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<p>I don't want to speak for Council, but given my time with that
group (five years in various roles), the following information may
be of interest for the curious: <br>
</p>
<p>Linux Australia Inc.'s constitution can be found here: <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://linux.org.au/about-us/constitution/">https://linux.org.au/about-us/constitution/</a></p>
<p>The relevant sections are 23-34 under "Section 4 - General
Meeting". This gives Council significant leeway in holding AGMs,
as long as the AGM is held not longer than 6 months after the end
of financial year, which is 30th September, IIRC, and as long as
appropriate notice is provided to Members before the AGM - which
is 14 days (per Section 24) unless a special resolution is
proposed, in which case it is 21 days. <br>
</p>
<p>Linux Australia Inc. is an incorporated association in NSW and
therefore falls under the Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW)<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/fta1987117/">http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/fta1987117/</a></p>
<p>"Closing the books" on a financial year, and preparing the Annual
Report, is a significant undertaking for Council. The Treasurer in
particular has to satisfy themselves that the books are correct,
arrange an audit, respond to the auditor's questions and queries,
and prepare an analysis for the Annual General Meeting. Preparing
the Annual Report requires each of the Subcommittees to provide a
report of their activities to Council, Office-Bearers must write
their report for inclusion, and the Annual Report is then
compiled, usually in booklet form. <br>
</p>
<p>You can see previous Annual Reports at: <br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://linux.org.au/about-us/annual-reports/">https://linux.org.au/about-us/annual-reports/</a></p>
<p>At the same time as prepping the Annual Report, the Council must
also arrange an Election for Council, as (per the Constitution),
Council Member terms are 12 months (or so - depending on the AGM
timing). This requires doing all the comms for the Election (call
for nominations, communicating what's required, amending any of
the position descriptions -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions">https://github.com/linuxaustralia/position-descriptions</a>), as well
as setting up the Election in the CiviCRM system that is part of
the backend of linux.conf.au (the Election module was custom built
for LA). While voting is going on, Council then seeks to find a
Returning Officer and briefs them on the Elections, the Election
system and so on. <br>
</p>
<p>This video explains what's involved in being a Returning Officer:
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLqxAIeFY64">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLqxAIeFY64</a><br>
(This includes a walk through of the Elections database and the
x-checks a Returning Officer needs to do). <br>
</p>
<p>Once the Election closes, the Returning Officer satisfies
themselves (or not) that the Election results are valid. The
Election results are announced at the AGM. <br>
</p>
<p>So, there's LOTS of work to prep for an AGM - yes, most of it is
documented internally to LA Council, but it's still lots of work,
and I am sure that Council is planning for all of this prep work
with their AGM timelines. <br>
</p>
<p>Kind regards, <br>
</p>
<p>Kathy Reid<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 16/10/2022 4:43 pm, Marcus Herstik
via linux-aus wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:3C7E3BEA-0C93-44CB-AA10-5BE88786AC60@herstik.com">
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
<br>
Hi Jonathan,
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It wasn’t actually suggested. Rather it was a tongue in cheek
reminder that LA has had this discussion and it has been
decided. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>It appears that some LA members are having issue with the EO
conference, which I just noticed has it’s own mail list now. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>I will do a deeper dive into the EO conference later but to
me at first glance it looks remarkably similar to the Linux
Australia Conference (LAConf) and it’s associated miniconfs. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>This to me looks like a direct competitor to the LAConf and
is even covering many of the same topics. </div>
<div>Hence the concern that some of us have had regarding this
conference and the lack of a true “Linux Australia Conference”.
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Also,
I am rather interested as to when the council is planning on
holding its AGM as it now has no conference at which to hold
it. </div>
<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Can
the council provide some indication as to when it intends to
do so? (They may want to check the constitution and the act
too.)</div>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>
<div dir="ltr"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255,
255, 0);">Regards,<br>
Marcus Herstik<br>
<br>
M: <span dir="ltr" style="text-decoration: underline;">0405-569-466</span><br>
A: <span dir="ltr" style="text-decoration: underline;">P.O.
Box 2443, Burleigh Waters, QLD, 4220</span></span></div>
<div dir="ltr"><br>
<blockquote type="cite">On 16 Oct 2022, at 9:44 am, Jonathan
Woithe <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:jwoithe@just42.net"><jwoithe@just42.net></a> wrote:<br>
<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr"><span>Hi everyone</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>It has been suggested in recent threads on this list
that there were moves</span><br>
<span>afoot to change the name of "Linux Australia". As a
current member of the</span><br>
<span>Linux Australia Council I would like to make it clear
that the current</span><br>
<span>council has no desire, intent or plan to revisit this.
The community</span><br>
<span>discussed and voted on a change of name in late 2017,
and the definitive</span><br>
<span>result was that the membership did not wish to alter
the name.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Hypothetically, if any future council wished to
consider a rename (or any</span><br>
<span>other change to the organisation's constitution) it
will be approached</span><br>
<span>similarly to previous such changes: a community
discussion followed by a</span><br>
<span>formal vote by members. No change can be made to the
constitution without</span><br>
<span>an affirmative result from a formal poll of members.</span><br>
<span></span><br>
<span>Regards</span><br>
<span> jonathan</span><br>
<span></span><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
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