From the Chief Commissioner

Well, we are at the end of another Scouting year.  Most of our groups and units have finished or will finish in the next week. 

This month I attended the Chief Commissioner’s Council, National Operations Committee Meeting, National Executive Committee Meeting and Scouts Australia Annual General Meeting. The new Scouts Australia Strategic Plan was approved, and it will be loaded to the National website in due course.  

An update on the State Government $1M Infrastructure Program – we received over 40 Expressions of Interest; these have been reviewed by the Chief’s Council for alignment to Scouts Queensland Strategic Plan and are now being reviewed against the Governments criteria. Once that process is completed, we expect to meet with the Department and confirm which projects can progress to Branch Executive for approval.   

I would like to provide an update on our + 2 target – currently we have: 

• Groups at +2 or more – 88
• Groups Stable – 47
• Groups at -2 or more – 84
• Across the Branch we have grown by 511 youth member which represents 5.8% over this scout year.

AJ2025

Can I highlight the opportunity of AJ2025. Applications for the Jamboree are open. We would love for you and your young person to consider expressing interest in attending what will be a great event, now only 13 months away. As I have indicated previously it is critically important that we encourage as many youth members and adults as possible to attend. The intent is to provide the opportunity at Jamboree for those who missed out in 2022 by extending the invitation to Venturer Scouts to 16 years of age to attend as participants or support workers.  

It is also important that our youth members understand that the next Jamboree is not until 2029. So please encourage your unit to consider how they can participate in this wonderful Scouting event. Link to apply is here!