[Linux-aus] Announcements from the LA Committee

[Stewart Smith]

Greetings LA people! From an internet connection somewhere in China, Pia
managed to bash out a mail outlining a whole bunch of things that have
been going on and several announcements important LA related things.

So I present words of LA wisdom, via China:

Hi all,

We have a few announcements to make. First of all, after lengthy
consultations with a lawyer we found that the current committee was in
fact not constitutionally valid. The previous committee (which due to
not being formally disbanded was legit as the current committee) held an
AGM a week ago, and appointed all committee positions to the new
committee which holds until our AGM and elections in January at LCA2004
(http://conf.linux.org.au). We've gone to some pains to ensure that this
doesn't happen again, including some proposed constitutional changes, to
be put forward (and hopefully passed :) at a SGM directly before the AGM
at LCA2004.

Membership
---------------
http://www.linux.org.au/membership/?page=signup

We finally have a process in place to add members electronically, in a
constitutionally correct fashion. The committee is maintaining the free
membership offer until a committee wants to change it, so become a
member now :) What are the benefits of becoming a member? Well you get
to have a vote, and be an active part in shaping a national organisation
by and for the Australian Linux Community. Basically we are trying to
ensure that Linux Australia remains as inclusive and non-bias as
possible, so not being a member doesn't mean you won't receive any  of
the community benefits we are bringing about (such as the Grant Scheme,
when are we going to get some more applications???).

Even if you applied for membership at LCA2003, please go through this
process so we have your current, up to date details.

The process is:
1) Browse to http://www.linux.org.au/membership/?page=signup
   fill in the web form and submit. (you can still physically mail the
   form at the end of our constitution instead if you wish)

   This will add your details to our database with a non-active status.

2) This is sent to the members-admin list (which includes the secretary)
and then you are nominated for membership, as is required in the current
constitution. The application will go before the committee for approval
(see constitution part 3[2]).

3) You will receive a request for confirmation mail asking that you
understand the conditions of being a member and confirming your
details. This will also be copied to the members-admin mailing list,
which has the secretary and one or two ctte members for the record.

4) You will need to reply to the request for confirmation mail within a
week, otherwise your application for membership will need to be
resubmitted.

5) Upon receiving your reply, the secretary will update the database
making your record active, and will mail you a welcome letter with your
membership number.

Please note: This process has been passed by a lawyer, if the proposed
constitution changes are accepted, this process will be much simpler.
'Mail' refers to email unless other method of communication is preferred
by the applicant. Also, if you have registered for LCA2004
(http://conf.linux.org.au) and ticked the option for free Linux
Australia, steps 2 - 5 only apply to you.

Note from Stewart: This software has all worked okay so-far - but if you
do find bugs or problems - please let us know. Also, seeing as there is
a human side to the process, the gap between confirming your details and
being given membership will be human time related, it's not just a few
CPU cycles. LCA2004 registrants may have to wait an extra few days,
we're still sorting out the technology stuff to integrate the two
systems.

Nominations
----------------
All nominations for the committee are to be posted to the linux-aus
mailing list (join the mailing list at http://lists.linux.org.au to
participate). The current constitution requires a signed nomination, we
will accept this as PGP/GPG signed emails.

The process is:
1) A valid Member (see Membership on how to become a member) posts to
linux-aus nominating another valid Member to one of the available 7
positions (President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, 3 x ordinary
members) using a PGP/GPG signed email.

2) The nominated Member must post to the linux-aus mailing list their
acceptance or declination of the nomination. If an acceptance, the
nominated Member must also include a statement to post with the
nomination.

3) A second valid Member must post to second the nomination.

4) Details on nominations page updated by Linux Australia committee
throughout the process.

Please note: The Linux Australia committee will add all nominations to
the nominations page at http://linux.org.au/nominations/. This process
must remain online so as to maintain a transparent archive of the event.
Also the nominations CLOSE 7 days before the 15th, that is the 8th
January.


SGM/AGM at LCA2004
----------------------------
We are holding two short meetings at LCA2004, an SGM and then the AGM
directly following. We are running both by the previous constitution,
and thus individual votes must be either by a show of hand, or a proxy
vote sent to the secretary.

- SGM
        + To be held on the 15th January at LCA2004.
        + Open
        + The reason for the SGM is to submit the proposed constitution
changes for a vote. The constitution changes can be found at
http://www.linux.org.au/org/ and the latest version is V5, which had a
few spelling mistakes picked up and the 'Honorary Life Member' further
defined. The constitution changes attempt to make administration of
Linux Australia easier, transform it into an online organisation, and
lower the barrier of entry (see the document for a full listing of
changes). This has been lodged with the Secretary, and this requisition
is GPG signed.
	+ Close

- AGM
        + To be held on the 15th January at LCA2004, directly following
the Linux Australia SGM.
	+ Open
        + Approval of the LCA2004 AGM meeting minutes, and the SGM of
the previous committee from the 9th December.
	+ Presidents Report
        + Treasurers Report
        + Nominations read out and opportunity for any further comments
        + Election, with proxy votes taken into consideration
        + New committee introduced
        + New members statement considered
        + Close

Thanks all, hope to see many of you in Adelaide, and hope to see many of
you running for committee :)
Cheers,
Pia
-- 
Stewart Smith <stewart at linux.org.au>
Linux Australia Inc