It has been an eventful few weeks for the organisation. I would like to first introduce myself. I am Helen Gosby, a aediatric Emergency nurse practitioner at the Children's Hospital at Westmead. I was a founding member of ANPA and have been on the ANPA executive for the past 4 years. Now as we grow as a group, I am excited to take on the role of president of the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners.

For those who were not present at our AGM in Melbourne, we have had a constitution and name change. We have now formed the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners (ACNP). You will notice changes slowly appearing on our letter head, newsletter and our website as we develop that. This is an exciting time for nurse practitioners, as we establish the foundations of the college and grow as an organisation. Also announced at the AGM was the new website. There have been many issues with our past site and we have been listening to members. The website will be up and running as soon as the final changes to the site has been finalised.

It was also an interesting time in Melbourne with the federal Minister for Health Nicola Roxan attending the conference on the 2nd day. She announced the setting up of scholarships for training of nurse practitioners. The scholarships are part of a $2.1 million initiative from the commonwealth to help build on the nations 300 strong nurse practitioner workforce. Up to 20 nurses across Australia will receive as much as $30,000 over two years for training to qualify as a nurse practitioner. The program will particularly target nurses working in rural and remote locations.

I would like to thank the conference organising committee especially Anna Green, for putting on a successful conference in Melbourne. The conference was a great success with over 300 people attending. It was good to catch up with everyone there and hear of some of the exciting work that is occurring around the nation, New Zealand and Singapore.

I would like to thank the previous executive committee headed by Andrew Cashin past president of ANPA for all their work that they has done over the past 2 years. The association has grown under Andrew's leadership and we value his continuing involvement in ACNP.

Helen Gosby NP