Proposed Changes to the RA-Aus Constitution - Process

[DonRamsay]

In the August edition of Sport Pilot fifteen amendments to the Constitution of RA-Aus have been proposed. It is important that all RA-Aus members have a good look at the changes proposed and make up their mind about whether they are for the betterment of our Association or not and cast their vote accordingly.

 

Votes may only be cast by voting in person at the AGM at Narromine on 13th September 2013 or by nominating a proxy to vote for them at the AGM.

 

For the proposed changes to adopted, they require the support of 75% of all votes cast either in person or by proxy. This is, as it should be, a tough test to pass. It ensures that a change is adopted only when an overwhelming majority support the change.

 

To assist members who are unfamiliar with the Constitution and/or the reasons for, and intent of, the proposed changes, we will have a few separate threads on here where the "before" and "after" picture are listed, the reasons for the change and the effect of the change.

 

The proposed Special Resolutions range from a self-explanatory correction of a minor "typo" through to a complex change involving changes to three Rules to achieve the stated aim.

 

You are invited to ask questions and present comments in this thread on the Process of Changing the Constitution.

 

This can include anything you like from how the Proxy system works to, the Constitution Review Committee to, well, you name it.

 

I will progressively start other threads so that we can consider particular proposed Special Resolutions separately.

 

Prior to finalising the draft of the Special Resolutions, they were provided to, amongst others, the Board, the Constitution Review Committee, members of the Restructure Committee and the management of RA-Aus for their review and comment. Some very useful improvements came back and were incorporated in the final version printed in SportPilot. I'd especially like to thank the Constitution Review Committee for their suggestions.

 

 

[winsor68]

Awesome work Don and all the others involved especially those board members who are assisting... there may be hope for the old girl yet.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks Don.

 

I've now opened threads for all of the proposed Special Resolutions with the exception of SRs 1, 2 & 7 which are pretty straight forward and unlikely to trouble anyone.

 

Thanks to Ian Baker for allowing (encouraging more likely) this extensive presentation of the proposed amendments.

 

So, over to you . . .

 

 

[Tiger]

Very well done and presented.

 

Overall these thoughts indicate a lot of inputs from many members collectively, and includes the reform and constitutional committee.

 

Lets get behind these motions and have them passed.

 

Send in your proxy form to help achieve this. The more proxies obtained the stronger the vote will indicate that you the membership does really care about our association

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Apologies for reviving this thread but it seemed like the right place to remind all that Proxies have to be in the hands of RA-Aus by 1000 on Thursday,12th September 2013. If you give your Proxy to somebody, RA-Aus has to get a copy and the person who received the Proxy will want to bring a copy with him/her to the AGM.

 

So, last chance to have your say. I will of course be at the AGM and am happy to carry anyone's Proxy.

 

PM me if you need my address and member number.

 

Don

 

 

[DWF]

OK. The AGM has been over for hours now (I hope).

 

How did the vote on the Special Resolutions go?

 

Anything else interesting to report?

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I just got off the phone speaking with Don. A few of the motions had my name as seconder so I was equally interested in how things went.

 

Apparently 11 of the 15 mentions have been accepted.

 

The ones that failed were:-

 

6 yr max term for board members

 

AGM at Natfly

 

Rewrite of secretary's duties

 

and another that I wasn't told of.

 

Apparently Ed Herring voted against every motion saying they should have been put through the CRC. Don responded that they were provided to the CRC for comment and change as appropriate....Spencer Ferrier then stood up and said he felt that all of the motions were appropriate and he personally supported them all.

 

Apparently Middo wont be standing for an exec position but will stay for his term, the inference being (and I may have inferred wrongly!) that at the end of his current term he wont be standing again.

 

The candidates for each exec position are appropriate and there is choice for president which seems like a positive step

 

Andy

 

 

[rankamateur]

Middo staying for the remainder of his term will save us forking out for a by-election, acting in the best interests of the organisation, good to see.

 

 

[dodo]

The ones that failed were:-

6 yr max term for board members

 

AGM at Natfly

 

Rewrite of secretary's duties

 

and another that I wasn't told of.

Rewrite of Treasurers position, I think.

 

Apparently Ed Herring voted against every motion saying they should have been put through the CRC. Don responded that they were provided to the CRC for comment and change as appropriate....Spencer Ferrier then stood up and said he felt that all of the motions were appropriate and he personally supported them all.

Yes - the only reasonable interpretation I can put on Ed's rationale is that he may have discussed it with the members whose proxies he held, and perhaps he thought he would be letting them down. Any other explanation would be unpleasant.

 

Apparently Middo wont be standing for an exec position but will stay for his term, the inference being (and I may have inferred wrongly!) that at the end of his current term he wont be standing again

I didn't get that inference. I think he is just tired, and wants a break from the exec responsibility.

I had to leave early, so missed the questions on notice and the open forum questions: did anything interesting come up?

 

dodo

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Flew back this afternoon to avoid weather that was predicted. Bumpy flight with a 20+ knots tailwind and CAVOK. But for the turbulence, it would have been a very quick flight. Even at reduced speed was still seeing 125 kts ground speed.

 

I was selected by CASA for a drugs and alcohol test just before departure. Negative to both of course. This is an initiative I strongly support and thanked the poor CASA bloke doing the tests. He offered the helpful tip to be aware that Codeine is an opiate and could give you a positive reading on the drugs test. E.g. Codral cold tablets and headache pills.

 

Meeting went well and has largely been correctly reported here. The one Andy was not told was the requirement for a Board Member, if booted off by a vote in a General Meeting to stay off the Board fro Two years. e Board did not like that one at all. There was a suggestion that "special interest groups" could unfairly punish a Board Member.

 

The vote counts are now up on the RA-Aus website.

 

The Board, particularly the longer serving members and those who may have been feeling threatened voted heavily against the resolutions restricting them to three terms and to having to stay off the Board for two years if they were kicked off by a vote in a General Meeting. The Secretary's duties amendment was intended to make the Secretary responsible for things happening rather than him/her having to do the actual duties. Everyone was surprised that didn't get up as, visually, the only person who voted against it was Ed Herring and his many proxies.

 

The question on Notice from Arthur was a bit of a bombshell. He asked how much the QC's advice cost for Runciman regarding the Feb EGM and what did the advice say. It cost $1,800 and so far Runciman has refused to let anyone see it even though it was paid for by RA-Aus Members Funds. The President has zero delegated authority from the Board to spend money. That is $nil. This one is not finished and Runciman is either going to have to pay for the advice or release it.

 

Very smelly!

 

All in all, I was satisfied by the Meeting. Our proposed amendments got a fair hearing, were overwhelmingly supported by members not on the Board or cronies of the Board. 75% is a high hurdle (as it should be) so getting 11 through was a not a bad result.

 

Board Member Michael Apps was particularly supportive of the initiatives speaking passionately in favour of ones like the max three terms for Board Members.

 

Thanks to all who took a keen interest and voted. Next time all 9,500 members will be able to vote by postal vote without having to worry about a proxy making it to the meeting. That will be the beginning of real democracy!

 

Counting votes and Proxies was done by two RA-Aus stalwarts in Ken McCloskey and Max Brown. Under very difficult circumstances they did a great job of it.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

The arguments for not having the AGM at Natfly revolved around the inconvenience for staff and Board members. While I felt this lacked customer focus those opposing had sufficient vote to block the proposal.

 

I was very disappointed at the approach of Ed Herring who had a big swag of Proxies. I believe his stand was illogical because all of the proposals had been cleared with the Constitution Review Committee and all their recommendations incorporated into the proposed changes. Wen Spencer Ferrier declared his support for all proposals, it made Ed look a bit . . . And when he voted against a typo being corrected there was a bit of a titter through the room.

 

But, as I told Ed, he is entitled to his view.

 

 

[DWF]

G'day Don

 

Thank you for all your work researching, preparing and presenting these amendments. It has been a good first step in revamping our association.

 

I, too, was surprised that SR 5 regarding the Secretary Duties did not get up. It seemed to be a no brainer to me.

 

Voter turnout, including proxies, was a bit disappointing at about 250 out of 9500 members - only 2.6% approx.

 

Next time, a bit more notice and an opportunity for member debate of the resolutions before hand (plus a bit more lobbying) may produce more interest.

 

Congratulations on getting 11 out of 15 SRs through.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

 

 

DWF

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Thanks for a concise report, Don. (I had to leave before the legal advice item came up.) Also a huge thank you for your tireless work to reform our association.

 

I had a great flight home, with 20-30 knot tailwind up high. My ground speed was like a big fast aeroplane, but the turbulence on descent was a reminder just how little it really is!

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Well done Don, that's a good result indeed.................Cheers Ross...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Old Koreelah, Yes strange WX patterns ATM. I flew up the coast from Proserpine to Townsville the other morning, which is a route I am very familiar with, and had a strange NEasterly causing massive drift up top, with a northerly on the ground.

 

Never seen that combo in some years of flying this area . Good to see you got a fly in, bit far for me this time.......Cheers Ross

 

 

[kgwilson]

Thanks for your efforts Don. It was a good result.

 

It seems like certain people were very active in obtaining proxies for only a few specific resolutions. The total vote count for each resolution varied between 236 and 270 so there were either abstentions at the meeting (& if so why bother being there) or some proxies had no opinion on some of the resolutions.

 

The one thing I'd like to see changed in the future is the Proxy system being revoked and only postal voting and actual attendance votes being allowed. The possibility of undue influence and the inability to verify proxies easily are the very reasons why (when the model constitution was written under the NSW Associations Incorporation Act 2009), they were specifically not permitted under Clause 33. The act specifically states that postal voting must be allowed (as well as it being specified in Clause 34 of the model constitution) and, as the Act must be complied with and holds precedence over all Incorporated Associations constitutions, it is a strong recommendation that Proxy voting be removed.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Good to hear from you Ross. Lots of things conspired to keep me from getting to Ausfly, but I eventually triumphed.

 

A fuel supply problem was the main issue, and I made good use of your fuel flow and pressure guages in diagnosing the problem. In case others can benefit, I will post under the correct section.

 

 

[facthunter]

Thanks Don. You should view the results with some personal pride. One never gets everything first go. Thanks to all the others who kicked in their efforts too.

 

Bags full of UNDIRECTED proxies are a corruption. At any special or Annual GM all the agenda items are known so anybody can state how the want their proxy vote cast on any matter, so take ONLY DIRECTED proxy votes. Australia is a big place and not all interested people can get to these meetings. I wonder IF those who gave Herring their proxies would agree with the way he used those proxies, in all cases. I doubt it. Nev

 

 

[DonRamsay]

. . . Voter turnout, including proxies, was a bit disappointing at about 250 out of 9500 members - only 2.6% approx.

Thanks DWF. The drafting of the Special Resolutions involved around 15 direct contributors and another 25 or so who reviewed them for us. It was a big job.

 

 

Regarding the low voter turnout, I think in part it was due to the difficult Proxy voting system. I am hoping our amendment to introduce Postal Voting will lift member participation in our democracy considerably.

 

 

 

If the voter turnout had been better, the self-interest of some Board Members (Reid, Middleton) would have been defeated by the ordinary members. This is particularly so for the max 3 terms (6 years) before taking a 2 year break and the requirement for a dismissed Board Member to take two years off.

 

 

 

 

Next time, a bit more notice and an opportunity for member debate of the resolutions before hand (plus a bit more lobbying) may produce more interest.[/Quote]

From here on my plan was to feed ideas to the Constitution Review Committee. I really only put these Special Resolutions because the CRC seemed to be in recess. Spencer Ferrier, Lynn Jarvis, Ken McCloskey and Max Brown are good men all and we should all get in behind them.

 

Even still, every one of the 9500 ordinary members are perfectly entitled to put motions for Special Resolutions to a General Meeting (despite Ed Herring thinking otherwise and voting against Every amendment "on principle").

 

The next opportunity to further Constitution reform is the General Meeting at Temora at Natfly over Easter 2014. I would be surprised (& disappointed) if the CRC did not have major reforms put to a vote at Natfly.

 

Perhaps as people come up with ideas for reform they could be posted in a new thread especially for that purpose?

 

Don

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks for a concise report, Don. (I had to leave before the legal advice item came up.) Also a huge thank you for your tireless work to reform our association.I had a great flight home, with 20-30 knot tailwind up high. My ground speed was like a big fast aeroplane, but the turbulence on descent was a reminder just how little it really is!

Thanks OldK. I also enjoyed a big tailwind on the way home but, due to turbulence I had to keep my airspeed below 90 kts.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks for your efforts Don. It was a good result.

Yes, in the end it was a good result. I underestimated the resistance put up by the old guard on the Board. I have no doubt that some of the changes we put up but were defeated will eventually be accepted, especially the AGM at Natfly. There is a bit of work to do that one and I am satisfied we have more urgent things to work on than moving the AGM.

 

It seems like certain people were very active in obtaining proxies for only a few specific resolutions. The total vote count for each resolution varied between 236 and 270 so there were either abstentions at the meeting (& if so why bother being there) or some proxies had no opinion on some of the resolutions.

a fair few attendees did not come back to the meeting after lunch. Those that hung on to the end deserve a medal because this was pretty dry stuff and there was a great air show going on back at the Airfield!

 

The one thing I'd like to see changed in the future is the Proxy system being revoked and only postal voting and actual attendance votes being allowed. The possibility of undue influence and the inability to verify proxies easily are the very reasons why (when the model constitution was written under the NSW Associations Incorporation Act 2009), they were specifically not permitted under Clause 33. The act specifically states that postal voting must be allowed (as well as it being specified in Clause 34 of the model constitution) and, as the Act must be complied with and holds precedence over all Incorporated Associations constitutions, it is a strong recommendation that Proxy voting be removed.

I agree strongly. Counting proxies was a nightmare. If they had had to be applied at the Feb EGM we'd still be there counting.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks Don. You should view the results with some personal pride. One never gets everything first go. Thanks to all the others who kicked in their efforts too.Bags full of UNDIRECTED proxies are a corruption. At any special or Annual GM all the agenda items are known so anybody can state how the want their proxy vote cast on any matter, so take ONLY DIRECTED proxy votes. Australia is a big place and not all interested people can get to these meetings. I wonder IF those who gave Herring their proxies would agree with the way he used those proxies, in all cases. I doubt it. Nev

Thanks Nev. As I've indicated above, I much prefer postal voting and would love to see the back of proxies.

 

 

[storchy neil]

don thanks this is not over yet

 

those blasted proxy votes are a night mare at any AGM they should not be allowed attend in person or postal votes only

 

yes I did stay until I lost the plot compleatly at the end thought I could handle it but i was wrong

 

my problems with my plane started with that old guard

 

but I have spoken with Daran no garantees and gentalemans agreement and I feel that may be some good may come off my dummy spit now that it out in the open covering up is only going to make things worst

 

as I said wayne was very concerned as to my problem and the way it was handled at the beginning as was ed herring thank you wayne and ed

 

what was getting to me was the fact that planes were getting damaged and the pilot was to blame

 

some of the l2 getting aprovel after a five minute course should not happen

 

spoke to rotax and showed them a hard copy of their installation manual as some planes do not comply to their installation manual regarding the fitting of rotax motors ie return line to tank

 

the installation manual is not a guide or a recommendation it is an actual installation manual don't follow it at your own risk

 

I was very disappointed that so many did not come back after lunch I wonder will they be the first to complain when the fan dirties the wall again neil