6.1 Members
a. members of ANSWD immediately prior to adoption of this constitution together with such other people as the answd-l email administrator admits to membership;b. Changes to categories, definition of category and criterias for fitting into categories of membership only apply to new subscribing members following the amendment;
c. ANSWD shall have five categories of membership, Ordinary, Alumni, regional, student officer and Associate member;
d. Ordinary and regional membership is open to all students with disabilities or chronic medical conditions currently studying at an Australian or Aotearoa New Zealand tertiary educational institution;
e. Persons become ordinary members of ANSWD by way of subscribing to the answd-l email list;
f. Alumni membership is automatic upon an Ordinary member graduating from a tertiary educational institution;
g. Student Officer membership is open to persons who fit the charter's definition of a student officer;
h. A person become a student officer member by subscribing to the student officer email list
i. Associate membership is open to persons who subscribe to the aatug email list, other email lists established by Managing Committee;
j. Persons become associate members by fulfilling the criteria for each email list and this charter, and other email lists established by the Managing Committee;
k. If necessary, persons wishing to subscribe to Student Officer email list, be subjected to email questions, checking website and even telephoning tertiary educational institution to verify the legitimacy of an organisation and position within it;
l. Regional, student officer and associate members who are students with disabilities can become an ordinary member and benefit from the rights associated but should be mindful that if elected to a position in ANSWD that they are on a regional, national and/or Australasian platform and not on a local platform;
m. Students with disabilities who are ordinary members are automatically regional members. students with disabilities who are not ordinary members become regional members by subscribings to an ANSWD regional email list pertinent to the region they belong to;
n. a student with disabilities can be a regional member of both the regionof the tertiary educational institution and the region they are currently a resident of;
o. speicific rights as a regional member is restricted to the region they are a member of;
p. No membership fees of any type or shape shall be extracted from any member of ANSWD.
6.2 becoming and ceasing to be an AATUG member
a. Members immediately prior to the adoption of this constitution and members admitted to AATUG by the AATUG list owner;b. students with disabilities, disability practitioners and adaptive technology users become members of AATUG by subscribing to the AATUG email list;
c. persons cease being a member of AATUG by completely (both normal and digest modes) unsubscribing from the AATUG email list.
6.3 Members' information
Contact details of ANSWD members are not to be given or sold to any other person.6.4 Cessation of Membership
An individual ceases to be an ordinary, regional, alumni, student officer, or associate member when that person dies or unsubscribe from the above email lists.
6.5 Rights of ANSWD members
a. access to a email discussion group;b. attend and participate at all ANSWD General Meetings;
c. access to information about ANSWD;
d. nominate a ordinary member to hold an elected position;
e. vote in elections;
f. put forward ideas and forward draft documents to the various persons, forums, committees and email lists within ANSWD.
g. (if have access to answd-l) to vote via the answd-l email list
6.6 Rights of Ordinary members
Ordinary Members have the right to:a. exercise their one vote at ANSWD General Meetings;b. stand for elected positions.
6.7 Regional member
a. Voting rights at a General meeting and for Regional organiser is restricted to the region they belong to,;
b. Right to stand for the position of Regional Organiser in the region they belong to.
6.8 Associate member
Associate members have no voting rights.6.9 Responsibility of ANSWD members
ANSWD members are responsible for:
a. updating information when their circumstance change to ensure that they are in the correct type of ANSWD membership;
b. advising others on the suitability of information;
c. advising elected position holders of the need to submit to an inquiry.7. Financial Responsibility
7.1 Prohibition of registration of type of organisation
a. ANSWD is prohibited from registering as a public corporation or incorporated association, and is prohibited from holding accounts in any financial institution;
b. there has to be a firm and tangible demonstration of a constant and steady income stream (3 year minimum) other than hand to mouth, to rebut the above as the registration cost is exsorbitant ;
c. ANSWD is prohibited from registering as a charitable trust until Aid Watch charitable status is recognised.7.2 Who pay bills?
No bill in the name of ANSWD can be incurred without finding a sponser;
7.3Collection for tertiary scholarship organisations and accounting
a. All dollar values in Australian and New Zealand dollar are to be added up separately;
b. money collected in Australia be transfer to Australian Disability and Indigenous Peoples Education Fund;
c. All money collected in New Zealand be transfer to an organisation that provide scholarships to tertiary students with disabilities in Aotearoa New Zealand;
d. All physical collection of money and associated transactions must be witnessed by two or more persons;
e. All amounts and financial transactions relating to the above must be recorded in a report to Annual General Meeting.8. Grievances
8.1 Discovery of grievance
On discovery of a grievance:a. the administrator of that particular email list shall attempt to resolve it;b. if the matter touches the responsibility of one of the office bearers then it should be dealt by them; then that is where it is dealt;
c. in failing to find a solution, the matter shall be referred to the Convener;
d. If after all that and there is no resolution to a grievance, the final, most authoritative and conclusive remedy is a motion at a General Meeting to resolve such a grievance.
8.2 Avoiding Grievances
to avoid grievances, information that does not require discussion should be posted to the answd blog.9. Committees, Representative positions and Office bearers General Information
9.1 Managing Committee
a. shall comprise of office bearers, alternative student representatives, interest group liaisons, aatug list owner, regional coordinators, all members of the Student Officers email list, and interested ANSWD and AATUG members;b. office bearers include: Convener, Newsletter Officer, and ATEND representative;
c. that the role of persons who sit in the Managing Committee but have no formal role shall be to assist those with formal roles. d. this committee is politically chaired by the President;
e. Email guidelines shall be designed and implemented in consultation with answd membership.
f. The Managing Committee in conducting its business in relations to executive functions shall enact regulations consistent with charter that govern what defines as executive functions, where to meet, the format of such meetings, and how decisions are made.
g. official letters as a result of this committee must require the signature of either of the co-conveners;
h. if no Ordinary or Regional member nominates for a position, the co-conveners shall appoint from the members of the Managing Committee a person to fill a representative position in external bodies which ANSWD has representation on;
9.2 Elected positions and committee general information
a. All elected positions except Regional Organisers shall be elected at the Annual General Meeting of ANSWD held at the Pathways Conference once every two years, and if necessary at formal elections.b. Regional representatives are to be elected through Regional meetings (and if necessary through formal elections).
c. There is a President and Secretary who are elected as stated in a.
d. The job of co-conveners (where one from Australia and the other from Aotearoa New Zealand) comes with the jobs of both President and secretary;
e. the President is elected first. If the President is the co-convener - Australia, the all New Zealand candidates for President automatically become candidates for Secretary, and vice verser
f. Persons can hold multiple positions at once as long as residency requirements does not prevent this and the person taking multiple positions feels comfortable.
g. The tenure of office bearers is the time period between Pathways Conferences.
h. Persons can seek re-election.
i. Persons cease holding an elected position through death, removal by General Meeting, resignation from position or resigning their membership to ANSWD by way of unsubscribing from answd-l email list.
j. The Managing Committee shall appoint a replacement consistent with this constitution for a vacant position for the time period until a General Meeting is held.
k. All decisions are binding.
9.3 Alumni members in Elected and appointed positions
a. An alumni member can nominate or be nominated for positions if he or she
which is verified by three ordinary members and approved by the Managing committee.
- has participated in several discussions on the answd-l email list over a three month period,
- have provided significant contribution to answd over a longer period,
- provided a contribution to answd when they were students, or
- have previously served as co-convener of answd;
b. If a person who is approved by above have been an alumni 18 months or more is required to have a discussion with current students with disabilities in relations to their experiences.
c. Alumni members subject to a and b can be appointed to a position to represent answd on an external body in a casual position until 6 occurs.
d. Alumni members subject to a and b are allow to stand for one of the two positions representing ANSWD in the International Disability Alliance.
e. subject to a and b , Alumni members can temporarily hold positions other than co-convener (Australia) and co-convener (Aotearoa New Zealand).
f. these temporary positions are rendered vacant when an ordinary or regional member is willing to take up such a position.
9.4 Alumni during middle of term
If an elected position holder becomes an alumni member in the middle of his or her term:
a. that person is required to make it publicly known;
b. that person can continue in that same role but with reduced political capital;
c. must consult ANSWD members in particular ordinary and regional members to fulfill political tasks like writing letters and submissions;
d. If failing to do c. ANSWD members have grounds to remove that person from office.9.5 Implementation of policy statement 1
a. Does it relate to tertiary education or employment?;
b. If not, does it relate to any section of policy statement or objectives?
c. If not, ask Managing Committee on whether it affect tertiary students with disabilities.9.6 Grounds for removal from office
a. (see 9.4d) (prospective as in after Monday 29 March 2010
b. ignoring a carried motion of general meeting (propective meaning after date);
c. conducting activities contrary to the charter or policy (backdated to March 1, 2010);
d. Misappropriation of resources (prospective meaning after date).9.7 Removing an elected position holder
a. An Extraordinary Meeting is petitioned in writing as set out in 10;
b. Procedures for notification as set out in 10 are followed, attached with the reasons for the proposed removal;
c. After the petitioning body has stated its case any opposition must be given the opportunity to reply, with at least ten minutes set aside for this purpose;
d. absolute majority is required to remove the elected position holder
e. If either of the two co-conveners is charged with the above grounds then an ANSWD member shall chair that meeting.10. General Meetings and motions over email
10.1 Types of General Meetings:
All persons who are either ANSWD members or not are both welcome to attend and participate as much as possible. However, those who are ineligible to vote are prevented from participating in a physical, aural or virtual show of hand voting at the following types of meetings:
a. Annual General Meeting;b. Regional Meetings;
c. Other meetings.
10.2 Place and timing of General Meetings
a. The Annual General Meeting is to be held at the Pathways Conference with telephone conferencing;b. Other meetings can be held at disability, student conference, physical or virtual forums, telephone conferencing, or over skype;
c. This charter specifies that a Regional Meeting in each of the ten regions for the purpose of electing Regional representatives be held at a student organisation's office, between the second Tuesday and second Thursday in February directly after the Annual General Meeting. Other regional meetings be held in the student organisation's office
d. Motions done over email.
10.3 Institution of General Meeting
a. An Annual General Meeting is instituted by this charter;Regional Meeting is instituted by this charter, regional organiser and writing of four ANSWD members;
c. Other meetings and motions done over email are instituted by either one of the co-convenors, either one of the Regional Organisers, or four ANSWD members.
(note: meetings held at Pathways, student or disability conference or forums, student organisation, do not have a fixed quorum, if a quorum is required it shall be determined by actual turnout on the day);
10.4 Changing policy and this charter
a. electronically
- discussions on a motion done by email is discussed in the Managing Committee email list;
- once satisfied, a final vote is taken via survey monkey over seven days;
- simple majority wins.
b. at Pathways Conference
- . it is notified beforehand to ANSWD membership;
- there are eight (8) ANSWD members present in a room at the Pathways Conference ;
- it is minuted.
>10.5 Business conducted at Annual General Meetings
a. to attract new members;b.to approve motions and resolutions;
c. confirmation of the minutes at the end of the General Meeting;
d. If necessary, receipt of reports of the activities of ANSWD in the last financial year;
e. elect people to positions.
10.6 Business at a Regional Meeting
the purpose of Regional Meetings is to elect a Regional Organiser, to attract new members and to approve campaigns on a regional level.10.7 Business at Other meetings
a. confirmation of the minutes at the end of the General Meeting;
b. to act as a face to face discussion point;
c. to adopt urgent motions;
d. to attract members;
e. to elect people to vacancies.
10.8 Notice, Agenda and Minutes
a. Notice and agenda of General Meeting must be circulated and displayed in a way that will guarantee an acceptable level of exposure among ANSWD members prior to the meeting;b. The agenda shall specify the business that will be dealt at that meeting;
c. Items that promote non-violent activities in fulfilling ANSWD policies and objectives shall be accepted without refusal.
d. Minutes should be placed on the ANSWD website
10.9 Nominations for electing people
a. Nominations open 30 days prior to Annual General Meeting;b. Nominations close at the opening of a General Meeting;
c. Nominations for ANSWD positions be submitted to the answd-l email list.
10.10 Voting
All motions at General meetings are through simple majority.
10.10 Format of General Meeting
The format of the General Meeting and how motions are adopted are decided by the ANSWD members at the General Meeting or via the answd-l email list.
11 Rethink motion
a. This constitution strikes out motions that is contravenes local, state or federal legislation or ANSWD regulatory documents;b. the co-conveners will assist in advising how to edit and editing a motion to ensure that the motion is consistent with legislation and regulatory documents.
12 Formal Elections
a. If the excessive number of candidates and/or the excessive number of voters make it difficult to select people to positions at General Meeting then a formal Election is held;b. An returning officer who is prohibited from standing as a candidate and from voting, is selected;
c. A list of candidates is email to the various email list;
d. There is 30 days to vote;
e. In a word document voters either rearrange the list of candidates in order of preference in compulsory preferential voting or put a one in front of a name in first pass the post voting;
f. All Office bearer, and regional coordinators is done by compulsory preferential where a person needs a simple majority regardless;
g. Voters attach the word document to an email and send it to the returning officer before midnight of the final day;
h. As they come into the returning officer's inbox, without looking the attachment is separated from the email and the email is deleted;
i. The result and a returning officer's report be ratified at the extraordinary meeting;
j. The report would say the statistics, any irregularities and recommendations for improvement;
k. Subsequent vacancies vacancies see 9.2 f.
13. Elected positions
Note: the only prerequisite for these positions is an ability to listen and communicate his/her mind.13.1 Co-convener
Person who:
a. to assist with political and media campaigns;b. send off official letters from the Managing Committee to people and organisations;
c. assist ANSWD members who wish to register as parliamentary lobbyists in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand;
d. to Keep a Financial Record.
e. maintain a list of Interest Group liaisons.
13.2 President
Person who:
a. chairs the Managing Committee and General meetings;b. provides a reference to each resigning office bearer;
c. deals with human resources.
13.3 Secretary
Person whoa. records minutes, if the Secretary is physically absent and cannot be in reach by telephone, a member from the General Meeting shall take over in minute taking.
b. ensures that all regulatory documents are up to date;
13.4 Newsletter Officer
Person who
a. answers letter to editor;b. seeks advice from other Office bearers if questions from letter to editor relates to the organisation of ANSWD;
c. collects, collate, edit and publish appropriate submissions to the ANSWD newsletter;
d. aware of defamation and copyright legislation in the Australasian region;
e. seeks assistance from Convener in gaining volunteer assistance if necessary;
f. maintain a list of other email lists to be publish on the ANSWD website;
g. liaises with the webmanager to place General Meeting minutes that are true and accurate on the ANSWD website.
13.5 ATEND representative
a. Represents ANSWD in the Australian Tertiary Education Network on Disabilities;b. Attend ATEND meetings via telephone conferencing;
c. If absent, nominate a fellow ANSWD member to attend or send in an advanced apology.
13.6 Regional Representatives
There shall be a regional coordinator, a rperesentation officer and a public affairs officer from each of the following ten regions:
- Australian Capital Territory
- New South Wales
- North Island, New Zealand
- Northern Territory
- Queensland
- South Australia
- South Island, New Zealand
- Tasmania
- Victoria
- Western Australia
Generically to communicate with each other, other elected position holders and students with disabilities on a regular basis.
13.61 Regional Organiser
who is responsible for:
a. assisting in the organising of physical meetings or skype meetings within their region on a quarterly basis ;
b. monitoring regional ANSWD email lists;.
c . liaising with National Disability Coordination Officers within the regional organiser's region.
d) liaising with other regional representatives and with elected position holders especially the co-conveners .
e submiting a quarterly report of what is happening in their region.
f) running campaigns that are relevant to their region or organise other events that are suited.
g) contributing to the answd newsletter.13.6.2 Representation Officer
a. To lobby and assist the establishment of student with disabilities representatives on universities, tafes, polytechs and private colleges in a particular region.
b. to Liaise with student with disabilities representatives who are present on student councils in their region.
13.6.3Public Relations Officer
To promote ANSWD to organizations such as public and private universities, tafes, polytechs, private colleges, schools, disability organisations, and other revelent body in that region.13.7 ADCET representative
person who
a. represent ANSWD in the Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training's meetings;
b. Attend ADCET meetings via telephone conferencing;
c. If absent, nominate a fellow ANSWD member to attend or send in an advanced apology.13.8 International Disability Alliance representative
two persons who:
a. represent ANSWD at the International Disability Alliance;
b. provide information that is relevant to ANSWD objectives and policies.
14. Rights and Responsibilities of persons who hold a position in ANSWD
14.1. Rights
a. Subject to not having any adverse reasons for ceasing to be a office bearer, volunteer, representative on external bodies on behalf of ANSWD, the above are entitled to a reference on resignation;
14.2 Responsible for:
a. Ensuring that all resources shall only be used to fulfill the objects of answd;b. Attracting tertiary students with disabilities to become members of answd-l email list;
c. Liaising with organisations in relations to the marketing of ANSWD.
d. implementing the charter and policy.
e. liaising with the co-conveners for fund raising on behalf of tertiary scholarship organisations.
15 Affiliations
Affiliations are for the purpose of furthering the aims of ANSWD.15.1 Co-conveners affiliating powers
a. The co-conveners has the power to affiliate ANSWD to an organisation that:
- Is consistent with ANSWD objects and policy;
- where ANSWD fits the criteria of a member of their organisation;
- where there is no fees, or where there is a sponser to take care of the fees;.
b. The convener must reveal the affiliation to ANSWD members after affiliation;
c. A decision by the Managing Committee and/or General Meeting can reverse a decision to affiliate with a particular organisation if they are of the opinion that it falls outside the above.
15.2 Affiliating through ANSWD Policy
By enshrining a belief in affiliating with an organisation in the ANSWD Policy, it means that as long as ANSWD exists or as long that policy exist, ANSWD would be affiliated with that organisation.15.3 Where ANSWD have difficulties in paying for membership either in full, or part, that these motions be referred to either ATEND or the NDCO program.
16 Public documents
All web pages and documents published by ANSWD in a paper base form or for the internet must contain the name "Australasian Network of Students With Disabilities (ANSWD)" and the logo depicting a figure of a person reaching for the stars.17 Abolition of this charter in its entirety
To abolish this charter in its entirety:a. It is up to that General Meeting to determine what happens after the abolition of this charter;b. An Extraordinary Meeting is petitioned in writing as set out in 10;
c. Procedures for notification as set out in 10 are followed, attached with the reasons for the proposed abolition;
d. No other business may be conducted at the meeting to abolish ANSWD charter;
e. After the petitioning body has stated its case any opposition must be given the opportunity to reply, with at least ten minutes set aside for this purpose;
f. A vote is taken and the motion to abolish lapses if opposed by three (3) or more ANSWD members.
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Australian Disability Clearinghouse on Education and Training and the National Disability Coordination Officer ProgramWebsite last updated Saturday 4 September 2010
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