Friday 25 November 2011 the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Society for the Study of Labour History was held at the University of Sydney. A ballot for ASSLH office bearers and executive members during 2011/2012 resulted in the following being elected:
President: Nikola Balnave
Vice President: John Shields
Secretary: Nick Dyrenfurth
Treasurer: Anthony McLaughlin
Executive members: Julie Kimber, Greg Mallory, Sigrid McCausland
A new constitution was also unanimously adopted.
The following is a summary of reasons provided for the change.
The old constitution had been in use for many years and needed to be updated.
In 2009, the Federal Executive set upa Constitution Review Committee to consider what changes, if any, needed to be made to the Society’s constitution and rules. After much consideration, the Committee came up with a new constitution to better serve the Society and its members.
The main features of the new constitution are to:
- combine Branch as well as Federal operations in a single constitution,
- reinstate the preservation of labour archives as one of the Society’s aims and objectives,
- strengthen the federal structure of the Society,
- give branches a greater say in national affairs with direct representation on the Federal Executive,
- give Branch members national membership rights.
The new constitution can also be viewed on the ASSLH web site www.asslh.org.au
As a result of these changes the Sydney branch’s constitution is now redundant.