On Wed, 2004-01-07 at 05:12, Bret Busby wrote: > Whilst not a person who can attend the conferences, and therefore is not > able to take part in the proceedings, surely it would be more practical, > for nominations to be able to be accepted up until the chairman of the > AGM declares nominations closed, immediately before holding the polls > if needed, for the positions, in the course of the AGM? That is, unless > the elections are conducted via email, or otherwise electronically, > allowing absentee votes for people who do not attend the conferences. The current proceedings are being done according to the existing constitution - which *does* place certain limits on a lot of things - esp regarding voting. You CAN put it proxy votes via the secretary NOW - or (from memory) any reasonable time before the AGM (for some reason 24hrs sticks in my head - check announce previous mails/the current constitution for clarification). There is an intent to move to an electronic voting system so that all can be included, and the proposed constitution changes will enable this - but it's just not practical and safe for this one - next year :) We have decided when to close nominations - and this is partially based on constitution (from memory) - you can't keep accepting nominations and have a sane election process. This way, we have set people up for positions, they can be on overhead slides, people at the agm can see who they're voting for and have *already* read the background info about them. I think you'll find what's happenning now will be a lot smoother than last year (kudos to Rusty for keeping it saner than possible). > What is the justification for this "honorary lifetime membership"? What > are the criteria? Whys hould some be able to obtain it and not ebveryone > be automatically eligible for the same benefits? It is a form of recognition for substantial contribution to the organisation - MANY orgs have this - hell, even universities do - honorary diploma's and all that. It's a *great* way of saying "thanks" for people's voluntary work - it's the constitutional equivilent of lots of "rock on" mails. > > Does that not make Linux Australia, a class society, like the cast > system in India, or the English class system? no - this comparison is utter crap. > Hence, once again, it appears that Linux Australia is only an > association of attendees at the annual conference. no - you can go apply via the web interface and have your membership approved without going to the conf - already lots of people have done this. http://www.linux.org.au/membership/ > The whole issue of membership needs resolving, if Linux Australia is to > be more than just an association of attendees at the annual conference. In case you hadn't noticed - we've been working on this for a *long* time. Read the proposed constitution changes - understand them, look at our meeting minutes, look at the membershipdb code, look at the mails about membership, hell - you can even SIGN UP AND GET MEMBERSHIP NOW!!! it'll probably even get approved by the end of the day - maybe in a few hours, or minutes! wow! what else could anybody *possibly* want - flashing lights on the signup page? Well, i'll be happy to reject those patches - only nice things accepted :) > > - Change 23; is unneccessary, Common/Company seals are no longer > > required for companies or associations in NSW (they are > > optional). > > > > Does this by context mean that Linux Australia is NSW, and not federal? > Is that correct; that Linux Australia is not a federal body, but is a > body only of NSW, and therefore only subject to law in NSW? Again, the documentation on this is online and freely available to ALL. LA is registered in NSW - AFAIK you have to be registered in one state, and this is where people who started it came from , and where pres, secretary and treasurer reside - so it's a sane choice. It means we are subject to NSW corp law. An no, we're not a NSW org - i thought that would be pretty clear by now - just like all those other companies registered/based in NSW aren't NSW only. -- Stewart Smith <stewart@linux.org.au> Linux Australia Inc
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