AGM
Annual General Meeting, 19 April 2008
Annual General Meeting, Saturday 19 April 2008, Australian National University
Present: Clive Moore (UQ), Katerina Teaiwa (ANU), Margaret Jolly (ANU), Paul Sharrad (UW), Philippe Watek-Tailiu (Voice of Melanesia), Sonia Lacabanne (UniNew Caledonia), Pamella Zeplin (UniSA), Samantha Rose (QUT), Tony Krone (Canberra), Keren Ruki (ANU), Dirk Spennemann (CSU), Mark Hayes (UQ), Vilsoni Hereniko (UH), Helen Ware (UNE), Nic Macllellan (Melbourne), Greg Fry (ANU), Doug Hunt (JCU), Paul D'Arcy (ANU), Stewart Firth (ANU), Sean Dorney (ABC, Brisbane), Max Quanchi (QUT), Grant McCall (UNSW), Paterisio Nunu (USP), Helen Hill (VU), Maureen Powles (UniMelbourne), Guy Powles (Monash), Elaine Elemani (Canberra), Deveni Temu (ANU) (and ten delegates who did not sign the attendance sheet)
1. Apologies: Jutta Malnic, Martha Macintyre, Joycelin Leahy, Roy McCleod, Tracey Mar, David Baker, Susan Cochrane, Yvonne Carillo Huffman, Seini and Latai Taumoepeau, Peter Larmour, Paul Turnbull.
2. The Minutes of previous AGM from 2006 were accepted.
3. Reports
President’s Report. (A written Report was circulated and had been previously emailed to all members.) Clive Moore (President) elaborated on several points:
• The history of AAAPS and its first conference and AGM at QUT in 2006.
• The objectives of AAAPS and its activities between 2006 and 2008.
• Projects
• The Website was under construction at Griffith University
• National report - Samantha Rose was appointed as the Research Officer for the National Report on Pacific Studies.
• Redcliffe communication and community liaison workshop
• Australian South Sea Islanders community workshop
• Museum and Gallery curators workshops (Brisbane and Canberra)
• The shortfall ($50000 not the promised $70000) and procrastination in transferring the funds from ICEAPS to AAAPS and the resultant slowing of the Associations rate of progress, were noted.
• The need to develop suitable communication methods between members of the Executive and the ordinary members was noted.
Treasurer and Legal Officer’s Report. A written Report by Katy Leroy was circulated and had been previously emailed to all members. Clive Moore noted the main points in the report, particularly the recommendation to open a bank account.
Vice President’s Report; Margaret Jolly gave a verbal report which amplified some of the points raised by the President.
Secretary’s report; Katerina Teaiwa gave a verbal report which amplified some of the points raised by the President and Vice-President. It was noted that the work of the AAAPS had been hindered by three unplanned changes in the Secretary position since the Carseldine conference – from Michael Morgan, to Peter Larmour to Katerina Teaiwa.
Business arising from the Reports
• The need for possible revisions to the Constitution was discussed and the decision was made to refer the matter back to the Executive.
• The need for improved communications between universities and across all states and territories between members and the Executive and within the Executive was discussed.
• The issue of fees was discussed and it was agreed not to levy any as yet, but that the matter be further discussed by the Executive.
• The status of the electronic journal Pacific Currents was reported on by Margaret Jolly.
• Challenges arising from the Association’s infrastructure were noted.
• The need for an improved membership record was noted.
• A call to move beyond a Queensland-Canberra focus in the Executive leadership was noted.
4. Election of office bearers: An election was conducted by the Secretary, and a voting sheet with a list of nominations for all positions was circulated. This had previously been distributed to all members by email. The meeting decided to re-open nominations and several members not previously nominated were co-opted or elected as corresponding or ordinary committee members, including Vilsoni Hereniko (UH liaison) Helen Hill (forthcoming conference convenor) , Sean Dorney (media liaison), Sonia Lacabanne (New Caledonia liaison) , and Elaine Elemani (community liaison). Executive positions were contested by members from across Australia, and four new Executive members were elected – two from Canberra, one from Sydney and one from Brisbane (McCall, D’Arcy, Quanchi and Ruki) and three members of the previous executive (Moore, Jolly and Leahy) were returned. Thirty-four members voted. Results of the election were; President, Clive Moore; Vice President, Grant McCall Secretary, Max Quanchi Treasurer, Paul D'Arcy Publications Margaret Jolly Community Liaison Joycelyn Leahy Keren Ruki Conference Convener Helen Hill Ordinary Members Chris Ballard, Susan Cochrane, Jennifer Corrin, Sean Dorney, Elaine Elamani, Vilisoni Hereniko, Sonia Lacabanne, Tracy Banivaua Mar, Stewart Firth, Agnes Hannan, Katy Leroy, Ivan Molloy, Ewan Maidment, Irene Paulsen, Paul Sharrad, Katerina Teaiwa, Paul Turnbull, Philippe Watek-Tariliu, Pamela Zeplin.
5. Other Business:
5.1 Incorporation. This would continue to be based in the ACT with the position of Public Officer transferred to Paul D'Arcy.
5.2 Pacific Currents: the plan is for two issues this year if there is enough material. There was discussion of a need for a refereed journal, but this was rejected.
5.3 National Report: Samantha Rose had been hired and survey forms were circulated. It was queried by the Secretary whether the survey forms had been approved by the Executive. (They had been prepared and checked by Clive Moore and Max Quanchi, the two designated leaders of the National Report project). It was also suggested that further information should be sought if the data collected by using the forms appeared to be inadequate. (This role was already noted in the project job description) It was also suggested that more of an emphasis on outreach be added. (One of the survey forms distributed at the conference was already specifically designed for this purpose)
5.4 Bank account - it was agreed one should be opened
5.5 Communications between the Executive - phone conferencing was suggested.
5.6 Change of name. It was proposed (by Ron Crocombe) that the “Australian” in AAAPS be dropped and the association work towards a change of ideology for the association to be more inclusive of Pacific Studies beyond Australia. It was pointed out that the proposed change was not possible without alteration to the Incorporation status of the Association, and would change the intent of its founders. This was discussed at length and the matter remained unresolved. The original motion was not put to the meeting.
5.7 Membership. An urgent strategy for increasing membership was needed.
5.8 An updated list of members was needed. It was suggested that a task to create a new data base might be included in the National Report role.
5.9 Next Conference. It was agreed after a discussion of possible sites, that Melbourne would host the next conference, subsequent to further discussions with Helen Hill at Victoria University, and others. Paul Sharrad at Wollongong, Max Quanchi at QUT and Vilisoni Hereniko at UHawaii were also noted as possible hosts for future conferences. It was decided the conference should stay scheduled for a weekend, and probably move to a January 2010 timeslot.
5.10 Conference Statement to the Australian Government. It was moved (by Max Quanchi and Grant McCall) that a conference statement to sent to the Prime Minister and the Secretary for Pacific Islands Affairs. A motion to write and submit a statement authorized by AAAPS was carried, with the proviso that the sections on the AYAD scheme and the Guest Worker scheme be re-written. The rewritten “Conference Statement” was to be circulated to the Executive for comment before being posted.
5.11 Rotation of Executive positions. It was moved (by Margaret Jolly) and carried that Executive positions be rotated should in principle to avoid any institution or personnel remaining in leadership too long. The meeting closed at 10.30am.