Here is a transcription of Mike Corbin's address on Sunday 26th
June 1994; it was requested that I publicise it.  For the record,
it was typed by the secretary where I work, and I fixed a few
obvious errors, but doubtless some remain (try transcribing something
yourself and you'll see what I mean).  Punctuation and paragraphing
is mine.

So without further ado...              (David Horsfall - VK2KFU)


This is Michael Corbin VK2PFQ.  Well, Members, there is only one
more full week for you to send in that questionnaire.  I urge all
of you out there who belong to that group known affectionately as
the "silent majority" to record your preference; the greater the
number of people who reply, the easier it will be to gauge the
feelings of the membership.  Seven hundred people voted at the last
election and we need a return of around the same to obtain a
meaningful result.  I appeal to everybody, particularly the country
members.  Don't condemn this exercise as something which will only
affect the city slickers, or something which was created by the
city folk.  You are the ones that it really affects.  As long as
this state of affairs exists,  your Council can do nothing but
administer the Division.  No decisions on anything which might be
regarded as having a political flavour can be made.  Nothing can
be done which might upset the A Team, the B Team or any other
faction or individual.  All we can do is pay the day-to-day running
expenses.  What a ridiculous set of circumstances!  What a way to
run a business!  So members, the decision is in your hands.  If
you have not sent in your answers please do it now, don't put it
off, have a say in the future of the NSW Division.  But don't rush
off quite yet as there are some pretty important things to follow.

Last Thursday there was a meeting of your "Council" [a mention of
how all future references to "Council" are in quotes - DH] at
Parramatta.  I am not at liberty to release all the details of that
meeting; a copy of these minutes will be available for perusal at
Divisional office when they have been ratified by the next Council
meeting, which by the way fellow Council members has been changed
from Friday 8th to Thursday 7th.  Yes, I've made an executive
decision.  It appears that as I was driving home that on that
evening I had (and "had" is the operative word) a pre-arranged
engagement with Blacktown City Council.  I thank you in advance
for your understanding; Secretary please note and advise accordingly.
There are two other matters which I will discuss with you that
arose at that meeting.

The first one concerned the broadcast of two weeks ago.  You'll
probably remember the announcer was Peter Naish VK2BPN.  A "Council"
member took exception to the fact that Peter stated, and he said
something like "things will soon return to normal, Steve Pullan
VK2QZ has taken over the reorganisation of the broadcast roster,
a position which he relinquished as a result of all the goings on".
Now, that is not verbatim, the intent is there.  What was wrong
with that, I ask you, it's a matter of fact.  Anyhow this "Council"
member went on to say that it was insulting to those who were on
the roster which he had prepared after all the others had quit; he
demanded that Peter broadcast an apology.  Well, he's not going
to, not because he refused but because I would not dignify such a
proposal by asking him.  I will however unconditionally commend
all those who took part in the emergency roster here at Dural, thus
providing the Amateur radio fraternity with a weekly news broadcast.

The following list was given to me by Jim Walker VK2XJW and I read
it in its entirety and in the order in which it was written.  I
think there might be someone missing from this, but anyhow:

	VK2ESS Eric Horman
	VK2XJW Jim Walker
	VK2DJW Tony Williams
	VK2JPJ Peter Vernon
	VK2XBR Julie Kentwell
	Pat Johnston (no callsign)
	VK2FRJ John Rajca
	VK2CFB Dave Barry
	VK2CZX Peter Balnaves
	VK2ZLT Tony Liolio
	VK2UX Terry Ryeland
	VK2WR Ian Griggs
	(a line drawn)
	VK2KFU Dave Horsfall for maintenance help.

Well, once again a genuine word of thanks to these people for giving
up their time to inform you, particulary the country members.  But
hang on, this list is incomplete!  What about the 2 weeks when
EVERYONE spat the dummy and the only one left to do the broadcast
was yours truly, VK2PFQ, but I couldn't have done it without Dave
Horsfall VK2KFU and Peter Naish VK2BPN.  I wonder why Jim left me
off the list?  Anyhow, in case someone else was overlooked, I
apologise on behalf of the Institute and thank everyone for their
help.  You know, that's the worst of lists which thank people,
someone is always left off, hmmmmm.

Now to a matter much closer to my heart.  At the same "Council"
meeting an attempt was made to silence my weekly dissertations.
It appears that these are a little too pithy for some listeners or
at least that is what is being claimed.  Allegations were made that
some council members had been telephoned with demands to "silence
that clown".  Gosh, you know, I don't write these broadcast notes
for the fun of it; I believe that they are necessary.  I believe
that as "President" it is my duty to inform.  Issues need to be
aired, country members must be made aware of what is going on down
here in the Big Smoke.  Without the broadcast, country Amateurs
are just a collection of mushrooms.  Well, if some believe that,
and I don't, then I intend to make you country people the most
informed mushrooms in Ham radio land.  I do not apologise for
anything I have said in the past.  I will as I have often stated
before, continue to present the facts as I see them from where I
sit as "President", without fear or favour.  In my position I don't
expect to win friends, that's not what I'm here for.  I took on
this position to bring the Institute back on track.  I can't do it
without offending somebody, I'm sure.  I don't apologise; I'm here
to do a job and I will do it despite interference.

You will recall I said there was an attempt to silence me.  This
attempt was made in the form of a motion to have all scripts of
the President's address approved by all members of the Council
prior to broadcast.  Just what will they think of next?  Imagine
a leader of any organisation being censored (and that's spelt "ored"
for you Julie, not "ured" [his actual words - DH]).  Consider the
following scenario.  TV Interviewer: "Mr President, what do you
think of such and such?", or perhaps "Mr President, what is your
opinion regarding the introduction of so and so?" to which the
President would reply:  "Oh look, I'm sorry, I've got no comment
to make.  You see, my council demands that answers to any questions
must be subject to their approval".  You'd be laughed off the
screen!  What a way to suggest an organisation the size of ours
ought to be run.  The motion for censorship was moved, seconded
and the vote was 2 for, 2 abstentions, and 5 against.

Now, for those critics who might criticise me for releasing that
information you will note that there are no names supplied.  Anyhow
I survived.  The democratic process will continue; members will
continue to be informed.  But, I'd like to hear what you think.
I've only had one abusive phone call since I took on this job, and
it was nothing to do with the broadcast.  If you don't want any
more weekly messages from me, let us know on the callbacks.  I
won't be here but I'll be listening via my tape recorder and various
spies.  Or better still, why don't you write me a nasty letter, or
something.

A final note to those who are concerned about the audio quality of
my messages, well, it hasn't improved because I still haven't got
a new tape recorder but I've taken it on board, and last week on
the evening broadcast Terry Ryeland read out a roster for people
who were going to read the broadcast this weekend.  It appears that
this roster was not approved; it appears what happened was Terry
couldn't find anything to write the people who called in on 40m
on, so he delved in the drawer and found himself a piece of paper
and recorded all the callsigns there, and pertinent comments, and
when Tony Liolio came for the evening broadcast he thought what's
this, he turned it over and saw a broadcast roster, so he said,
well, this must be the broadcast roster, much to the chagrin of
VK2FBI, but he wrote a very witty packet, I thought, (laughs) and
took it in the spirit in which it was meant.  It was a mistake,
so, it's as you were.

Thank you members, see you next week.

[ End of transcription ]