** DRAFT ** Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Linux Australia, held 7th February 2005 Chair: Pia Smith, President of Linux Australia Committee Members: President: Pia Smith Vice President: Stewart Smith Secretary: Andrew Cowie Treasurer: Mark Tearle Ordinary Members: Paul Russell Michael Still Michael Davies [absent with apologies] In attendence: Alex King James Andrewartha Michael Slade Ambrose Andrews Jan Schmidt Mike Beattie Anand Kumria Jeff Waugh Mike Tyson Andrew Pam Jeremy Kerr Nick Bannon Anthony Towns Jeremy Malcolm Silvia Pfeiffer Arjen Lentz Jonathan Oxer Steven Hanley Bernard Blackham Kim Oldfield Stuart Young Chris Deigan Lindsay Holmwood Tony Breeds David Tulloh Matt Hope Trent Lloyd Geoffrey Bennett Michael Knight Observing: Andrew Pollock Drew (DeeKs) (anonymous - bbadger) The Annual General Meeting of the members of Linux Australia, Inc was announced by the secretary of the organisation by mail on the 5th of January, 2005 in accordance with sections 23 and 24 of the organisation's constitution. The meeting took place online using the resources of the FreeNode IRC network. Meeting opened by the chair at 2005/02/07 17:32 +1100 The chair presented the meeting agenda, and moved that it be accepted. This motion was seconded by Jonathan Oxer, Chris Deigan, Andrew Pam and Stewart Smith. The motion was passed without objection. The chair moved that the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of Linux Australia held on the 15th of January 2004 be accepted. This motion was seconded by Paul Russell. The motion was passed without objection. The chair relinquished the floor to the secretary, who raised the motion that the membership confirm the acts of the committee over the past year. The secretary noted that the record of the committee's activities after the 16th of August 2004 were not available, and that the membership may wish to take that fact into account. Anthony Towns proposed the motion be amended to confirm only those acts recorded in the minutes up to and including those of the 16th of August 2004. The motion as amended was seconded by Anand Kumria, and passed without objection. The secretary further assured the membership that minutes for the committee's remaining activities would be prepared expeditiously. The chair tabled the previously released President's and Treasurer's Reports and opened the floor to questions regarding those reports. In response to a question from James Andrewartha, the treasurer noted that the $7,000 figure for bank fees included $268 in transaction fees, with the remainder being merchant fees. The treasurer further noted that these fees were comparable to those of previous years. The chair then invited committee members to add to the tabled reports. Stewart Smith summarised the experiences with the online election software he was sponsored to write. Mr Smith noted that the election was quite successful, with the majority of problems reported being quickly fixed. It was noted that the number of people voting was approximately half that when the elections were held at the annual Linux Conference, and there was some discussion as to the need for better announcements regarding the voting process. Paul Russell summarised the committee's political activities over the past year, regarding patents and anti-circumvention measures arising from the Australia/United States Free Trade Agreement. Mr Russell indicated that he had spent a significant amount of time speaking with politicians about members' concerns and noted that open source software and Linux are gaining awareness of policy makers, and that in his opinion we should continue to be involved in these discussions. Mr Russell additionally noted that there was some reluctance on the committee's behalf in being involved in this area, as the committee did not have a clear mandate as a political organisation. Anand Kumria expressed a concern that some care might be required in adding an explicit mandate for political advocacy with regards to the organisation's non-profit status. Anthony Towns proposed the motion that the membership endorse Mr Russell's and the committee's activities over the past year, and further that the committee aim to ensure these issues are dealt with in a similarly professional manner in future. The motion was seconded by Jonathan Oxer, Steven Hanley, and Silvia Pfeiffer, and passed without objection. The chair moved that the reports be accepted. The motion was seconded by Anthony Towns, and passed without objection. The chair invited Steven Hanley, the Linux.Conf.Au 2005 lead organiser to give an update on the conference status. Mr Hanley reported that the conference was 60% sold out with ten weeks' to go and that a draft program was online. Mr Hanley announced that the 2005 Penguin Sponsor was IBM, and introduced HP as the Emperor Sponsor. Mr Hanley indicated the conference crew had been working hard and getting cool stuff ready for April. In response to a question from Stewart Smith, Mr Hanley noted the organisers were very happy with the numbers so far. Mr Hanley offered explicit thanks to fellow organisers Tony Breeds, Michael Still, Alison Russell, Martin Pool, Jeremy Kerr, Chris Yeoh, Bob Edwards, Andrew Pollock, Kristy Bennett, Michael Bennett, Michael Cohen, Neill Cox, Rob Bolin and Rusty Russell. He further noted that the 2005 team had equalled the 2004 teams' baby record, with three births in the past seven months, and that the conference was going to be "hell cool". The chair thanked Mr Hanley for the report, and moved that it be accepted. This was seconded by Jonathan Oxer, and passed without objection. The chair relinquished the floor to the secretary, who explained the background behind the choice of venue for Linux.Conf.Au 2006. He noted that there were serious expressions of interest from two cities: Melbourne, and Dunedin in New Zealand. The teams were encouraged to arrive at a consensus as to which group was best prepared to run the 2006 conference, and as a result of those discussions, it was decided that the 2006 conference will be held in Dunedin, New Zealand. The chair noted that she had visited Dunedin for a due diligance investigation as part of confirming this decision, and reported that the organising team were "keen beans". The floor was relinquished to Mike Beattie, one of the Linux.Conf.Au 2006 organisers. Mr Beattie noted that progress had already been made on booking the conference and dinner venue, and that both international speakers, and some of the past major sponsors of the conference had expressed a keen intereest in supporting the 2006 conference. Mr Beattie expects the conference will be held from the 23rd until the 28th of January 2006, and that attendance will be up to 550 people. In response to a question from Trent Lloyd, Mr Beattie noted that travel costs were not extreme, and the phrase "No worse than Perth" was mentioned. The chair moved that the report be accepted. The motion was seconded by Anand Kumria, and passed without objection. The chair tabled the proposed changes to the constitution dealing with distribution of remaining assets in the event of dissolution of the organisation, and stating that the organisation will act in accordance with its status as a non-profit, and moved that they be passed. The motion was seconded by Andrew Cowie and Anthony Towns. Anand Kumria indicated some concern that there had been no opportunity to vote on the proposed changes at the same time as voting for the new committee. It was noted that under sections 37(1) and 31(1)(a) changes to the constitution can only be made by a vote held at a meeting of the organisation, and that three-quarters of votes received must support the motion. Votes were called for, and the votes were: In favour: 26 Opposed: 0 Abstained: 6 Absent: 3 The motion was thus passed. The chair announced the results of the election for the 2005 Managing Committee for Linux Australia. The incoming committee is: President: Jonathan Oxer Vice President: Pia Smith Secretary: Anthony Towns Treasurer: Mark Tearle Ordinary Members: Andrew Cowie, Geoffrey Bennett, Stewart Smith The chair offered her congratulations to the new committee, and noted that it looks to be an interesting year with a great team. All business was concluded, and the meeting closed at 2005/02/07 19:25 +1100. The meeting notice, which includes the text of the constitutional amended, is available at http://www.linux.org.au/about/notices/2005AGM.html The President's report tabled at the meeting is available at http://www.linux.org.au/about/reports/2004-pres.txt The Treasurer's report tabled at the meeting is available at http://www.linux.org.au/about/reports/2004-treas/statements.html Further information on the 2005 Linux Conference is available at http://lca2005.linux.org.au/ Further information on the 2006 Linux Conference is available at http://lca2006.linux.org.au/ Minutes prepared by: Anthony Towns This draft released on the 9th of February, 2005.