auDA Special General Meeting: Statement and Recommendation from the auDA Board

Posted by on 13 July 2017

On 16 June 2017, auDA received a valid request from more than 5% of its members to call a special general meeting as per Section 249D of the Corporations Act.

The SGM has been called for Monday 31 July at 10.30 at the Crown Promenade, 8 Whiteman Street Southbank. A copy of the Notice calling the meeting is on auDA’s website.

A copy of the request for the SGM can be viewed here (PDF).

The initial request contains 4 resolutions.  Acting on legal advice that invalid motions cannot lawfully be put to a meeting of members, the Notice only contains one Motion, seeking to remove the Chair. That motion will therefore be debated. 

The meeting will be chaired by the Deputy Chairman, Erhan Karabardak.

A letter from the CEO explaining why the remaining three motions will not be debated at the meeting has been forwarded to all members and can be viewed here (PDF). auDA’s legal representatives will be in attendance at the meeting, and will be able to expand further on this matter.

auDA is proud of the work it is doing. In the last 10 months, auDA has achieved:

• The development and introduction of organisational and administrative policies to ensure there is complete accountability on expenditure, procurement processes, staff leave, communications and travel;
• Significant organisational improvements with regards to employee performance management, complaints processing and policy compliance;
• Reform of auDA’s security environment, technology architecture and systems administration as well as the introduction of security policies and incident response processes;
• Introduction of a 12-month policy review process to examine the applicability, legality and useability of auDA’s published policies;
• The commencement and implementation of the initial phase of a corporate governance review by Cameron Ralph;
• Overhaul of auDA’s government and stakeholder management processes including a considerable improvement in the organisation’s visibility to and relationship with government;
• Introduction of a comprehensive communications and relationship management program including proactive engagement with key auDA stakeholders such as registrars, in addition to member related initiatives including monthly newsletters, member meet-ups, member survey and consultation with policy development and;
• The implementation of the Registry Transformation Project to identify best-in-class products and services for auDA to manage a dedicated .au registry.

The Board and the organisation are committed to further improvement and reform of auDA, to ensure it meets its obligations to the Australian Government, and continues to operate for the benefit of the Australian community. auDA will not be distracted from this important process.

Over the next 12 months, auDA will achieve:

• A holistic policy review and reform process to provide the industry and consumers with usable, responsive and appropriate policies to better manage the .au domain space and to exponentially increase the awareness and exposure of .au;
• The development of a new organisational strategy to allow the organisation to capture new opportunities and ensure organisational capabilities and strategic focusses are aligned;
• Further governance reform, expanding on the first phase of the Cameron Ralph review, including the development and introduction of board policies and assessment of board skills and requirements;
• The completion of the Registry Transformation Project to ensure the best possible result in the national, industry and organisation’s interests and benefits;
• The introduction of a new brand to capitalise on the value of .au and to improve the organisation’s positioning and effectiveness.

Stability and structure is integral to the successful execution of the goals and objectives highlighted. Disrupting the composition of the board will work directly against that. For these reasons your Board urges you to vote AGAINST the resolution to remove the Chair.