On 17 May 2017, the Australian Childcare Alliance (ACA) NSW held its Special General Meeting in accordance to the resolution of its Annual General Meeting in November 2017. This Special General Meeting was also preceded by a webinar-based consultation session conducted to explain the proposed constitutional amendments to members and presented by Janette Li from Meridian Lawyers and ACA NSW CEO Chiang Lim.
As a result of the two proposed packages of constitutional amendments, the following summarises what were accepted by members present at the Special General Meeting:
- all editorial amendments;
- expansion of association income sources to the broadest possible;
- streamlining of Executive Committee members provisions;
- clarification of Governance provisions;
- introduction of an Independent Membership Review Committee made up of Past Presidents and/or Past Vice-Presidents;
- expansion of Membership Catchment to beyond NSW;
- expansion of the types of centre-based childcare services as members;
- clarification of Delegation of Executive Committee’s Powers;
- introduction of the Use of Technology for Executive Committee Meetings, Special General Meetings and Annual General Meetings; and
- the removal of the President’s 5-year term limits.
The following summarises the constitutional amendments that were rejected:
- the alternative Executive Committee Election process, including the associated 2-year terms;
- the formal introduction External Committee Members; and
- and the reduction of the minimum number of Executive Committee meetings per year.