<div dir="ltr"><div><div>Yes, those are very good points John and we have started thinking on these lines. Considering that the average time to put together documents (translated officially), send them via snail mail, and processing time for non Australian can vary between 1 and 3 months (if the documents don't go missing or if they don't need other details etc), we were thinking on opening the nominations for the board at least 3 months before the elections as a way to give everyone interested enough time to start and maybe complete the process before being elected and therefore appointed some weeks later. We also think it important to be the ones covering all the expenses, it is not fair to have someone paying to be (maybe) elected for what is still a voluntary job at its core.<br></div>So yes, we have made some errors this year failing to consider all of this, and I feel I should have known better as I did have to go through the process myself and it was not a pleasant experience. But we learn from our mistakes, right? So I hope we will learn from this too and make it better next year.</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">Il giorno lun 2 dic 2024 alle ore 21:30 John Bryant <<a href="mailto:johnwbryant@gmail.com">johnwbryant@gmail.com</a>> ha scritto:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Thanks Elisa, as I mentioned on Slack, thanks so much for your incredible year as chair, and I really enjoyed serving alongside you.<div><br></div><div>Re Director ID, the government website says this: "If you plan to become a director, you must apply for a director ID before you’re appointed." It seems you don't need to have a DID in hand to be put forward for nomination. </div><div><br></div><div>I think we've heard it's harder for non-Australians to <i>obtain</i> a DID, but the obligation is apparently only to <i>apply</i> before being appointed. Also it doesn't sound like the obligation is on OO, but on the individual.</div><div><br></div><div>Maybe it would be more inclusive to leave it to people to apply only <i>after</i> they have been elected (and before they are appointed), rather than putting up a roadblock that may be unnecessary.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers</div><div>John</div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, 2 Dec 2024 at 06:32, eli via Oceania <<a href="mailto:oceania@lists.osgeo.org" target="_blank">oceania@lists.osgeo.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Dear all,<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">As you have read in our secretary Renee’s email on Friday, we didn’t
need elections this year as we received 6 amazing nominations for 6 available vacancies
in the Board. I would like to share with you all some very personal considerations
about this (be aware: if it’s going to be a long email!)<br>
<br>
It’s great for me to see we have a full board for next year. I’m very happy to
see both familiar faces and new people stepping up and deciding to sacrifice a
bit of their time and energy to help grow our community. <br>I personally want to
thank Ponsyano and Renee for taking excellent care of this year’s nominations
and election process, especially considering it was their first ride with it! </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">My bestest wishes to Ana, Dani, and Nick for their first term
as board members—I’m really looking forward to working with you! Also, thanks
again to Alex, Ewen and Jonah for deciding to stick around for another term.
Your work in the community is incredibly important, and we’re all glad you’ll
be with us next year too.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">It has been a pleasure—and a challenge! —being the chair
this year. Thanks for the trust you have given me and for the many supportive
and encouraging messages you’ve sent: it feels great to know that you all care
about the work we’re trying to do! Please don’t ever stop sending any kind of feedback;
we can only learn from our errors if we are aware of them.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Speaking of things that still don’t work, I want to address
one that still worries me: the ASIC Director ID requirement for new directors.
For those who aren’t aware, Australian rules require everyone applying for a
director position to obtain a specific Director ID. This process is very easy,
quick and straightforward for Australian citizens but lengthy and expensive for
everyone else. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">As the current chair, I feel I have failed to find a viable
solution for this year’s elections, which meant only Australian candidates
could be successfully nominated. While I’m excited to work with the new board
members, who are amazing and dedicated to the community, I feel that not making
the process easier for people outside Australia has failed our founding
principles of equality and diversification and it really upsets me. Oceania is
full of incredibly rich culture, and an almost only Australian board is by far
not a full representation of it, in my opinion.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">For this reason, I promise we will work harder to find a
better solution or at least a workaround for next year. The resigning board has
already started brainstorming interesting ideas, including opening nominations
months before the elections and helping non-Australian candidates with the
process, both through mentoring and covering any related expenses. You can get
a better idea of what we’ve discussed in the last meeting’s minutes, which will
be uploaded to the wiki this week.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">We still need to work on improving the process as much as
possible, but rest assured we’re taking it very seriously. Of course, I am very
interested in hearing any feedback or ideas you might have on this matter. I
personally hope that those who couldn’t complete their nomination applications
due to the strict timeline we imposed (and I deeply apologize for this) and the
complexity of the ID process will still be interested in supporting us and
trying again next year, as well as all the other non-Australian members who
were put off by the process. We need all of Oceania to make OSGeo Oceania work!<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Have a lovely end of the year, enjoy the well-deserved
holiday break, and to the new members, welcome aboard! I’m looking forward to
our first board meeting together on Friday, December 13th!<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif">Ciao, Elisa<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 8pt;line-height:107%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span> </span></p>
</div>
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</blockquote></div>
</blockquote></div><div><br clear="all"></div><br><span class="gmail_signature_prefix">-- </span><br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Potrebbe andar peggio...potrebbe piovere<a>!</a><br></div></div></div>