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<p>Hi everyone, <br>
</p>
<p>Firstly on behalf of the Council we hope that this message finds
you happy, healthy and enjoying the holidays - but perhaps not so
much the heat that is visiting upon much of the country - stay
safe and cool. <br>
</p>
<p>This is our last communication for 2018, and there's quite a lot
to get through, so without further ado, our December update!</p>
<h4>Declaration of election, Council positions available and call
for Agenda items for AGM</h4>
<p>It may be dry and boring for most people, but as an Incorporated
Association, there are a few bits and pieces that legally we need
to do to be compliant - and to govern effectively. Chief among
these are the election of a new Council, as Council terms are 12
months, and expire in January. You can read more about nominating
from Council on our new website; <br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://linux.org.au/nominate-for-council/">https://linux.org.au/nominate-for-council/</a></p>
<p>Several Council members, myself included, are not standing for
re-election, for various reasons. At the time of writing, we have
zero (0) nominations for President or Vice President, and only two
nominations for three OCM positions. Without these positions
nominated and filled, Linux Australia Council as a team, and Linux
Australia as an organisation, is less likely to be as effective as
it has been in recent years. If there's something you would like
Linux Australia to be working on, now's your chance to put up your
hand and make it happen! Nominations close 30th December, make
sure you nominate soon. <br>
</p>
<p>The election this year is being run through our new website.
Specifically, it's running a custom-written Voting module for
CiviCRM - a previous email had the link to the open source code if
anyone wants to inspect it. <br>
</p>
<p>We've done our best to bring over accounts from MemberDB and to
merge duplicates, but if you can't log in to the new website
Member Area to nominate or vote, then let me know, or use the
Contact Form on the website. We've still got quite a few inquiries
to respond to, so thanks in advance for your patience. <br>
</p>
<p>Our wonderful Secretary Sae Ra has recently sent out information
about our upcoming AGM, including a call for agenda items. Please
let her know if there are any items you wish to be added to the
agenda. <br>
</p>
<p>This year's AGM also contains a proposed constitutional change.
Our excellent Treasurer Russell has previously outlined the reason
for the proposed change, and the method to suggest amendments. The
election for this will be set up shortly in the Member Area of the
new website shortly. <br>
</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/linuxaustralia/constitution_and_policies/pull/38">https://github.com/linuxaustralia/constitution_and_policies/pull/38</a>
<br>
</p>
<h4>New website and membership system</h4>
<p>Thanks to everyone who's already jumped in and had a look around,
and for the feedback we've already received. We'll be tweaking the
website to respond to feedback over the next few weeks, and will
gradually be adding more content, such as the Council minutes.
Again, if you have any issues, let me know, or use the Contact
Forum on the website to let us know. <br>
</p>
<p>If you have images available under a CC license that you would
like to be featured on the site, let me know - we picked a few
great ones - but we know there's lot of great images out there of
Linux Australia events, so let us know.</p>
<p>Equally, if we've used a CC image of yours, and you're not
comfortable with this, we'll take it down. <br>
</p>
<h4>linux.conf.au</h4>
<p>There is still time to register! It will be awesome! Get on it!</p>
<p><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://linux.conf.au">https://linux.conf.au</a> <br>
</p>
<h4>Linux Australia sponsors Open Hardware Miniconf at linux.conf.au</h4>
<p>The Open Hardware folks - Andy Gelme, Jon Oxer, and many others
working behind the scenes, have something Very Special planned
this year to celebrate 10 years of Open Hardware Miniconf. In
order to both encourage diversity of attendance at OHMC, and to
keep the price point around $AUD 100, Linux Australia has
sponsored the OHMC up to $AUD 4k. <br>
</p>
<h4>Call for bids for LCA2021 extended to end of December</h4>
<p>We've extended the Call for bids for LCA2021 to, whelp, Sunday
night! So if you're thinking of making a bid, get in super super
quick. <br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Again, very best wishes for the holidays,</p>
<p>Kind regards, <br>
</p>
<p>Kathy<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Kathy Reid
President
Linux Australia
0418 130 636
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:president@linux.org.au">president@linux.org.au</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://linux.org.au">http://linux.org.au</a>
Linux Australia Inc
GPO Box 4788
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia
ABN 56 987 117 479 </pre>
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