MIA's chief executive officer resigns

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Created on Monday, 02 September 2013 15:55

Written by Editorial staff

All migration agents in Australia will be interested to hear that Maurene Horder has tendered her resignation as chief executive officer of the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA).

Ms Horder released a statement on Friday (August 30) informing registered migration agents of her decision. She held the role for nearly five years, and said "it will be sad to move on".

This announcement has been given a mixed reception, with Christopher Levingston - Vice-Convenor of Migration Alliance - revealing that some MIA migration agents think Ms Horder's resignation is shrounded in mystery.

In response to a blog post made by Ms Allan, an agent said rumours of "division at the MIA conference in Brisbane about the future of the MIA, commercial arrangements and education at the MIA" are rampant.

Christopher Levingston said it was "interesting to see Ms Horder jump ship now that it looks like the Liberal government are about to get elected into power. Maurene has strong links with the Labor party and might not want to be a liability rather than an asset if there is a change of government".

"I think that the next CEO needs to be someone with a solid background in a membership organisation and a clear understanding of what RMAs need. If the job is advertised I would love to apply. I think I should be the next CEO of the MIA."

Mr Levingston added that Ms Horder "was never an RMA and could not keep up with the changing needs of RMAs and their empowerment through MA" during her stint as chief executive officer of the MIA, and as a result "the MIA has become less and less relevant when compared with Migration Alliance".

He explained that Migration Alliance is now ranked as "one of the top 245 websites in Australia," is getting more and more traffic every day, and "has more members than the MIA".

In addition to this, Mr Levingston said "Migration Alliance supports more commercial sponsors than the MIA".

"Sponsors of MA are happy that they are not locked into exclusive contracts, which give them no room to move and cost them a fortune with little return on investment," he said.

Mr Levingston thinks a lot of MIA members will now - if they haven't already - start questioning what direction the MIA is heading in.

"MIA members can get everything and more that the MIA is offering for free from Migration Alliance," stated Mr Levingston.

"Members of the MIA really want to be asking themselves why they are members any more. The dream has gone. The MIA is so yesterday and stale. They haven't renewed themselves and have lost the battle for relevance. Why pay money to be a member?  RMAs really need to be selfish and ask what's in it for me?" Mr Levingston said.

Change is definitely in the air, and it looks like Australian migration agents have got some serious thinking to do!