs Colleen Reisenere

Mr Stuart Roberts

Corrective Services

Steve Allen

Mr Eion Bennett

Mr Chris Brennocks

Ms Janice Geary

Ms Simone Hitchcock

Mr Jason Hunt

Mr Geoffrey Jensen

Mr Wayne May

Mr Gordon Murray

Mrs Judith Oppermann

Ms Lisa Plozza

Mr Perry Robinson

Mr Jason Roscow

Mr Harry Spiegler

Mr Trevor Toon, Woodford

Disability Services

Miss Rebecca Heazlewood

Mr Leon Miller

Ms Linda Rolls

Mrs Lyn Stephens

Mr David Vaughan

Emergency Services

Steve Bulach

Ian McCulloch

Bruce Mercer

Janette Papani

Education

Ms Sharon Abbott

Ms Michele Bailey

Ms Louella Beresford

Mr Stephen Buchanan

Mrs Robyn Burnett

Mrs Georgina Collett

Mr John Coombes

Miss Sue Dinning

Mr Peter Roche

Mr Douglas Thomas

Mr Matthew Dunford

Mr Robert Ettinger

Mrs Karen Faulkner

Mr Jason Foster

Mr Paul Goulevitch

Mr Donald Hill

Mrs Fay Jeppesen

Mr Dolph Lossberg

Mr Mark McCosker

Mrs Maria Morrison

Mr Manuel Pereira

Mr John Quinn

Mrs Andrea Sadleir

Ms Pauline Spackman

Mr Robert Timms

Mrs Linda Woodward

Emergency Services

Steve Bulach

Ian McCulloch

Bruce Mercer

Janette Papani

Employment and Training

Miss Bilinda Barney

Peter Eickenloff

Mr Robert Rigg

Environmental Protection Agency

Mr Ross Buchanan

Mr Lachlan Hurse

Mr Thomas McDonald

Tom Scotney

Mr John Taylor

Mr Craig Walker

Griffith University

Mr Anthony Stafford

Forestry Plantations

Brett Parker

Griffith University

Mr Anthony Stafford

Housing Queensland

Hendrik De Graaf

Kelly Flood

Alan Metcalf

Alan Neilan

Genny Williams

Industrial Relations

Colin Liddell

Alexander Petrie

Suzanne Price

Information Commissioner / CMC / Government House

Brandon Hooper

Justice

Ms Helen Bannerman

Karen Beare

George Byers

Shelley Chick

Craig Churchill

Stacey Coe

James Foley

Patricia Wilson

Legal Aid

Robyn Wilkinson

LGPSR

Mr Greggory Cook

Robert Rogers

Main Roads

Mr Graham Crimston

Mrs Trishia Cutler

Mr Edward Hayton

Mr Simon O'Donnell

Miss Stacey Pettitt

Mr Daniel Smith

Natural Resources & Water

Mr Tony Baker

Kirrilly Belcham

Kenneth Caesar

Mr Anthony Collins

Mr Simon Conlon

Julianne Ivison

Mr Simon O'Donnell, Innisfail

Barry Peacock

Primary Industries & Fisheries

Mr Kenneth Cotterill

Mr Bradley Zeller

iMr Ihab Erian

Mr Adrian Gilloway

Glen Hewitson

Mrs Avis Houlihan

Mrs Elizabeth Kulpa

Mr Daniel Sweeney

Mr Gary Wood

Public Works

Mr Stephen Anable

Mrs Gavin Dingle

Bernard Ivers

Mr Keith Lamb

John Loane

Mr Paul O'Driscoll

Gregory Walters

QIMR and Other Universities

Mr Glynn Rees

QPSU Staff

Mr Storm Willett

Queensland Art Gallery

Michael Fromont

Queensland Audit Office

David Jones

Queensland Health

Mrs Joanne Allen-Keeling

Mrs Leigh Barry

Mrs Jennifer Bishop

Mr Cameron Brown

Ms Susan Burke

Mrs Michelle Byard

Mr Phillip Carswell

Mr Grant Cockburn

Ms Tracy Comans

Mr Stephen Cooke

Miss Lauren Court

Mrs Patricia Goodchild

Mr Tony Lane

Ms Patricia Martin

Mrs Rene Van Rensburg

Mrs Sarah Crundall

Ms Sallyanne Doyle

Mrs Anne-Maree Edwards

Ms Christine Fox

Mr James Gannon

Ms Diane Glen

Ms Kelly Gwynne

Mrs Christine Josephson

Ms Miriam Locke

Mr Brendan Lynch

Mrs Maureen McKirdy

Mr Rodney Miles

Mr Gregory Miles

Mrs Suzanne Miller

Mr Heath Mitchell

Mrs Colleen Neilson

Ms Christina Nipperess-Sims

Mr Sagie Pillai

Mr Paul Ready

Mr Rodney Reeves

Mrs Fiona Richardson-Clarke

Mr Joseph Rocco

Mrs Carol Rylance

Mr Patrick Stevenson

Ms Erica Summers

Ms Klarika Tortely

Mr Larry Turner

Mr Ross Uhlmann

Mr Brett Wines

Mr Peter Yates

Queensland Police

Mrs Vanessa Boulton

Mr Graeme Cann

Mrs Kim McDavid

Mrs Lynn Rowsell

Ms Jeanetta Tolu

MrDavidWatson

Queensland Transport

Mr Ole Andersen

Mr Paul Bailey

Raymond Booker

Sarah Carr

Mr Clive Coles

Mr Robert Hill

Mr John Jones

Gaye Truscott

Mrs Angela Walsh

Residential Tenancies Authority

Monique Prior

Shared Service Provider

Lynette Cobb

Mr Graham Jones

Lindsay McFaul

Mrs Marilyn Watts

State Library

Joan Bruce

Alexander Cutts

Sunwater

Bruce Deen

TAFE Queensland

Mr Gregory Chinn

Mr Rodney Harris

Mr John Holznagel

Mr Michael Schubert

Mr Mick Cullen

Mr Danny Cummings

Mr Eric Davis

Ms Merindi Derrick

Mr Barry Dunstan

Mr James Emerson

Mr Duncan Harman

Mr Roger Hermann

Mrs Anne Kivela

Mr Peter McAuliffe

Miss Gloria Moses

Mr Allan Pittendreigh

Mr SimonRoss

Treasury Queensland

Ms Monique Bielanowski

Dean Gaddes

Ms Susan Oriti

Ms Amanda Ross

University of Queensland

Mr William Beach

Workcover Queensland

Mrs Rebecca Beggs

Mr Jerome Farnell

Vicki Koina

Mrs Annalisse McHugh

Regional Organising Committee Chairs

Mr Peter Keys, Biloela

Ms Kerry Muston, Cairns

Penny Toland, Gold Coast

Ms Deborah Green, Mackay

Mr Bruce Craig, Rockhampton

Mr Ian Boshammer, Toowoomba

Paul Fletcher, Townsville