The Australian Pet Care Association (APCA) has decided to voluntarily wind up and become part of the Pet Industry Association of Australia (PIAA).

APCA will be incorporating its functions, operations, and current membership into PIAA’s Boarding and Pet Services membership sector, with PIAA offering free membership for all current APCA members for the remainder of the financial year.

By joining together, the PIAA will collectively represent nearly 200 Australian boarding and pet services business, enabling a greater voice in representing the boarding and pet services sector to government, as well as the possible reestablishment of conferences and industry networking events.

Concerns that APCA had about how the boarding sector had previously been treated under the PIAA were rectified, with PIAA introducing significant reforms to its governance and management that will see the boarding and pet services sector members in charge of their sector.

The decision came following APCA’s Annual General Meeting in which no members nominated to become part of the Executive Committee. APCA then met with the PIAA leadership team, where they established that there was a significant duplication of time, effort, and resources in the day-to-day management and compliance obligations of two associations with almost identical goals.

Following the formal winding up of APCA, any remaining funds could (with current APCA members approval) be allocated to the PIAA for dedicated use of the boarding and pet services working group and used in implementation of the priorities and projects identified by the working group.

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