MA National Council Elections

MA National Council 2011-2013

2011 is a Museums Australia Election Year

Nominations CLOSED
14 February 2011

Voting will CLOSE
Tuesday 3 May 2011

Please note that the Executive positions (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer) are uncontested in 2011.  Voting will be for six (6) Ordinary Members only. 
 

Download the Voting Slip
View the Candidate Booklet (.pdf, 924kb)

Museums Australia National Office apologises for having the incorrect spelling of Soula Veyradier's surname on the Voting Slip.  It has now been corrected.

How To Vote

• Make sure you are a valid (financial) member or the designated representative if representing an institution.  Institutions are only eligible for one (1) vote.
• Download the Voting Slip (available 18 March 2011)
• Mark an [X] beside (6) nominees (no more and no less)
• Return the slip to the MA National Office before Tuesday 3 May 2011 (see contact details below)
• Include your member number with, but not on, the returned voting slip.
  • Email: member number in Subject or Body and voting slip attached
  • Fax: include a fax coversheet with your member number
  • Post: write your member number on the back of the envelope
• Note: your vote is not counted if you do not include your member number, or your member number is written on the voting slip.

Fax:	02 6273 2451
Post:	Museums Australia
	PO Box 266
	Civic Square ACT 2608
Email:	manager@museumsaustralia.org.au

What to think about when voting

Think about the quality of leadership needed on the National Council. Think of serving or nominating good leadership candidates – with their agreement, of course.

The National Council provides the vital representative platform for leadership of Museums Australia, and its members are the recognisable interface with the sector, on behalf of the hugely dispersed footprint of MA membership around the country. Institutional members of MA include the largest institutions, and the very smallest, the most dependent on volunteer service, and most dispersed museums/collections located rurally and regionally.

All members are valued and indivisibly needed to make up real texture and be representative of a ‘sectoral voice’ on behalf of Australia’s museums to government at all levels. And ‘museums’ of course includes the full gamut of institutions long embraced by the ICOM definition: Australia’s museums, galleries, herbaria, keeping places, historic houses and heritage sites, scientific collections in research institutions, botanical and zoological gardens, public non-exhibiting gallery spaces, and more.

Council members bring expertise and experience, source opinion, listen to needs, develop and implement policy, and in particular garner the intellectual and human resources that help Museums Australia continue to put together informed submissions to public inquiries affecting the sector, and continuing to provide effective advocacy to government on issues and conditions vitally affecting our museums and the communities they serve.

The National Council of Museums Australia is elected on a biennial basis.

It needs representation from across the geographic spread of the country and covering the intellectual and practical diversity of disciplines and functions that make up the museums sector, as reflected in the Museums Australia membership.

The tenure of a Council member is limited to two consecutive terms (i.e. four years) in any one Council position, whether as an office holder or ordinary member. However it is possible to progress after two terms of ‘ordinary member’ service to an office holder position on the Executive Committee of Council.

MA Council needs constitutionally to solicit a new Vice-President and a new Treasurer, and two Ordinary Members will be needing to step down at the end of four years of service – unless nominated for an officer position.

Amendments to the MA Constitution that came into force on 20 May 2008 allow for the election of 6 ordinary members in addition to the positions of President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. The current Presidents of the various State/Territory Branches, or their designated representatives, are automatically members of Council – and these ‘representative membership’ positions are often subject to change throughout a two-year period, through State/Territory changes in the executive committees/councils at varying times in a calendar year cycle.

Council service is honorary, with Councillors meeting their own individual expenses to attend the (normally two) annual Face-to-Face meetings. One Face-to-Face meeting is usually programmed into the Annual Conference schedule, to minimise costs. Other general meetings and executive meetings take place via teleconference (usually one and a half hours in length, three or four times a year).

Dr Don McMichael CBE
Public Officer, Museums Australia
& Chair, MA National Council Nomination Committee