Constitutional Review Working Group

Executive Summary

The Constitutional Review Working Group takes much pleasure in submitting this report to the Annual General Meeting. Due to issues beyond the control of the WG the proposals are to be dealt with in an itemised way rather than as a modified Constitution plus some proposals. A detailed explanation document is attached laying out the thinking and intentions behind the specific proposals which are attached as a separate document.

All proposals marked with a double asterisk ( ** ) will be matters included into a re-written Constitution. All other proposals are policy recommendations.

The Working Group has taken the existing Articles of Association, Bylaws and some policy documents as the basis from which to work. Our primary aim has been to ensure smooth continuity while attempting to tackle the inconsistencies and anomalies that exist in the current structure, and allow for greater membership participation.

There are in fact 30 different proposals being submitted which we encourage people to consider in detail. Briefly though the major ones seek to:

1. Allow the membership to directly elect the Officers

2. Allow the membership to elect replacement Crs due to casual vacancies

3. Allow for simple and timely electronic general meetings and votes

4. Move the timing of the AGM so that members vote on the budget and business plan before the financial year starts

5. Allow for electronic elections of Council and Officers

6. Allow for constituencies to be set up grouping members together in logical constituencies such as ISPs, Registrars and Domain Name Holders.

One fairly constant complaint, typified by an "us and them" argument, is the remoteness of the management process from the membership. There is currently no "constitutional" right of participation by members in the running of the Society. Our proposals are designed to resolve this. Members are currently left to express their displeasure/disappointment of the regime in place at any one time, by their (only) vote at the AGM or by a fairly cumbersome process of calling an SGM. We have attempted to fix this problem while recognising that those making a serious commitment of time and energy to the functioning of the Society should also have their rights and commitments constitutionally recognised.

We have not attempted to move the Society to a participatory structure, as some have suggested, but instead to improve the control members have over Council actions through better participatory mechanisms. Our proposals are aimed at bringing the Society into line with most other Member based Societies where the Members can all volunteer their time to undertake the work of the Society in the areas where they are most interested/qualified.

The original Articles were written at a time when the number of NZ Internet users was (relatively) small as was the Society. The numbers of users has grown dramatically and the responsibilities of the Society, and the tasks the Society wishes to undertake, have also grown. We hope that the proposals we are making will better enable the Society to fulfill its responsibilities for the future, and in particular create a structure where the technical side of the Society dealing with the *.nz management can be defined separately from the social side dealing with education and general policy.

Thank you for taking the time to examine the documents.

THE CONSTITUTIONAL REVIEW WORKING GROUP.

©2000 The Internet Society of New Zealand
Last updated 5 June 2001