The Australian Historic Motoring Federation (The National Body) Held its Annual General Meeting in Hobart , Tasmania this year.
South Australia was represented by President Craig Baulderstone and Secretary Alan Pickering.

Craig delivered the following report to the the August meeting

I attended the AHMF in Launceston last weekend along with the Secretary, Alan Pickering. There were not a lot of new issues raised and discussed and reports from the states seemed to pretty much reflect business as usual.

A report was given on the Robert Shannon Foundation and a brochure that has been produced will be distributed to all clubs. The aim is to encourage restorers of historic vehicles that are less than 30 years of age. South Australian clubs are encouraged to nominate members in their clubs.

Specific topics discussed included:

" Frequency of meetings of the national body - the outcome being that it will remain as is, however if specific issues arise, teleconferencing or meetings will be arranged.
" Club members who disrupt club affairs - Examples were given where substantial costs have been incurred in some states in relation to this. Victoria raised the issue and were interested that all states had similar experiences of conflict and that there is no easy answer and each case needs to be looked at on its own merits. I raised the point that it is important to listen and understand the point they are making and regardless of intincts it is best to remain polite and focussed in dealing with it and be sure to communicate with people affected by the issue.
" ACT have had unregistered vehicle permits taken away and they were interested in what other states had.
" Age profile of members in historic clubs was discussed. Many of the other states did not perceive this as a major problem and think that things are changing slowly. Examples given were that newer vehicles were being restored but by younger people - much younger than the cars. Also that communication is changing and more internet activity is happening. ACT gave examples of clubs where all the offices were held by younger people and the current President of the WA Veteran car club is a 33yo woman. Many people mentioned that potential members often come along for only one meeting and the importance of looking after them. One club appoints an experienced member to each new member as a mentor for one year. ACT have an 'expo' each year Marques in the Park and have deliberately targetted non 'historic' clubs to join in, hopefully drawing attention to the older clubs and realising that there are a lot of common features.
" Different registration schemes were discussed. Victoria mentioned that their govt. are looking at introducing logbooks to try and simplify the policing of vehicles on their scheme (ie. the police can just pull a car over and check the logbook rather than getting involved in assessing if they are on a club event.

A number of presentations were given.

" The Australian Automobile Association gave a presentation. This was mainly about safety standards of new cars and changing fuel regulation. LRP has largely been phased out and lower levels of sulphur in fuel will be required over time.
" Transport Tasmania described their new special interest scheme. This has a logbook and 52 days use per year ($244/year for 6 cylinder car) and also allows rally and 'bash' vehicles. You do not need to be a member of a club but you must also have a fully registered vehicle or get special approval (eg. you use a company car everyday). Their historic scheme (which includes hotrods) remains at $105 but only applies for club events. The main reason given for introducing the new scheme is the recognition of the cost of registering multiple vehicles to one owner and therefore the increased likelihood of illegal use. He also said with a smile that RACT gradually wore them down with their persistence to have such a scheme introduced. I am sure you will appreciate just how different our states can be!
" A presentation was given about a new public liability policy. There was little specific information given and the policy itself is not yet completed. I will be looking in to this when (and details also on a WA policy) and will report on this. I haven't seen anything yet that leads me to believe that these other insurers are any better, although one of them has yet to confirm its policy and has indicated willingness to accommodate requests. I want to reconfirm that at this stage TCIS remains our preferred or recommended insurer. The Federation does receive its public liability insurance for free due to this recommendation and support of the company from a large number of our clubs. This represents a saving to the Federation and therefore all our Member Clubs and is one factor that allows us to continue to keep our membership fees low. I have also been told that the building of 'insurance history' with lack of claims is likely to further reduce the price of TCIS this year (much like your 'no claims bonus' I guess)