Internet Australia AGM 2017

The 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Internet Society of Australia will be held on:

Thursday the 12th October, at 16:30 AEDT at Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts 280 Pitt St, Sydney NSW 2000.

Remote access

Remote access is available via Zoom. This is a web and phone-based conferencing system.

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/644904182

Or iPhone one-tap :
Australia: 0280152088,,644904182# or 021800792488,,644904182# (Toll Free)

Or Telephone：

Australia: 02 8015 2088 | Meeting ID: 644 904 182

For members outside Australia, local dial-in numbers are available here:
https://zoom.us/zoomconference?

Voting/Proxy Forms

A member of the Society is entitled to attend and vote, or appoint a proxy to attend and vote on their behalf. A proxy need not be a member.

To appoint a proxy, you must submit a valid Proxy Form at least 48 hours before the time and date scheduled for the Meeting, ie by 11:00am AEDT on Tuesday 10th October 2017. Proxy forms should be sent as an attachment to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

• Proxy Form (pdf format)
• Proxy Form (odt format)

George Fong

Honorary Secretary, Internet Society of Australia
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Agenda

The Annual General Meeting of the members of the Society will be held for the purpose of considering the following items of ordinary business. Further details and links are in the Explanatory Memorandum (below).

1. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting

The previous Annual General Meeting took place on 12th October 2016.

2. Adoption of Financial Statements and Reports

The Executive Director's and Chair's Reports are here and will be presented.
The following are to be considered, and if thought fit, adopted:

• the profit and loss accounts
• the balance sheet
• the report of the directors
• the draft audit report be accepted on the understanding that it will not be materially different from the signed report

3.  Appointment of Auditor

The meeting to consider the reappointment of Meagher, Howard & Wright of Grafton Street, Bondi Junction, New South Wales as auditors for the financial year 2017/2018 at an amount not exceeding $2000.00 and if agreed, adopted.

4. Resignations of Directors

Retirements after serving a full elected term of three years on the IA Board
There are two vacancies on the Board, due to the required retirement of directors who have served for three years, and the requirement that Directors appointed to a casual vacancy during the year must stand for election at the next AGM. Those directors are George Fong and Cheryl Langdon-Orr.

Retirements after co-option to the Board
There are another two vacancies on the board due to the fact that Laurie Patton and Chris Winter were appointed as directors pursuant to clause 12.3.9 of the Constitution and will not be standing for re-election.

Other Board Vacancies
The following Directors have either confirmed that they will not be standing for re-election, or have tendered their resignations to the Board effective from the date of the 2017 Annual General Meeting
• Chris Disspain (resigned, Director)
• George Fong (retiring, Honorary Secretary)
• Anne Hurley (resigned, Chair)
• Laurie Patton (retiring, Executive Director)
• Chris Winter (retiring, Director)

There will therefore be 7 vacancies available on the Board.

Pursuant to clause 12.3 of the Constitution, members will elect new directors to the Board.

Nomination forms 

Nominations are to be on the form downloadable below, posted or emailed as an attached document, and received by 17:00 Australian Eastern Standard Time on Friday 29 September 2017

Attn: George Fong, Honorary Secretary

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Snail Mail: Suites 17 & 18, Ballarat Technology Park Central, 106 Lydiard Street South, Ballarat Vic 3350

• Nomination form in .odf format
• Nomination form in .pdf format

NOMINATIONS HAVE NOW CLOSED

8 valid nominations were submitted. There are 7 vacancies on the board and as a result, it will be necessary to hold an election, which will be done via an secure electronic voting system.

The nominees, and their Candidate Statements, as they come in,  are listed below.

CANDIDATES AND CANDIDATE STATEMENTS:

1. Greg Adamson - Candidate Statement here
   
   
2. Roger Clarke - Candidate Statement here 
   
   
3. James Horton - Candidate Statemen here
   
   
4. Todd Hubers - Candidate Statement here
   
   
5. Shantnu Kumar - Candidate Statement here
   
   
6. Cheryl Langdon-Orr - Candidate Statement here
   
   
7. Fiona Tweedie - Candidate Statement here
   
   
8. Peter Tonoli - Candidate Statement here

5. Other Business

No Other Business has been notified.

Explanatory Memorandum

1. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting (AGM)

Members will be asked to approve the Minutes of the 2016 Annual General Meeting.
The draft minutes of the 2016 AGM are available here.

2. Adoption of Financial Statements and Reports

The Executive Director’s Report will be presented and will be made available here prior to the meeting. Members will be asked to adopt the Annual Report of the Society, which comprises the Directors' Report, and the profit and loss statement, balance sheet and auditor’s report.
The Directors' Report and financial statements will be published here as soon as they are received.

Financials

• 2016/17 Profit and Loss Statement
• Balance Sheet 30th June 2017
• Treasurer's Report
• Draft Auditor's Report
• Chair's supplementary information on financial accounts for year ended 30 June 2017

3. Resignations of Directors

The Constitution requires that Directors retire at the third AGM following their election.

The retiring directors are:
• Cheryl Langdon-Orr
• George Fong

Laurie Patton and Chris Winter were appointed to the Board during the year and, under the Constitution, must stand at this AGM for election.
There is no barrier to retiring directors standing for re-election. However, George Fong, Laurie Patton and Chris Winter have confirmed to the Board In writing that they will not seek re-election.

Additionally, Anne Hurley and and Chris Disspain have tendered their resignations to the board, effective from the date of the 2017 election.

As mentioned above, there is also one unfilled vacancy on the Board.

As a result of the above there are therefore 7 vacancies available on the Board. The minimum number of directors required is 3 with no more than 12.

Internet Society of Australia

Minutes of the 2016 Annual General Meeting

12 October 2016 at 1:00 pm AEDT

Park Hyatt Hotel Parliament Place, East Melbourne 3002

Meeting declared open at 1.10pm. The Chair declared a quorum.

1. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting

The Minutes of 2015 Annual General Meeting were approved and accepted.

2. Directors' and Draft Financial Reports presented as published on the website and accepted.

The Chair, George Fong, and CEO, Laurie Patton, reported on significant events during the year and answered questions from the floor.

The Treasurer, Craig O’Toole indicated that the Auditors’ Report was not available at the time of the AGM and would be circulated to members as soon as it was available.

3. Resignation/Retirement of Directors. The following directors retired by rotation: Narelle Clarke and Chris Disspain. In addition, Gunela Astbrink and Craig Ng have previously retired since the last AGM.

Anne Hurley was appointed to the Board during the year pursuant to the Constitution and, under the Constitution, must stand at this AGM for election.

4. Appointment of Directors. Narelle Clark,Chris Disspain, Sae Ra Germaine, Anne Hurley were properly nominated for election. There being the same or less than the number of vacancies and nominees, each nominee was declared elected.

5. Other Business. No notice of any items of Special Business had been provided.

The Chair declared the meeting closed at 1:40pm

Keith Besgrove, Secretary, Internet Society of Australia

Internet Australia, the NFP peak body representing Internet users, today applauded the announcement that the Australian Communications and Media will undertake a review of the NBN looking at customer experiences.

"This is something we've been calling for and Senator Fifield is to be commended for acknowledging that this project has serious problems", commented IA's Executive Director Laurie Patton.

In recent days we've seen NBN Co boss Bill Morrow out on what some have called a 'charm offensive'. Clearly the Government has realised what most observers have noted. It's not working.

"Mr Morrow has been spinning so vigorous he must be getting giddy. But the fact remains customer complainants are continuing to rise the more they roll out their inferior, trouble-plagued network".

IA believes their are two problems the Government needs to confront in order to fix the NBN.

"They're using inferior technology employing ageing copper wires that just can't deliver, and their wholesale pricing regime is flawed. All up, this means customers are being served up a product they clearly don't like much".

Media contact:
Laurie Patton | 0418 777700 | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

About Internet Australia
Internet Australia is the not-for-profit peak organisation representing everyone who uses the Internet. Our mission – “Helping Shape Our Internet Future” – is to promote Internet developments for the benefit of the whole community, including business, educational, government and private Internet users. We are a broad member-based organisation not an industry lobby group. Our directors and members hold significant roles in Internet-related organisations and enable us to provide high level policy and technical information to Internet user groups, governments and regulatory authorities. Through our participation as the Australian chapter of the global Internet Society we contribute to the development of international Internet regulations and policies.

Internet Australia has come together with three other organisations to form the Beyond 2020 Alliance. The Beyond 2020 Alliance is the product of an extraordinarily collaborative and good willed process between 4 organisations:

• Linux Australia
• Information Technology Professionals Australia
• Internet Australia
• Telecommunications Association

The intent of this Alliance is to raise the levels of fact and evidence based discussion about the future of a digitally enabled Australia. Science and society, not politics and partisanship, will be the focus, and we intend to lead the change. As stated in the document attached, new conversation is needed to shape Australia’s digital infrastructure Beyond 2020.

 Full Joint Statement on the Beyond 2020 Alliance here