It’s almost the end of the consultation period for the proposed governance changes which will be considered at the AGM in May.

The period for members to provide feedback for consideration for the final form of the proposed changes closes tomorrow at 8pm AET.

You have until then to have your say at constitution@architecture.com.au.

There has been a request from the Institute’s Gender Equity Committee that there be specific rules requiring gender balance inserted into the Articles for appointments to the Board.

There’s no question over support for gender balance and we had intended to enshrine this aspiration in the respective National Council and Board Charters. Having considered the feedback however, we are now reviewing how this might be included in the revised Articles, as a mandatory requirement, in a manner that will deliver gender balance and still maintain an appropriately democratic process for appointments by the elected members on the National Council. We are consulting with the Gender Equity Committee and will advise the outcome of these deliberations when the final version of the proposed changes are issued to members in a couple of weeks.

Other responses so far have generally been positive. There have been a number of queries about the extent of National Council’s influence on the proposed Board.

It’s not legally possible for the National Council to dictate to the Board what it should do. However, we’ve put in a number of measures to make sure the Board is very aware of National Council’s priorities, suggestions, strategies and responses to member needs, as follows:

• National Council elects all the Board members one way or another, and except for the president (who has already been ordained as the president-elect the year before) and the Immediate Past President, the other board positions come up for renewal every year.
• The quorum, and make-up of the Board at its full capacity, prevent the National Councillors on the Board being outvoted by the independent members.
• National Council will generate the Board’s Charter, nominating which kinds of matters it requires the Board to consult it about.
• By separating the two so that the Board deals with the legal, compliance and other fiduciary matters, the National Council will have more time to concentrate on the things that matter for you, the members.

 

To those of you that have provided feedback already, thank you. For everyone else you can still have your say at constitution@architecture.com.au before 8pm AET tomorrow. We also encourage eligible members to vote at the AGM in person or by proxy.