Annual General Meeting - 2018

Greg McNamara was elected by the members to chair the AGM

The Company Secretary provided a report on the operations of the company.

• There are now 11 full members and 8 associate members. There are also 9 former members of the association who have a transitional associate membership until 31 December 2018. Most of the new full members and associate members have elected to become foundation members. There is still a need to consider what recognition and benefits should be given to foundation members in return for their higher level of membership fee.
• Financial reports for 2017-18 were presented.
  • The secretary noted that the reports had not yet been finalised as full access to bank accounts and invoices had not yet been transferred from the previous association office holders. Nevertheless, the accounts had been reconciled against bank statements, and so there was a high degree of confidence in the overall aggregates.
  • The company made a profit of $3,583 for the year, mostly due to the successful management of the Love Organic Symposium.
  • The company had net assets at 30 June of $3,583—primarily consisting of $5,558 in its bank account, offset by a GST liability of $2,102.

The Secretary noted that companies limited by guarantee with revenues less than $250k are not required to prepare financial statements or appoint an auditor unless directed by members. Consequently, no laws are breached by the financial statement not being finalised by the AGM. Nevertheless, the Secretary undertook to present final accounts for 2017-18 to the Board as soon as all information was available, and the aim would be to circulate those accounts to members before the end of December.

The Chair of the Board of Directors reported on the key activities over the last 12 months.

• It has been a landmark year—the Association was incorporated on 15 January, we developed the current constitution with financial assistance from Farming Together, and registered as a company limited by guarantee on 6 September
• We organised a very successful Love Organic Symposium in Canberra and parliamentary BBQ over 14/15 February. We particularly need to pay tribute to the efforts of Anni Brownjohn, Marg Will, Simone Tully and Chelsea Parkinson in making that event a success.
• We engaged with the Dept of Agriculture on brassicaceous seed biodiversity, leading to the appointment of Don Murray as an organic industry representative on the Department's Imported Seeds Regulation Working Group.
• Nevertheless, our communications with industry and the AOIWG could have been better. This is an issue for strategic discussion later on the agenda.
• We have also made numerous attempts to engage with Australian Organic Ltd over industry governance arrangements, with limited progress. This is also an issue for further strategic discussion.

Looking forward, the Chair noted the following.

• In respect of our export project co-funded by the Agricultural Trade and Market Access Cooperation Program, we finally have a workable contract in place. The first industry delegation visited Hong Kong and Singapore in August, and we started work on an organic export strategy—a draft strategy is due in March.
• We still need to develop an industry policy position on the export regulation review.
• We also need to promote industry development and reform industry governance to better support existing & aspiring organic growers.
• We need to consider the merger of OFA and OIA. Its important to rationalise industry governance bodies, but this will likely wait until the ATMAC-funded project is complete—OFA is the grant recipient.
• OIA will continue to engage with AOL over future industry governance arrangements, with a merger of the two organisations the down the track being the best outcome.

The Company Secretary proposed that no written nominations had been received and, as there were insufficient members to establish a Members Council in any case, there should be no election for councillors. There was no objection from members.

The Company Secretary noted that, as a small company limited by guarantee, the company was not legally required to appoint an auditor and the company's revenues are not sufficiently large to warrant the expense. There was no objection from members.