Recently, Angela shared an article from the New Zealand Society of Association Executives asking a simple but surprisingly relevant question: what if associations did not exist? That made me think of the situation that our colleagues in Australia are currently facing, and the lessons Tuia Pito Ora can learn.

The fact is, people tend to take things for granted, until they break, stop or simply disappear. This goes for physical infrastructure as well as organisational infrastructure. We rarely stop to think about the systems that support us until the raw sewage starts washing up on the beach.

The Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) are currently undergoing a massive financial restructure to avoid insolvency. In the last six months AILA has drastically reduced its workforce and placed a hold on major events, including the annual festival and award programs.

I talked to their current President Daniel Bennett about what the AILA board is doing in the fight for survival. Daniel explained how they are having to raise funds urgently to pay tax bills and settle redundancies, then focus on helping the organisation restructure and rebuild sustainably. He expects AILA to survive, but it will be a close call. Members have had to ask themselves, what would happen if AILA didn’t exist?

AILA president Daniel Bennett on rebuilding and rethinking the institute | Landscape Australia

I am happy to say that Tuia Pito Ora is in good shape financially and culturally, and we have offered AILA assistance. But even so, it’s dangerous to take anything for granted. The AILA example shows how vulnerable institutions can become when people assume everything is OK, but the ship is quietly drifting towards the rocks.

So, I’ll pose the question: how would you feel if Tuia Pito Ora didn’t exist? Maybe you would miss seeing people at branch events and reading the newsletters, Landscape Architecture Aotearoa and the website. Maybe you would regret not being part of a working group involved with important advocacy work such as responding to the RMA reforms and developing Climate Adaptation Guidelines. Maybe you would be disappointed that there wasn't a national awards programme to enter your work in, or that there would be no more Wānanga to find inspiration and connect with the whole industry. Maybe it would be a problem that there was no professional body to accredit your university course or support your continuing professional development.

Until you get involved in the institute, as so many volunteers thankfully do, you tend not to think about the infrastructure that makes all this stuff possible: the management team and their systems, the Board meetings, the policies and frameworks, the planning processes, the strategic relationships with other institutes and organisations, the working groups and the branch meetings that hold everything together and move us forwards.

Membership organisations like ours are navigating increasing operational pressures, rising compliance expectations, volunteer fatigue, changing member needs, and tighter financial realities. Our profession operates within increasingly complex environmental, cultural, political, and economic contexts. We are contributing to conversations around climate adaptation, infrastructure, biodiversity, housing, urban growth, and community wellbeing. Those conversations require not only individual expertise, but collective capability. They require a place where knowledge can be shared, challenged, strengthened, and carried forward.

Tuia Pito Ora is sustained by members choosing to participate in a shared professional community. Participation might mean volunteering time, mentoring emerging practitioners, contributing to submissions, presenting work, supporting events, serving on working groups, or simply staying engaged with the wider direction of the profession.

As landscape architects, we often talk about stewardship in relation to the whenua, but there is also stewardship involved in sustaining the profession itself. It requires ongoing care, participation, and a willingness to contribute. It’s been that way for over 50 years. Let’s keep it going.

Read the recent article published by the New Zealand Society of Association Executives exploring the question: what if associations did not exist?