Club President Vince Costantino welcomed Rotary District 9465 District Governor Wayne Milnes and his wife Suzanne to the Club.
 
Vince introduced District Governor Wayne. 
Wayne came to Australia in 1966 as a child from the UK.  He has had a 30 year banking career with the National Australia Bank, and met his wife Suzanne when posted by the bank to Kulin.  He joined the Safety Bay/Port Kennedy branch of Rotary in 2005.  He was made a Paul Harris Fellow in 2013, and since 2011 has served Rotary International at District level.  He and Suzanne enjoy travelling, are Dockers tragics, and occasional golf players.
 
District Governor  Wayne Milnes
 
Wayne thanked everyone for their welcome and offered $2 to the Sergeant in case the talk was boring.
 
Wayne referred to Rotary International President, Mark Moloney, and 2019-20 theme: “Rotary Connects the World”.  This includes equally Family, Community and the World.
 
President Mark has expressed 4 priorities:
             1.  Increase impact: Rotary International will host a United Nations Day in New York, reminding that Rotary was a consultant to the United Nations when it formed.
                  International President Mark will also be hosting four Presidential Conferences at venues around the world.
             2.  Grow Rotary: While introducing new members to Rotary is a "given goal", it is equally important to retain and engage existing members in Rotary activities. If more Rotary Clubs are formed, the result will be to expand the reach of Rotary.  Any ideas to grow Rotary are welcome; feel free to contact District Governor Wayne directly with your ideas. dg@rotary9465.org.au
             3.  Increase participant engagement: By including family members whenever possible, the broader base of Rotarians may be engaged beyond a Club's weekly meeting.
             4.  Increase Rotary’s ability to adapt : New approaches can enhance who we (Rotary International) are. The way in which the world communicates has changed, so Rotary must change too.
 
Rotary leadership should not be a full time job. Rotarians still in the work-force should not be Rotarians to the detriment of their work. It should be possible to have working people in Rotary leadership positions. It is important that Clubs ensure that adequate support for their leaders is in place.
 
Wayne provided information that could assist Rotary Clubs to find partners to assist with the funding required to run the various Rotary programs.  As one of the largest service organisations in the world, there are 1.2 million members, yet a lot of people in the general world population don’t know anything about Rotary. 
Contrast this "Brand Recognition" with the world-wide recognition enjoyed by MacDonalds. MacDonalds have the same number of employees as the number of Rotary Members there are world-wide.
Wayne has calculated that Rotary International puts around $1 billion into the world economy per annum, plus 120 million hours of voluntary work.  This is a phenomenal contribution, and is of significant value to making the world a better place.
At a District level, $1.5 million goes into the West Australian economy, along with 120,000 hours of volunteer work. These numbers could be used to leverage the development funding partnerships for Rotary District and Club projects. 
To that end, clubs will be asked to complete information on the Rotary Central web-site, and some Activity Sheets to justify these numbers. 
At a District level, FMG or BHP are examples of companies who could be offered the opportunity to place their name up alongside Rotary while working on projects.
Wayne went on to give examples of people joining Rotary – all different, but finding their needs met by joining with Rotary.  Connecting with such people by getting Rotary’s name out into the community would provide them an option to consider.  By using signs on projects, newspaper articles on our activities, radio advertising of events, flyers given out in shopping centres, and telling the Rotary story on social media applications such as Facebook would all assist in getting the name out there.
He suggested each of us tell our own story in the community, and help Rotary “Connect the World”.
 
District Governor Wayne Milnes with wife Suzanne, Assistant Governor Marg Pantall, and Rotary Club of Pinjarra President Vince Costantino
 
Following a number of questions from the meeting floor, President Vince thanked Wayne for his talk and said that many members have made similar comments that our activities and projects can be used to promote Rotary.  He commented that the publicity gained from the work that Club members and other volunteers had performed during the devastating Yarloop bushfire event two years ago has lead to an increased local profile for Rotary that still persists. He also referred to the local companies which have willingly partnered with this Club to build a Bicycle and Storage Shed at Fairbridge College. That project is nearing completion. No Club though, can rest on its laurels.
As is a custom of our Club, District Governor Wayne was presented with a wine glass as a memento of his visit. He was also presented with a framed embroidery work featuring the Rotary Four Way Test. http://www.directory-online.com/Rotary/Accounts/7475/Downloads/5556/rotary%20fourway%20test.pdf