Announcement
to Mediation Community Announcement
to Mediation Community In 2004 the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department made funds available to the National Mediation Conference Pty Ltd (NMC) for the development of a proposal for a national system of Mediator Accreditation in Australia.
The NMC appointed a broadly-based committee to appoint a facilitator for this undertaking, to oversee the facilitation process, and to report back to the Attorney-General’s Department.
The committee comprises Helen Marks, Mary Walker, Warwick Soden, Scott Petterson, Sandra Boyle, Robert Crick, Franca Petrone, Bill Field, Gordon Tippett, Salli Browning and Karen Dey. The committee in turn appointed Laurence Boulle to undertake the facilitation and report back to it. Neither the facilitator nor the committee has any decision-making authority in relation to any accreditation issues.
To date the following tasks have been undertaken by the facilitator: literature and resource search; liaison with committee, in face-to-face meeting and through email and telephonic contacts; consultation with experts on facilitating group consensus; investigation of software for capture and sorting of submissions; drafting of several versions of a proposal with feedback from committee members.
As regards future progress the following time-table will be followed:
Mid-November 2005: Dissemination of Draft Accreditation Proposal to all sectors of the Australian mediation community.
Mid-November 2005 to late January 2006: First Phase of Community Consultation Process during which responses to the Draft Proposal can be submitted via the website.
Early February 2006: Redrafting of Accreditation Proposal in light of responses received during first consultation phase.
Mid-to Late February 2006: Second Phase of Community Consultation Process involving Public Forums in major centres attended by facilitator for consideration and discussion of proposal.
March 2006: Meeting between Facilitator and Committee and Final Drafting of Accreditation Proposal.
Mid-March 2006: Approval of Accreditation Proposal by Committee and Submission to Attorney-General’s Department.
May 2006: Consideration and Approval of Accreditation System at National Mediation Conference, Hobart. (3 to 5 May 2006, more information about the conference available from the conference website, www.mediationconference.com.au.)
These might seem like a protracted and laborious process for what some mediators consider to be a straightforward matter. However it is a little like the well-known story of the writer of a lengthy letter who did not have enough time to write more briefly - even a simple approach to accreditation is more complex than at first seems necessary.
My apologies for the delay in this process. I look forward to extensive public participation in the two consultation phases.
I should be grateful if this announcement could be widely dispersed by you or your organisation.
The first draft of the sub-committee provided for comment is able to be accessed at: www.mediationconference.com.au
Laurence Boulle 17 November 2005