As we once again endure lockdown, I can’t help but feel that we are lucky to be in Rotary and to be able to share camaraderie and purpose, even though in this fourth lockdown it is done so via Zoom. So many people do not have anything like the Rotary family to keep their spirits buoyed through shared interests, the desire to do good in the world and build friendships. There is no doubt that there is angst and frustration being felt in our community right now, but as Rotarians we have much to fall back on that will sustain us through difficult times, including the Four-Way Test.
When we look at the evolution of the Four-Way Test, it began with a failing business that needed a moral compass on which to focus and guide it through difficult times. The Test is just as applicable during these difficult times and I urge you to consider it if you are facing challenges.
Just prior to lockdown, I was privileged to visit Rotary Balwyn and listen to four young students participating in the Club’s Public Speaking Competition using the Four-Way Test as the foundation. I was so impressed and inspired by these young leaders that each of the finalist’s speeches will be published in the forthcoming editions of Networker. In this edition, you will read how Christopher O’Connell from Scotch College has weaved the Four-Way Test into his observations of world politics. It is thought provoking indeed.
We are nearing the end of not just the Rotary year, but also the financial year. I would like to encourage all Rotarians who are considering making a tax-deductible donation prior their tax returns being completed to make The Rotary Foundation your beneficiary. Donations can be made via this link: https://my.rotary.org/en/donate. If you are a Centurion or considering becoming one and donating just $100 in the 100th year of Rotary, please use the same link. If you are considering becoming a Paul Harris Society Member please contact Julie Mason at julie.mason@education.vic.gov.au. If you are considering becoming a Major Donor, please contact Dennis Shore at djshore@bigpond.net.au.
If you have already donated to The Rotary Foundation, a heartfelt thank you!
On Saturday 19th June, the final Morning Tea with the DG will be held from 10.00am to noon and promises to be a real variety show extravaganza. We will have a look back over the year, as well as hear from a number of great speakers and entertainers. Do register and join with me as we celebrate the year that’s been in true Rotary style!
“The ramifications of Rotary are beyond imagination. Nearly every phase of modern life is influenced and the outlook of members is broadened, and through it all there is the benign influence of fellowship which sweetens life. These are a few of the many reasons why Rotarians value their membership.”
It is always delightful to welcome new members to Wyndham Rotary – new members bring new project ideas. And so it was that we found out about an opportunity to make a difference in India.
The new project was to prevent avoidable blindness across all age groups, with beneficiaries located in remote villages in India that had no access to primary or tertiary eye care. This project motivated Wyndham Rotary for the first time to apply for an International Grant from The Rotary Foundation.
The project’s objective was achieved by working with the Koshika Foundation who organised eye-screening camps in the villages of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana. People in these villages do not have eye care centres to diagnose blindness caused by cataracts. Once this screening occurred people were taken for life-changing surgery.
The Planning Committee from Wyndham Rotary was active in securing funds from local businesses and a local Interact Club, both being sensitive to the needs of people from villages in India. A link was established with representatives from the Koshika Foundation and Delhi Heritage Rotary with whom Wyndham Rotarians actively worked to plan the timing of the project and to identify those most in need of the surgeries offered. Several Zoom meetings were held to provide a response to questions from the Planning Committee.
Our project to help 600 people commenced in January 2021 with the screening and cataract eye surgeries being completed in two stages. In Stage 1, 314 surgeries were completed – 51% being female. In Stage 2, 85 surgeries were completed –54% being female.
The remaining 250 surgeries allocated from the funds provided by Delhi Heritage Rotary are in the process of being completed once access to people can be established. Unfortunately, the pandemic has caused many problems in India and access to villages is now a challenge.
A celebration of the project goals and recognition of our sponsors has been held and another evening is planned once the last phase is completed.
The gift of sight is a life-changing act. The surgery provides the opportunity for people to gain employment, which in turn provides families with a better quality of life. Children can attend school; medical treatment becomes an option and food and shelter becomes a new norm.
Developing a connection with representatives within the local Indian community in Wyndham has shown that through Wyndham Rotary, Interact and The Rotary Foundation some impressive outcomes can be achieved.
Now we have some more new members with some great ideas and passion to help people in Nigeria – let’s see where this takes us!
Rotary Districts in Australia and New Zealand initiated the Centurion Program many years ago as an easy way for all Rotarians to support their charity, The Rotary Foundation.
The program asks members to make a yearly contribution of AUS$100 or more to the Foundation’s Annual Fund. That’s about $2 per week.
With Rotary celebrating 100 years in Australia and New Zealand, how about becoming a Centenary Centurion!
The benefits of doing so mean that The Foundation helps Rotarians deliver much greater impact, in our communities and around the world. Any Rotarian with a great idea can access Foundation funding to deliver a community project that would otherwise have been well out of reach. It is estimated that for every $100 contributed in Australia and New Zealand, Rotarians have received grants of $183 to support their projects! Think of the Foundation as your Impact Multiplier.
How do you become a Centurion?
Many clubs simply add a $100 option to their annual dues invoice and then forward this, on your behalf, to The Foundation.
Others add $2 to the weekly attendance fee.
Mostly, members just go to My Rotary and set up a regular payment, whether monthly, quarterly or yearly, to the Annual Fund.
For half the cost of a cup of coffee, or $2.00 per week, you can become a Centurion.
In the centenary of Rotary in Australia and New Zealand, become a Centenary Centurion … and your donation will be fully tax deductible!”
The Rotary Foundation is our charity after all. Let’s all support it and multiply our impact in the world.
By Rowan McClean, District 9800 Club Service Chair
A quick litmus test for Rotary club boards to assess club performance is the Organisation Effectiveness Diagnostic.
It focuses on three key areas: Strategic Intent, Culture and Behaviour, and Systems and Processes.
Strategic Intent is the club’s direction and priorities as determined by its board. It considers purpose, mission, vision and the objectives, strategies and plans to achieve them.
Culture and Behaviour concerns interactions between members and partners – leadership, communication, values, support, respect, teamwork, empowerment, inclusiveness, motivation and fun.
Systems and Processes are the enablers to efficiently and effectively manage getting there. They include financial management, procedures, measurement, knowledge retention, knowledge transfer, systems and reporting.
Focusing on these separate areas allows boards to subjectively assess current club performance in them, and thereby identify areas that need strengthening. A simple 0 to 10 scale will allow directors to score the components of each key area and direct attention to critical areas.
Let’s consider possible scoring for Strategic Intent.
Is our purpose well-defined and meaningful?
Do we have a clear idea of where we want to be as a club in three years’ time?
Are our objectives clear, realistic and measurable?
Does our action plan show clear activities with dates for achieving implementation and a key person responsible for meeting them?
If a Club scores well on each of these areas, it is well on the way to having a robust and achievable shared strategy for future success.
The Rotary Club Health Check is a very useful tool to use in conjunction with this simpler performance measuring approach. With new boards soon becoming responsible for their clubs, using these tools early in the term can clarify key issues and set the year off on a positive start.
Perhaps it was a sliding doors moment when Amanda, as an elite track athlete in Brisbane in 2007/8 met a young American Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar and agreed to accompany him to several Rotary events prior his return to California. She’d never heard of Rotary up to that point. Fast-forward to 2018 and Amanda, as a member of the Rotary International Communications Committee, was invited by RI President Barry Rassin to address International Assembly in San Diego on how to attract, engage and activate millennials. Seated in the front row was the American Ambassadorial Scholar who had first introduced her to Rotary.
But that is exactly what happens in Rotary … people connect and build life-long friendships. And it is this that Amanda has enjoyed so much about her Rotary journey. While she only joined in 2010 – not a long time some would consider given what’s ahead for her in 2022-23 – Amanda has amassed an incredible depth of experiences at club, district and even international levels. Her Rotary CV reads a little like her career CV, but then that’s not surprising, as there has been a common thread running through both. Communication, connection, trust and relevance weave through all she does.
This article won’t go into her successful Rotary and career experience, (readers can click here to read about that), but rather the vision that Amanda is forming for her role as District Governor 2022-23. As the youngest Governor for District 9800, it’s not surprising that one key focus will be on attracting younger people to Rotary. “They love causes, but want flexibility,” advises Amanda. “Giving them easy hands-on projects where they can see an immediate impact is what will attract them and expose them to Rotary.” The weekly Secondbite food collection at Prahran Market, championed by Bob Glindemann, is a standout example of such a project.
Added to this, Amanda is keen to encourage the idea of satellite clubs, ensuring the sponsoring club remains healthy and thriving, but providing flexibility of Rotary involvement for differing demographics, like Southbank’s CEO and Millennial Satellite Clubs.
Amanda’s final focus will be on how we can do fund raising to bring in the general public. She cites the example of the work Sue Foley has done with the Celtic Festival where 80% of participants were non-Rotarians. The publicity this gave Rotary, Australian Rotary Health and ‘Lift the Lid’ is where Amanda sees great opportunity. She is interested to see what else can be done at District level to encourage this type of activity, as well as collaboration between cluster groups to stage these events and hands-on projects. Encouraging clubs to think beyond their own club boundaries is something she feels is important so that Rotarians are able to see the broader Rotary world and possibilities to do good.
Amanda will do things differently as Governor. She will still be working full-time whilst also committing to Rotary. She has observed the efficiencies that can be achieved through technology and strong lines of communication and collaboration. She hopes this will encourage others to see that it is possible to take up Rotary leadership roles despite having busy lives.
Given all she has achieved so far, there is no doubting that DGN Amanda Wendt will bring a blend of energy and new thinking to the Governor’s role, while paying genuine homage to all who have gone before.
Rotary Balwyn has The Four-Way Test Public Speaking Showcase over many years with the objective of providing a competitive outlet for secondary students attending schools within the City of Boroondara to hone their public speaking skills and promote the Rotary Four-Way Test as a moral compass. In this competition students can speak on any subject that they feel is current, interesting or important. Their speech must however, be based on the application of Rotary’s Four-Way Test, with its principles running either expressly or implied throughout the entire speech.
Over the coming weeks, the transcripts of the four finalists will be published in Networker, as we are sure you will find them inspiring!
How many times have you flicked on the news and watched politicians filibuster, political point score and talk their way around real issues? Sadly, the answer is probably more times that you can count. Now, I’m not one to criticise over-talkers, because I am one myself. But while I’m a world-class chatterbox, I do cherish my voice when given the opportunity to speak about social issues in a context like this. How can we change the tone of public discourse so that we can effect more meaningful positive change? Unfortunately, if we take a look at the state of our country and in fact the whole world right now, we start to see that important people are not using their words meaningfully. That is the problem I want to examine today with the 4 Way Test: Is it the truth? Is it fair? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? And finally, is it beneficial to all concerned?
Is it the truth?
The election of former US resident Donald Trump in 2016 was a surprise to most, and it heralded a chain reaction of far-right populism across the globe: Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Matteo Salvini in Italy, and Germany’s Islamaphobic AfD party. While the wave of populism is scary, what I found most concerning was a lack of respect for truth and rhetoric blatantly trying to fuel political bases. 2017, January ... the counsellor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway, appears on NBC to propose the notion of ‘alternative facts’. The theme endured the presidency and emerged once again in the baseless claims of a ‘stolen election’ and ‘widespread fraud’. Yet the problem of stunting progress for political gain isn’t a foreign one. Here in Australia, politicians would rather choose ‘no progress’ to progress what is not branded ‘their progress’. Take the critique of the recent budget, for example. Ideological views differ, but in terms of defeating the shared economic crisis of Covid, economists predict it will fair well. As is typical in politics, different sides will critique anything that is not their own. This isn’t a Labour problem or a Liberal problem, this is a modern politics problem.
Is it fair?
It certainly isn’t fair that those in power don’t make the effort to make discourse more meaningful. Unfortunately, in today’s political climate it is difficult to critique someone’s rhetoric, without being accused of stifling free speech. However, the issue is not about free speech, but rather effective speech about issues that actually matter. While we could be searching for a solution to the homelessness crisis or the gender pay gap we are using parliamentary speeches to look impressive to the press gallery, not to truly seek the best outcomes for the people that elected us. Australia and the world are grappling with existential issues like climate change and significant ideological conflict, but for far too long our politics has been strangled by petty grievances, slander and worn-out dogmas, and that is by no means fair to anyone.
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Obviously, ineffective discourse does not foster goodwill and better friendships. Recent political data shows the percentage of politicians voting across party lines is at an all-time low. We seem to take freedom of speech for granted. In Hong Kong, Russia and Thailand people are fighting just for a tiny sliver of what we have. Here, freedom of speech is corroding the very reason it exists in the first place. It is not there to polarise us all, but to give us the opportunity to listen to others and adapt more reasonable perspectives. Consider the black lives matter movement – African-Americans were consistently targeted by law enforcement causing uproar. But the situation was complicated when everyone shared their individual views for the future at the same time. It clouded the primary goal with a million other secondary objectives.
Will it be beneficial to all those concerned?
Provocative political figures, Covid-19 and social media has put the loudspeaker to the mouths of those spouting catchy one-liners, explosive rhetoric or meaningless garble that sounds important. Both progressivism and conservatism are vital to a balanced society, but not when we let our politics come before our morality and civility, and we let ourselves fall into divided gridlock.
Thinking of it this way gives me some hope. If we can use our discomfort to forge a new paradigm for public discourse: one of truth, fairness, friendship and goodwill and benefits to all, we might just be able to tackle our problems – together.
As a Melburnian, if you hear the word ‘Essendon’ one of two things usually springs to mind; airport or football team.
Until 1970, Essendon Airport was Melbourne’s international link to the world – it welcomed Queen Elizabeth in 1954 and the Beatles in 1964. We chronologically-challenged (yes, us) are stunned that the Tullamarine terminal is over 50 years old. The Ansett vs TAA days now seem a bit ‘Laurel & Hardy’ and recalling the machinations of Reg Ansett and Henry Bolte seems to acknowledge, and even salute, a quaint and less complicated world.
And then there’s the footy team. Standing toe-to-toe with archrivals Collingwood and Carlton for nearly 125 years, Essendon Bomber fans are loyal, passionate and fierce. Premierships abound and legends such as John Coleman and Dick Reynolds reflect the pride and success of one of the AFL’s great clubs. But sadly, like Essendon Airport, iconic Windy Hill has also had its wings clipped.
In 1803 Charles Grimes sailed up the Maribyrnong River and named Essendon after a village in Hertfordshire, England. Sporadic settlement followed until the gold rush saw miners use Mt Alexander Road as an outbound route. Development ensued … Essendon Post Office was established in 1856, a train link with Melbourne began in 1871, and in 1906, the North Melbourne Electric Light & Tramway Company extended its services to connect Essendon with the Melbourne CBD.
The Rotary Club of Essendon was chartered in 1935 and is the third oldest club in District 9800. No mention of the Club would be complete without alluding to Royce Abbey – Rotary International World President in 1988/89. Royce was a dynamic leader whose presidential message was ‘Put Life Into Rotary – Your Life”. And it is very fitting that his son, David, is President of the Club in this centenary year of Rotary in Australia.
Like others, the Club has had to curtail some of its activities with the continuing pandemic. A wide range of local projects and groups requiring assistance has been identified and with member financial encouragement and hands-on involvement, these projects are being addressed. They include the provision of children’s clothes – especially important during winter – coordinated by the Caroline Chisholm Society; the provision of bags of cleaned clothes and hygiene packs to assist the homeless via the Open Door organisation in North Melbourne (with RC of Prahran); overseeing a $3750 grant from the Moonee Valley Council to pays for 50 professional counselling sessions aimed at halting violence towards women and families.
As the spectre of COVID-19 waxes and wanes, there’s been a partial return to meetings twice a month on Tuesdays at 7 pm at the Anglers Tavern, 2 Raleigh Road, Maribyrnong … right on the Maribyrnong River, and although that certainly wouldn’t raise an eyebrow in Essendon, Hertfordshire, it just may have elicited a wry smile from Charlie Grimes.
The International Marathon Fellowship of Rotarians was formed after a group of French Rotarians developed the idea of having at least 100 Rotarians competing in the Paris Marathon during Rotary’s Centennial year in 2005. The Fellowship was chartered the following year at the Berlin Marathon and since then, the group has met annually somewhere around the world to participate in a long distance running event.
Marathon running is a popular sport throughout the world with many countries having annual events. For this reason the International Marathon Fellowship of Rotarians has many countries from which to choose when organising a place where its members can stay, compete in a marathon event and enjoy hospitality, friendship and local tourism.
A very important part of the Fellowship is fundraising for Rotary projects, mostly focusing on the Rotary Foundation’s aim to eradicate Polio.
The participants of this Fellowship are dedicated to promoting long distance running and endurance sports to experience fellowship with others who also enjoy these pursuits.
Other objectives are to develop and promote worldwide friendship through running in competitive events; serve the community locally, nationally and internationally through running activities; and promote international understanding and peace through running activities.
The main task of the Fellowship is to organise one Rotary event each year during an international marathon, where Rotarians from many parts of the world, can meet and enjoy friendships while running for a good Rotary cause. Apart from Paris and Berlin, Rotary Fellowship Marathons have been held in Amsterdam, New York, Medoc, Vienna, Townsville (Great Barrier Reef), Graz, London, Budapest, Ljubljana and Queenstown, New Zealand.
Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience.
Rotary District 9800 Inc.
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As we once again endure lockdown, I can’t help but feel that we are lucky to be in Rotary and to be able to share camaraderie and purpose, even though in this fourth lockdown it is done so via Zoom. So many people do not have anything like the Rotary family to keep their spirits buoyed through shared interests, the desire to do good in the world and build friendships. There is no doubt that there is angst and frustration being felt in our community right now, but as Rotarians we have much to fall back on that will sustain us through difficult times, including the Four-Way Test.
“The ramifications of Rotary are beyond imagination. Nearly every phase of modern life is influenced and the outlook of members is broadened, and through it all there is the benign influence of fellowship which sweetens life. These are a few of the many reasons why Rotarians value their membership.”
By Past District Governor Julie Mason AM
Rotary Districts in Australia and New Zealand initiated the Centurion Program many years ago as an easy way for all Rotarians to support their charity, The Rotary Foundation.
By Rowan McClean, District 9800 Club Service Chair
By Tricia Reardon
Speech by Christopher O'Connell, Scotch College
By John Granger
By Helena Wimpole
Rotary Fellowships are international groups that share a common passion. Being part of a fellowship is a fun way to make friends around the world, explore a hobby or profession, and enhance your Rotary experience.
