2019 Annual General Meeting

We’re pleased to invite all members to join in the celebration of achievements of YWCA Australia over the past 12 months at the 2019 Annual General Meeting (AGM).

As a national organisation, YWCA Australia is excited to hold our AGM in a new YWCA location this year. In 2019, the AGM will be held at the historic Ayers House in Adelaide.

The AGM will commence at 5.30pm on Thursday 28 November at Ayers House, 288 North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia.

To register to attend the AGM, please click here.

Following the AGM, attendees will be invited to join us for a special celebration of 125 years of women’s suffrage in South Australia.

The event is kindly hosted by The Hon Michelle Lensink MLC, Minister for Human Services, and The Hon Katrine Hildyard MP, Shadow Minister for the Status of Women. The design of this event has been led by YWCA young women members in South Australia.

The AGM will be webcast live to satellite locations in Sydney and Melbourne. Register for these satellite events now. If you are located elsewhere and would like to host a livestream event in your local area, please contact us on comms@ywca.org.au.

AGM business

The Notice of Meeting was distributed to members on Tuesday 5 November by email. Members who do not have a registered email address with us will receive their Notice of Meeting by post.  Members are invited to vote on a series of resolutions and it is intended that the results will be announced at the AGM.

At the meeting, members will have the opportunity to:

  • Hear from our President, Julie Boyd
  • Learn more about our achievements and challenges over the past 12 months
  • Ask questions on the national organisation
  • Hear from the Young Women’s Council
  • Receive the results of the resolutions

Members will be asked to vote to:

  • Elect new board directors
  • Approve changes to the Constitution
  • Appoint the new Auditor

Member voting

Members will have received an email from our voting platform ‘Election Buddy’. Please follow the voting instructions in the email to vote on board directors and the special resolutions.

If you have not received your voting email for the upcoming AGM by Wednesday 6 November please check your spam folder or contact membership@ywca.org.au.

Members attending the AGM in person are able to either vote beforehand using Election Buddy, submit a proxy or vote on their arrival at the AGM. We strongly encourage members to vote electronically prior to attending the AGM to ensure a smooth voting process.

Please note that only Ordinary Members may vote.

If you would prefer to print and fill out your vote (we encourage voting electronically for environmental and ease of voting purposes!) please use the proxy form.  You can then scan and email or post back to us to make sure your vote is counted!  More detail can be found on the proxy form. Please note that proxies do not count towards quorum at the AGM.

If you would like any further information about the AGM or the elections please don’t hesitate to contact Kate O’Donohue, the Company Secretary, on 03 8341 8700 or companysec@ywca.org.au.

AGM Resolutions  

Election of new board directors

YWCA Australia is seeking to appoint three directors whose skills align with the strategic direction of the organisation and complement the current skills and experience mix of the Board.

The Board is comprised of nine Directors, at least one third of which must be Young Women (aged 30 or under at the time of appointment). We have two directors stepping down from the board – Danielle Wruck and Taliska Arentsen. There is one director standing for re-election – Isabelle Chassain.

Members are able to elect Board Directors to fill three positions. At least one of the three elected must be a Young Woman (30 years old or younger at the time of election).  We strongly encourage members to include at least one Young Woman when voting.

Candidates for the vacant board positions have been shortlisted by our Nominations Committee based on their skills and experience. We have identified 21 candidates who meet at least two of the six skills required on our board. The skills required are:

  1. Commercial property and asset management, ideally also strategy and commercial experience
  2. Governance, risk and compliance
  3. Finance and audit (strategic finance)
  4. Relevant board experience
  5. Skills, experience and networks relevant to government relations at a strategic level
  6. Senior executive management experience

​The profiles of the board candidates are available here.

Special resolutions

The Board has proposed 8 Special Resolutions for approval at the AGM. Resolution 8 is in regard to formal appointment of the Auditor, this is a requirement of the Corporations Act. The other resolutions are in regard to the Constitution.

As the Board and Executive Team have come to better understand the organisation it has become clear that some changes should be made to our governance structure which will improve our operational effectiveness.  Over the past few months, the YWCA Australia Board has undertaken extensive work to consult with members and review our Constitution with the support of a legal team. The Board has proposed the following special resolutions, which have been approved by World YWCA:

  1. Removal of the prohibition on directors receiving remuneration – this change will mean that in future directors can receive renumeration for their services. Remuneration cannot be introduced until the Board puts forward another resolution to our membership to approve a ‘remuneration pool’ in approximately two years’ time. (new Article 7.2)
  2. Age limit of members be lowered from 16 to 12 years to be inclusive of young women – our key target audience. YWCA is committed to raising the voices of young women and providing opportunities for leadership and advancement. (new Article 10.2)
  3. Quorum to be reduced from 50 to 30 members attending the AGM. This does not limit the number of people who can attend, it simply reduces the number required for an AGM to go ahead. (new Article 25)
  4. Change to the appointment process of directors with 60% elected by the membership and the rest appointed by the Board to ensure we have the right mix of skills and experience. The President will also be appointed by the Nominations Committee. (new Article 34)
  5. Simplification of provisions around Young Women’s Council to enable the Council to be innovative and have agency over how they operate. (new Articles 53-55)
  6. Simplification of provisions around Nominations Committee which will enable the Committee to have a broader remit of duties and responsibilities and agency over how the Committee operates. (new Articles 56-58)
  7. Miscellaneous changes to the constitution which are outdated or overly burdensome including removal of ability to appoint a Managing Director, removal of requirement for President to be on every Committee and additional changes to improve readability. (changes throughout)
  8. Appointment of Auditor.

A Question and Answer (Q&A) document providing more information about the Constitutional resolutions is available here.

Questions

If you need clarification on the business of the AGM and the Q&A hasn’t answered your questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Kate O’Donohue, the Company Secretary, on 03 8341 8700 or companysec@ywca.org.au.

Relevant Documents