RAAus Elections

[Gnarly Gnu]

I don't believe anyone would miss out because of the extraordinary situation where they were not financial when they sent their vote in but were financial when it was counted.

It's not at all extraordinary, folk can send in certificate renewals / payment late for a variety of reasons and RaAus also take a few days to process them. "I don't believe" is not convincing when one of the election scrutineers has advised us above that this does indeed happen.

 

 

[David Isaac]

This is not acceptable practice. A vote may be posted in weeks beforehand - what counts is that the member is financial on the day of vote counting.

GG I am not so sure about that. Id have to look at the constitution which is weak in many areas.

My understanding is that a member must be financial at the time of voting. The member cannot vote until the voting papers are produced which is only a few weeks ahead of vote close. The vote should be valid if the member is financial at the time it is received. But that also has its problems and I never asked the returning officer if they assessed the validity of membership on the basis of the official vote close date or the date at which the vote was received.

 

If a member votes and subsequently finds they are not financial, it would be the responsibility of the member to become financial before the vote period closed and then contact the returning officer to advise that the members vote is valid at the time of vote close.

 

Assumptions on my part, but I think sawing sawdust. I would think that if my membership was valid on the day RA Aus receive the vote it may be a defensible position ... but then again I should read the constitution again because it was a few years ago.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks David that clears things up. Hopefully we will know Monday the make up of the post AGM board.

Of course, for the winner of the NSW/ACT contest, his board term commences as soon as the poll is declared. The new SA rep commences their term at the next AGM at Bundaberg on 10th October.

 

 

[kgwilson]

An election is held at a specific point in time and votes must be cast by a predetermined time to be valid. For example if the vote must be received at RAAus by 4:00pm on 28 August 2015 that is the closing time for votes to be received. The votes can then be validated against the membership register of those whose membership is current at that point in time. That does not mean if you have just renewed your membership at 3pm via the internet you would be deemed to be current as processing would not have taken place to update the membership on the RAAus database & the member notified by 4:00pm. Once validated say from 5:0opm counting can take place and this should be in the presence of an appointed scrutineer/s. Once votes have been counted and the scrutineers/s agree the count is valid they should sign it off and the results can be announced. In this case probably by about 5:15pm.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Unless you are avoiding overtime . . . or ?

 

 

[turboplanner]

Unless you are avoiding overtime . . . or ?

there is an anomaly.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Wouldn't it be nice if we had as many people actually voting, as are taking the time to pick the precess to pieces right now ?

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Or even making their point to the Board or Management.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

Sigh.. I thought you'd be sick of my emails by now. Next time I'm

 

I'm Canberra I'll be sure pop in and see what bin our letters get tossed into?

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Sigh.. I thought you'd be sick of my emails by now. Next time I'mI'm Canberra I'll be sure pop in and see what bin our letters get tossed into?

Please do you'll be impressed....you also have the option of course of attending the AGM in Bundaberg with any questions, and being present as a member and observer at the board meeting. I 'll be looking for your smiling face .

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Put your questions on notice to get the best answer on the day.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

Please do you'll be impressed....you also have the option of course of attending the AGM in Bundaberg with any questions, and being present as a member and observer at the board meeting. I 'll be looking for your smiling face .

I'll do my best to get out of work and attend

 

 

[rhysmcc]

Congrats to Don Ramsay and Barry Windle on winning the elections in NSW and South Australia.

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks Rhys.

 

Thanks to all who exercised their democratic right and voted in NSW/ACT and SA.

 

Thanks to those who voted and have put me on the Board at an absolutely pivotal time for RAAus. We have the major issue of our form of Association and Governance and a new, fully revised Tech Manual and the next update on the Ops Manual to be released.

 

This is going to be a very interesting but demanding period for all Board Members.

 

Feel free to review my pre-election statement and hold me to it.

 

As I have long argued, I do not see the benefit of "Regions" and will be happy to talk to any member from any part of Australia, not just NSW/ACT.

 

 

[coljones]

Below are the voting results for the recent election:

 

NSW

 

Don Ramsay 284 votes

 

Barry Wrenford 95 votes

 

Informal votes 4

 

SA

 

Barry Windle 112 votes

 

Jim McDowall 85 votes

 

Informal votes 2

 

There were 29 invalid votes

 

A goodly turnout and thanks to all who continue to make democracy possible (although I do worry about the other 2700 odd in NSW who didn't vote)

 

 

[facthunter]

Don, Regional representation may seem like representative democracy and could be a requirement in the constitution as it's writ being a national body. I agree with you that the issue of favouring certain areas shouldn't be a problem. Australia IS a BIG place. Congratulations on your vote, and good on the others for running. I've always been of the view that it's a thankless task to represent people who often DON'T know what is involved and assume the worst motives when you just want to get on with the job, to the best of your ability and opportunity presented. I hope we get a good TEAM effort and communicate amongst each other and the membership. There is a lot of knowledge out within the ranks and we would get a better result if we used it effectively. I'm very pro RAAus and hope it keeps going for a long time. Nev

 

 

[DonRamsay]

Thanks Nev.

 

We certainly have a very interesting and challenging time over the next 18 months. It will be good to see the Constitutional Reform process that I kicked off in 2012 take some big steps forward.

 

Improving the two-way communication is still going to be one of the biggest challenges and close to the top of the list for me is our awful website. It makes CASA's website look exemplary!

 

In the future, with perhaps a smaller Board of better qualified individuals, I'd still like there to be a form of Regional contact person(s). A sort of local RAAus "go to" person for members who are encountering difficulties with the Administration. Not everybody is comfortable with presenting their issues to the office and/or the CEO. A local person could assist and be known to one or more Board Members and the CEO and facilitate the two way comms that help to break down barriers. I've been doing that sort of thing for the last few years myself.

 

 

[rhysmcc]

Sounds like the perfect avenue for club affiliates or FTF(CFIs).

 

Hopefully Don you'll soon be in the loop and can provide an update to us members on the status of the Constitutional Reform, Modernisation Project (Website/Database) and some of the other board motions that haven't yet come to fruit (CTA/MTOW increase etc).

 

 

[DonRamsay]

I look forward to being briefed on all those matters and, in due course, contributing.

 

We will once again run into the reasonable "Board Confidentiality" thing though. The Board must be free to have wide ranging discussions on a topic and arrive (by vote if necessary) at a single Board position. So, those discussions must remain confidential but the outcome, the decisions, need to be communicated at the earliest opportunity.

 

It will be interesting for me to see the Board culture as it has developed since the bad old days. We've had some very good people on the Board working very hard and unfortunately, that would not be obvious to those of us not at the centre.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Don, Congratulations on your election to the board for the second time. I certainly look forward to working with you on a more official level.

 

I know we both share similar inspirations, those being the continued long-term health of the organization and the continued well being of all members.

 

See you in Bundaberg in a few weeks.

 

 

[Ada Elle]

We will once again run into the reasonable "Board Confidentiality" thing though. The Board must be free to have wide ranging discussions on a topic and arrive (by vote if necessary) at a single Board position. So, those discussions must remain confidential but the outcome, the decisions, need to be communicated at the earliest opportunity.

As a general principle of good governance, though, should it not be:

 

• no decisions without meetings
   
   
  
• no meetings without minutes
   
   
  
• no secret meetings without justification
   
   
  

 

 

 

 

[turboplanner]

Yes Ada, the secrecy just goes on and on. I've managed to run Associations in total transparency, with the sole exception of in camera meetings to discuss penalties for bad behaviour, and the members always knew all the facts all the time and could, and did provide robust input.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Yes Ada, the secrecy just goes on and on. I've managed to run Associations in total transparency, with the sole exception of in camera meetings to discuss penalties for bad behaviour, and the members always knew all the facts all the time and could, and did provide robust input.

I don't think secrecy is a fair word to use here.....there has to be a certain level of company/ business confidential...any large company has that in place to protect its interests against competition.

This board has a policy to be open and transparent when possible, and you must agree there has been a lot more communication between Canberra and the members in the past two years....where before you got nothing.

 

 

[David Isaac]

I don't think secrecy is a fair word to use here.....there has to be a certain level of company/ business confidential...any large company has that in place to protect its interests against competition.This board has a policy to be open and transparent when possible, and you must agree there has been a lot more communication between Canberra and the members in the past two years....where before you got nothing.

Maj,

while I may agree in principle, you opened yourself up on this one. RAAus is NOT a company ...( yet) ... it is an association of members; and until that changes that is how it should be managed.

 

 

[coljones]

I don't think secrecy is a fair word to use here.....there has to be a certain level of company/ business confidential...any large company has that in place to protect its interests against competition.This board has a policy to be open and transparent when possible, and you must agree there has been a lot more communication between Canberra and the members in the past two years....where before you got nothing.

The board meetings, under the rules, are open to members unless, for a small period, they are closed to examine a narrow range of interests. "Commercial in Confidence" is more an excuse to hide the truth than a fair tool of business in a democratic society. Right up there with "National Security", "Operational Matters" and "Cabinet Confidentiality".

I urge all those attending the AGM to hang around and hear the Board meeting.