Congratulations goes to Mr Geoff Hawes, a Past President of AEPMA. Geoff was formally recognised at Pesticon 2022 as a Life Member due to his contributions to the organisation.

Pesticon 2022 Highlights 

Pesticon 2022, the first AEPMA conference in over 2 years took place at the Star Gold Coast from 6th – 8th June.  The theme of this year’s conference was “Pest Management in the Digital Age” 

Over 3 days we welcomed nearly 400 delegates, 30 exhibitors and close to 500 attendees.

Pesticon photos can be viewed here 

(AEPMA would like to thank Stephen Doggett and Patrick Legey for providing all Pesticon 2022 photos in this eNewsletter)

Pest Manager of the Year Winners were announced at Pesticon. This year there was a huge number of nominees, and the standard was incredibly high.   

Congratulations to all of our winners and thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination. 

“The quality, innovation and passion from all the nominations this year was truly inspirational and reinforces what a great industry we work in. BASF is extremely grateful to be a part of this initiative to help recognize and support excellence in our industry. Congratulations to all who participated – you should all be very proud of your achievements.” - David Elmouttie - Head of Professional and Specialty Solutions – BASF Australia & New Zealand 

Pest Manager of the Year 2022 winners 

• Micro Business Category - Checkmate Pest Control               
• A Business Employing Less than 10 People - Envirapest Pty Ltd                                         
• A Business Employing More than 10 People – Rentokil Initial  
• South Pacific Pest Manager of the Year – Fastkil Pest Control  

Overall Winner – Rentokil Initial  

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PWAPM Excellence Award 2022

Congratulations 
Asita Devi Deo - FastKil Fiji

2022 Pest Manager of the Year & PWAPM Excellence Award Winners

Photos from the 2022 Pest Manager of the Year Awards are available to view here 

AEPMA would like to thank BASF for sponsoring these awards

Bayer Excellence Award

The Bayer Excellence Award recognises “Service to the commercial pest management industry beyond expectation and endeavors in the areas of customer service, and individual excellence” 

 “Bayer is very pleased to sponsor two awards this year, the prestigious “Award for Individual Excellence in Professional Pest Management” and a newly created award in 2022, the “Innovation Award”. Bayer has been a long-term partner of AEPMA and we are very proud to support these industry-leading awards which celebrate and acknowledge the outstanding work of leaders in the Pest Management industry,” said Martin Ball, General Manager, Environmental Science at Bayer. 

We would like to congratulate  

• Mr Stephen Doggett - 2021 Excellence Award Winner 
• Mr Phil Sayer 2022 – 2022 Excellence Award Winner 

Bayer Innovation Award 

This year marked the inaugural Bayer Innovation Award. This award recognises a pest control company or individual, for introducing a new and innovative project, initiative or activity that drives organisation change in the pest management industry.  

Congratulations Michael Stornelli – eNet Solutions PTY Ltd “MyFlo Software” 

AEPMA would like to thank Bayer for their sponsorship of these awards 

Bayer Leadership and Awards photos are available to view here 

The AEPMA NSW ACT State Council AGM was held face to face on Saturday 7 May 2022 at 9.30am at the Tea Gardens Country Club Boardroom and by zoom teleconference 

The AGM was well attended and we had the pleasure to welcome some new people which was most encouraging. After the acceptance of the apologies and the previous minutes, Chairman’s Report (see below), Patrick Legey vacated the Chair and invited Mr Shayne Reynolds to take over the position of Chairman of the meeting for the Election of Members and Office Bearers.   

There were 15 nominations for the NSW ACT State Council for 2022-2024: 

Mr Patrick Legey (Austrapest), Mr Gary Stephenson (Gary Stephenson Pest Industry Consultants),  

Ms Kylee Enwright (CPR Pest Management), Mr Colin Urey (Drop Dead Pest Control), Mr Don Wilson (Wilson’s Pest Control), Dr Chris Orton (formally of UNSW), Mr Greg Moon (All Pest and Termite Solutions and Life member), Mr Kevin Parsons (Globe Pest Solutions), Mr David Wilson (Flick- Anticimex), Mr Shayne Reynolds (Retired), Ms Olivia Hurstfield (Pixel Pest Control), Mr Paul Enwright (CPR Pest Management), Mr Ed Covey (retired), Mr Brett Black (Competitive Pest Control), Mr Ken Hurstfield (Pixel Pest Control) 

As there was no objection, all nominees are now AEPMA NSW ACT State Councillors for the next two years (2022-2024) 

• Ms Kylee Enwright was elected as Chairman 
• Mr Patrick Legey was elected as Vice Chairman 
• Mr Gary Stephenson was elected as NSW ACT Delegate to the National Board 
• Mr Patrick Legey was elected as alternate delegate to the National Board  

​

​Read more here

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AEPMA NSW/ ACT State Council Chairman’s Report for 2020-2022  

After 14 years as AEPMA NSW ACT Chairman, I hope my last report will find you well.  

Again, it is time to reflect on what the AEPMA NSW ACT State council has achieved or has been through on behalf of the members in the last 24 months.  

We have had almost 4 online State Council meetings per calendar year, all on Teams or Zoom.  

All face to face meetings as the conferences, the traditional Hawk Nest/ Tea Gardens meetings were cancelled due to Covid-19.  

We have had plenty to do with Pest Management Licencing and Training, review of some of the Codes of Best Practice and so many other matters. Some of us attended Urban Pest Management Industry Training Advisory Group (PMITAG) meetings (4 per calendar year).  

We have worked with EPA NSW on Licencing, Pesticide Regulations review.  

The implementation of Automatic Mutual recognition for Pest Management Licences coming in July 2022. The most important factor being AMR (Automatic Mutual Recognition) would make the qualification more portable and ensure technicians who move frequently across borders are not hindered by red tape.  

It is good to see such as a cooperation between the authorities and AEPMA.  

Read more here 

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PMITAG NSW Summary Report 2020 to 2022 

Urban Pest Management Industry Training Advisory Group NSW (PMITAG NSW) is a Board Committee of AEPMA operating as a ‘think tank’ focussing on training, CPD and related matters and supporting AEPMA NSW Council. 

Read more here 

The AEPMA AGM was held at the Star Gold Coast on the 6th June 2022. 

The Board of Directors for 2022 – 2024 are 

• Mr Vasili Tsoutouras (President) 
• Mr David Gay (Director of Special Expertise) 
• Mr Gary Stephenson – Vice President & NSW AEPMA Delegate 
• Mr Eris Hess – Treasurer & Director of Associate Members 
• Mr Rob Boschma – National Director (Victoria) 
• Mr John Murray – National Director (Queensland) 
• Mr Chris Arneill – National Director (Western Australia) 
• Mr Anthony Beyer – National Director (South Australia)  

​Minutes from the AGM and the 2022 Financials can be found here  

The Rapid team were proud to be the inaugural Network Lounge sponsor at AEPMA’s Pesticon 2022 last month.

Our CEO, Belinda Smith, Rapid Training Manager Kerrie Undery and Technical Officer Robert Prosser thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with clients and students, talking all things pest control, insurance and training.

Joined by several of our trainers Jay Turner, Paul Enwright, Kylee Enwright and Trent Chapman, we fully immersed ourselves in the panel sessions, networking opportunities and of course the Gala dinner.

We captured some of the magic in this highlights reel

Thanks to the team at AEPMA and our fellow sponsors for a fantastic, successful conference. See you all next year at Pesticon 2023.

After two years of COVID related delays, Pesticon showcased in June on the Gold Coast was the best event in 2022 for Sundew Solutions Pty Ltd.  

“Leading up to the conference we just weren’t sure how it would turn out,” said David Priddy, C.E.O at Sundew Solutions, “there’s a lingering apprehension around the country, lots of disruption and uncertain times.”   

“In a nutshell, Pesticon 2022 was one of the best events we’ve participated in,” continued David. 

This year Sundew was excited to showcase its new AbolishPRO Cockroach Bait, the VESPEX European Wasp Baiting program, and its full range of pest management solutions. 

“The level of interest and interaction by attendees was electrifying.  We’ve not seen before this engagement in learning and wanting to know what was new, that we experienced at this event.  We also were pleased to see that there were lots of new faces entering the industry and attending Pesticon to meet all of the main players in one place.”   

“We were concerned with all the hysteria around COVID that there would be poor attendance, or attendees would be ‘standoffish’.  It was quite the opposite.  Our team was engaged with punters wanting to learn more about Sundew from 7am till 5pm.   However our work didn’t stop at 5pm.  Conversations extended into the early hours of the morning at the Casino bar each day,” confided David.  

Sundew would like to thank the hundreds of attendees that took the time to drop by and catch up with the team.  We value your support and look forward to seeing you next conference. 

You can learn more about Sundew Solutions at sundewsolutions.com.au or call on 1800 SUNDEW.  Sundew is a 100% Australian Family Owned Business. 

You can check out some of the Sundew Pesticon 2022 photos here  

It was great to see the strong attendance and energy at this year's AEPMA Pesticon conference, where FMC proudly participated with what turned out to be a very popular bowling theme, Knock pests down with Mikron. 

During the conference, FMC also launched their new Facebook page with a promotion to win two Flowzone sprayers, congratulations Brett Ware from BWARE pest control and Tim Spencer from termites@cooloola, we hope you get great use out of your prizes. Dale Hudson, the Commercial Head for FMC Specialty Solutions ANZ stated “The reason for creating the Facebook page is to add another contact point for our customer to access our free educational Technotes which have been very successful with pest controllers”. The Technotes cover a variety of topics from general pest control best practices to HomeGuard installation tips. The Technotes can also be accessed by signing up to FMC’s direct email list, on the FMC GSS ANZ website, or LinkedIn page. 

Facebook: FMC GSS Australasia | Facebook 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/13589705 

Website: Resources – FMC (fmcaustralasia.com.au) 

Also, keep in mind that FMC has a promotion running to get pest controllers to show us their best photos on the job. These can include insect images, HomeGuard installations, or examples of pest damage. The best photo will be selected every month to win a Flir FTIR Camera worth $1100. 

The Professional Pest Management Industry services many different commercial property situations such as but not limited to schools, restaurants, multi residential complexes, offices and factories.  

Each of these examples will put forward their own set of complexities including the types and numbers of pests present, different contributing factors that make the environment susceptible to pest activity and restrictions for gaining accessibility for treatments.  

An Integrated Pest Management Program (IPMP) is the best approach when initiating and developing a scheduled treatment plan. Identifying these contributing factors and working with the business manager to rectify manageable factors is the first step of an IPMP. 

An IPMP incorporates a comprehensive approach to pest control because it incorporates a range of techniques which may include engineering solutions, improvements in hygiene and housekeeping, to chemical treatments with a variety of products to control pests in any given situation. 

The Bayer range of pest control products complement each other in an IPMP and give a technician the ability to perform treatments to any environment safely and effectively.  

Bayer’s Gel Bait range Maxforce® Activ, Maxforce® Fusion and Maxforce® Gold have the diversity to treat the differing variations and severities of cockroach infestations. When used in conjunction with Temprid® 75 for spray treatments and Coopex® Dust to areas of harbourage, gaining and maintaining control over pests is safer and easier.    

For further information please contact Ken Ferguson  (m) 0457 862 223     

The FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 will take place in Kyoto from 6th-8th  November and everyone is excited for the first hybrid conference in FAOPMA-Pest Summit history since the Covid-19 pandemic. Finally, all industry players have the opportunity to visit Kyoto International Conference Centre in person, and even virtually, to be part of biggest trade event in Asia and Oceania region. 
Visa Application for Foreign Visitors and Assistance by JPCA .

Japan is currently open for foreign visitors, with pre-requisite of a visa. The organiser, Japan Pest Control Association (JPCA) will assist you with your visa application through Japan’s ERFS system after you register for FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 Kyoto. 

Esteemed Sponsors 

We are honoured to formally introduce our esteemed board of Sponsors for FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 and we are excited to collaborate to make this industry event a great success! 

• Platinum: Sumitomo Chemical Group, Bayer CropScience 
• Gold: Fuji Flavor, IKARI Holdings, Earth Chemical, Dainihon Jochugiku 
• Silver: SEMCO, Hohto Shoji, Burrtec, Killgerm/PestWest (double Silver), Syngenta APAC 
• Other sponsorship opportunities are still available. Please reach out to us for more information. 

​​Facebook and LinkedIn 

We are pleased to announce that FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 Kyoto is now live on Facebook and LinkedIn. Our Facebook and LinkedIn platforms are ready to engage our delegates with latest updates and contents about the conference, plus some tourist tips for our foreign delegates and tech updates for our virtual delegates. 

Follow us and interact with us on Facebook  

Reach out to your professional network in LinkedIn for FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 Kyoto here 

For more information, please visit FAOPMA-Pest Summit 2022 Kyoto website where you will find the following information available: 

1. Registration for In-person and Virtual Delegates 
2. Early Bird and Group Booking discounts 
3. Conference Programme and Speaker List 
4. Sponsorship and Exhibitor Packages 
5. Venue Information and Transport Options 
6. Inquiry Portal for Assistance, Support and Questions 
For any support, please send us your enquiry here:  

Thank you and we look forward to welcoming you in Japan or virtually in November! 

Yours sincerely,  
Federation of Asian & Oceania Pest Managers Associations 

If you do, please read this update from the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA). 

Timber pest management technician licences are being phased in. 

A timber pest management technician licence will be needed for treating termites and other timber pests after these dates: 

If you renewed or first got your licence on or after 17 December 2021, you will need to upgrade to a timber pest technician licence by 17 December 2023. Until 17 December 2023, you can continue treating timber pests with your ‘regular’ pest management technician licence. 

If you held a pest management technician licence before 17 December 2021 and it doesn’t need to be renewed until after 17 December 2023, you can continue undertaking commercial timber pest treatments with that licence until it expires. You will then need to upgrade to a timber pest technician licence when you renew. 

A timber pest management technician licence will also allow you to do non-timber pest control work. 

If you do not intend to treat timber pests, you can continue with your regular pest management technician licence. 

Extra training is needed for timber pest management technician licence 

To get a timber pest management technician licence, an extra nationally-recognised qualification in the control of timber pests is required in addition to your core training. 

The latest version of the approved training covers these two competencies: 

• CPPUPM3008 Inspect for and report on timber pests and  
• CPPUPM3010 Control timber pests 

Various training organisations offer this training to NSW technicians – search for ‘timber pest control training’. 

If you’re over 40, you may be able to apply for career planning and fee assistance through the Commonwealth Government’s “Skills Checkpoint” program – see www.verto.org.au/our-services/skills-checkpoint for information. Please note the EPA is not involved in this program and cannot advise on your eligibility. 

Previous versions of this training are also approved 

Previous versions of the above training dating back to the early 2000s are also acceptable – look for the following pairs of competencies on the transcript from your training organisation: 

• If you trained from around 2012 onwards 
• CPPPMT3008 Inspect for and report on timber pests and CPPPMT3010 Control timber pests, or 
• CPPPMT3008A Inspect and report on timber pests and CPPPMT3010A Control timber pests 
• If you trained between 2000 and 2012 
• PRMPM08B Inspect and report on timber pests and PRMPM10B Control timber pests, or 
• PRMPM08A Inspect and report on timber pests and PRMPM10A Control timber pests 

If you’ve done the approved timber pest training you can apply online 

You can apply to vary your current pesticide licence type online via eConnect EPA. Just select the option of “vary a pesticide licence” – there is no charge. But note if you’ve recently received a renewal notice you’ll have to renew your licence first. 

You will need to provide the EPA with a copy of your transcript showing you have achieved the required timber pest competencies. If you can’t find it ask your training organisation for a copy. 

Please note that product-specific training and accreditations offered by suppliers of some termite control systems are not approved qualifications for the timber pest management technician licence. If you are enrolled in approved training, talk to your trainer about the possible relevance of these to your course assessment. 

Why has this change been made? 

The timber pest management technician licence requires that technicians have the nationally recognised training needed to ensure safe and correct use of the pesticides used to control termites and other timber pests. 

The new licence type brings NSW into line with similar pest control licence and training requirements already in place in other states and territories. It will also be simpler to work interstate under mutual recognition arrangements. 

Further Information  

Information about the timber pest management licence can be found at the EPA’s pesticide licensing web page – click on timber pest management technician licence including training requirements. 

If you have any questions you can email info@epa.nsw.gov.au. You can also call Environment Line on 131 555 

When a company advised its employees their work at one site was over and their new work location was interstate, 17 of them chose not to move. They said they were dismissed be-cause they were engaged to work on their current site. In the alternative, they claimed they were forced to resign by the employer’s actions requiring them to relocate.  

Whichever way you looked at it, it was all the employer’s do-ing, so they were either redundant at their existing site, or constructively dismissed. But the FWC disagreed, finding their employment contracts clearly provided for the redeployment, so they were not terminated by the employer.  

The case focussed on a clause in the employees’ contracts which included “you may be required to work on multiple sites ... as directed by the Company”. The employees argued that since the initial job advertisements and cover letter con-firming appointment included reference to their current site, this was an implied term of their contracts. 

Read more here 

The nightmare mouse plague of 2021 will go down in the history books and has left many terrified of the return of rodents.  

Experts continue to closely monitor mouse numbers across regional Australia and are urging residents, especially farmers, to learn from the last plague by acting now to stop numbers exploding again 

Read more here  

Credit – ABC News 

• FAOPMA Pest Summit 6th - 8th November 2022 
• AEPMA Pesticon 2023 - Star Gold Coast

AEPMA welcomes any contributions or suggestions for articles that you feel are relevant to the industry. Simply forward to info@aepma.com.au.

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