GRAND LODGE
OF ANTIENT, FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS OF
SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NORTHERN TERRITORY

Your Excellency The Lieutenant Governor of South Australia, Mr Hieu Van Le, and Mrs Le,
The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Michael Harbison,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies, Gentleman and Brethren ...

As I stand here before you I have very mixed emotions. On the one hand I am very proud and honored to have been placed in this honorable and esteemed position. When one looks back into our Grand Lodge history which now spands some 125 years and reads the many names of those who have previously been installed as Grand Master of this Grand Lodge it is certainly a wonderful privilege for me today to have been Installed as the 32^nd Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of South Australia and Northern Territory.

On the other hand I am inspired by the opportunity and the challenges that lie ahead.  I see this as containing two layers, one being outward, that is, reaching out to the community at large, and one being inward and looking at our many levels of operation.

Outwardly I fully understand the work that needs to be done to ensure that our organization embraces the change that is needed to confirm that we are identified as progressive, and of being a great contributor to the fabric of our community. It is essential that we are recognized as a group which has quality values, and even though we are a fraternity which is centuries old, our values are very relevant today. We also need to be recognized as being a great place in which males can network and have total respect for each other, and in doing this it needs also to be acknowledged, to be a link for our members and their partners and families to meet and enjoy a whole new family of friends. Because we (and I quote a statement from RWBro Greg Goding from Queensland) we are one of only a few organizations in the world to transcend all religions, political persuasions, colour and creeds. We have to increase our brand awareness.

Inwardly, there are various things we need to do better and to make our lodges more professional, businesslike and, above all, make sure that our members and their families and friends have lots of fun and fellowship in freemasonry.

To assist me in this workload I believe that I have assembled a most expert team to work together in achieving the goals and ceasing upon the opportunities and meeting head-on the challenges that lie before us.

To this end a business plan has been developed. We have identified clear areas on which we aim to focus our energies.

Areas for action
These can be broken down to four simple headings:

The new Deputy Grand Master and the new Assistant Grand Master and I have been formulating our collective plan, and during the following explanations I am going to use the collective term of “we”.

As I briefly explain these areas you will observe that I will also use the term of “we will” and I have avoided using “ we aim to” etc. We are starting off very positive and have a bright and positive view of the Future.

Communication
We will double the visits by Grand Lodge to individual lodges. Instead of visiting Lodges only at Installation time we will make another official visit to each lodge during the year. Without taxing further our Ceremonial teams, these visits will be achieved by utilizing the large contingent of Past Grand lodge officers, who have many years of experience both within Freemasonry and within the business world. Plans for this are underway and the first round of the visitation program commencing in May has been organized.

We will modernize our website, and have a dedicated team continually upgrading the website while at the same time expanding the use of technology to drive our processes.  This will improve our communication to lodges and to individuals by making smarter use of the available delivery systems. And as communication is a two way thing we will listen to and invite feedback.

Promotion
Under the direction of the director of community relations we will liaise close with all forms of media. We will assist lodges in their individual community activities and continually report to our stakeholders through either the media or by technological means.

Grand Lodge will continue to work with and support the Freemasons Foundation and the Masonic Homes in delivering their aims and individual mission statements.

Sales and Marketing
In the areas of Sales and Marketing, under the Assistant Grand Master a fresh approach to introducing the benefits of our organization to existing and potential members will be made.

The construction of Business plans for individual lodges will be given priority.  Support on these will be available from the new survival and revival teams being introduced. These teams will be available to work with lodges to strive to improve in themselves and to demonstrate to the community what our core values are. The community will know that when one is a freemason he is one of high moral values, one who has commitment to family, charity and community care, and one who is courteous, honest and demonstrates fairness in all dealings.

A Director of Development has been introduced with the task of fostering new lodges and plans are in place for a new lodge to be consecrated soon, and hopefully followed by others.

Improvement
In the area of Improvement we will obtain a general improvement in our overall scorecard. This will include delivery of ritual, attendance, membership, benevolence and friendship, and we will introduce ways in which we can measure our improvement .I am a believer in the message that R.W.Bro Greg Goding from the United Grand Lodge of Queensland has been delivering around Australia and New Zealand, and we will continue to drive these messages to the lodges in our jurisdiction. And I take this opportunity to publicly thank Greg and the Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Queensland for their support.

The thing that we all have to do during this process is to have some fun, and for those that know Paula and I well, you will already know that we will apply ourselves fully to the things we get involved with, but you can be assured we will have lots of fun along the way. We will introduce different initiatives, no doubt some will work and some will not. The skill is to identify those that are working well and to continue with them and expand them and even take credit for them, and to blame someone else for those that are not working. I fully understand that some days you are the pigeon and some days you are the statue.

Concluding remarks
Finally, in this public forum I wish to pledge myself to this cause and all of these things during my period as Grand Master, and at some time in the future when my term of office has expired I want to have the satisfaction of knowing that I gave this opportunity my best. As Michael Jordan, the famous U.S. basketball player once said, “I can accept failure but I cannot accept not trying”.

I will apply all of the business, academic, leadership and social skills that I have collected over my life to ensuring that the business plan is successful and that and the team chosen to assist in this will obtain satisfaction, pride and a sense of achievement in what they do. I am excited about this and very much look forward to the forthcoming period.

I also wish to acknowledge and thank my wife Paula for her support and encouragement, and her promise of involvement in the promotion and credibility of the Grand Lodge of South Australia and the Northern Territory.

Thank you one and all.