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Vale Gae Pincus

Vale Gae Pincus

CAMLA is sad to report the death on 7 August of long-time member Gae Pincus.  Gae was a member of CAMLA for many years and a regular attendee of seminars and AGMs.  In my time as Administrative Secretary of what was the Australian Communications Law Association (ACLA) and later became CAMLA, Gae kept up her membership and her support of CAMLA with admirable loyalty.  She first became a CAMLA member in the the early 1990s when she was working for the OTC (Overseas Telecommunications Commission) and then in Canberra for the National Food Authority as foundation Board Chair and CEO.  In the late1990s she became Chairperson of the Energy Industry Ombudsman NSW, a nice segue from food to energy!  Gae was also on the management committee and then the Board of the PIAC in the 1990s.  In all of these roles she was a tireless advocate for the public interest and a policy maker of great social conscience.  She was the Chair of the Communications Law Centre (CLC) from the late 1990’s until her death, and oversaw the transition of the centre from UNSW to Victoria University (where it had a association) and then to UTS.  Her illness did not stop her wanting to participate and she conducted her last CLC board meeting via teleconference from her bed at home.

I knew Gae as a strong supporter of CAMLA and of my role as administrative secretary.  She understood well the importance of keeping a membership such as CAMLA’s active and the tasks that involved.  Her experience working with “start up” organisations gave her great insight into how things happened and who made them happen.  She was always one of the first people to renew her membership each year, and always with a cheque, made out in her neat handwriting.  As a matter of principal she refused to pay by credit card (I am not sure that she even owned one!) and she certainly did not use email in the time that I was administrative secretary.  Her knowledge of policy and the law was at its finest when she was part of a team at the CAMLA Cup.

For many years Gae and I were neighbours in Glebe, and would often meet on the street or on the bus.  I always enjoyed her company and our conversations about what was going on in our world.  I admired her as a strong independent woman with a social conscience and a dry wit, never afraid to speak her mind.  A great role model.

Ros Gonczi

29 August 2016

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