Meeting details (Sydney time)

Video conference

Register to attend this event: MS Teams

All members of Australia's organic industry are able to attend. Only financial full members (organic operators) are eligible to vote.

Agenda

  1. Election of a chair for the meeting
  2. Confirmation of previous minutes
    • Annual General Meeting - 16 November 2022
  3. Annual financial report
  4. Report from the Board of Directors
  5. Election of Directors
  6. Election of Councillors
  7. Appointment of an auditor
  8. Strategic plan

No further items can be considered at the AGM.

Quorum

A quorum for a General Meeting is as follows:

  • 5 if there are less than 51 financial Full Members
  • 8 if there are less than 101 financial Full Members
  • 10 if there are less than 201 financial Full Members
  • otherwise 5% of financial Full Members

Of the 29 financial Full Members as at 24/10/2023, [number] were in attendance and so the Secretary declared that a quorum was present.

Voting instructions

Only financial Full Members (certified organic operators) are eligible to vote. Voting will only occur using the polling app in MS Teams.

The ballot paper may be submitted at any time following its issue and prior to resolution of each motion. You don't need to attend the meeting to vote.

Even if you are attending the meeting by teleconference, the ballot paper is the only valid way to vote.

Agenda 1 - Election of a meeting chair

As there is no Member Council constituted (in which case, the President or a councillor would chair the meeting), then the Full Members present shall elect one of their number to preside as Chair of the meeting (clause 9.2 of the Constitution). The Chair of a meeting of members does not hold a vote (clause 9.2 of the Constitution).
Motion

That Peter Hislop Speers be appointed to chair the Annual General Meeting.

Motion proposed

Janie McClure

Motion seconded

Jacky Williams

The following oath promotes principles on which to focus during our meeting:

  • We stand on the land nurtured by indigenous peoples before us for thousands of years. “Our land abounds in natures’ gifts of beauty, rich and rare.” 
  • We recognise our privilege and respect our obligation to lead, include and share. 
  • OIA presides over the leading global example of sustainable agriculture and safe food critical for human survival. 
  • Australia is the dominant holder of certified organic land, and the 3rd largest holder of agricultural land more generally. 
  • It is incumbent on us as directors of OIA to set a global precedence for transition of agriculture to sustainable, safe, and nature-positive agriculture. Safe for consumption of our product, safe for agricultural workers, safe for the environment, it’s flora and it’s fauna.

Agenda 2 - Previous minutes

Annual General Meeting - 2022
Motion

That the meeting accept the minutes for the 2022 Annual General Meeting of 16/11/2022.

Motion proposed

Janie McClure

Motion seconded

Jacky Williams

Agenda 3 - Annual financial report

Membership

  Memberships at 30/6/22   Memberships at 30/6/23   Financial
Foundation Ordinary Total Large Medium Small Total
Full member 33 49 82   6 71 4 81   29
Associate 7 27 34   0 8 25 33   13
Total 40 76 116   6 79 29 114   42

Overall financial position

We returned a profit last year of $4,525, compared with a profit of $7,839 in the previous year. Cash assets were $20,297 and membership fees receivable were $1,160. In comparison, liabilities were only $211. This leaves net equity of $21,247.

Revenue

Revenue from membership fees increased due to the increase in level of fees implemented for last year, and despite a drop off in memberships.

Revenue included a donation of $3,000 from NASAA to assist with membership promotion.

Expense

Expenses were mostly in line with the previous year, except for an additional cost of $1,345 to convene two certifier forums in Brisbane.

Attachments
Attachment Size
Income statement 2022-23 (29.74 KB) 29.74 KB
Financial position 2022-23 (30.23 KB) 30.23 KB
Cash flow 2022-23 (29.42 KB) 29.42 KB
Financial statements (41.42 KB) 41.42 KB
Motion

That the meeting accept the financial statements as presented for 2022-23.

Motion proposed

Janie McClure

Motion seconded

Jacky Williams

Agenda 4 - Report from Board of Directors

Peter Hislop Speers, Chair of the Board of Directors, will provide an oral report to the meeting.

Agenda 5 - Election of Directors

Nomination of directors

Nominations of candidates to become a director must be made and seconded by a financial full member of OIA Ltd—that is, the nominator and seconder must be certified organic operators and not have any prior year membership fees outstanding.

Directors do not need to be certified organic operators or members.

The procedure for the election of directors

The AGM will first decide how many directors to appoint. The minimum is 7 and the maximum is 11 (clause 11.1 of the Constitution). The previous AGM decided that nine (7) directors would be appointed. 

During the year, Dalene Wray resigned as a Director and Chair of the Board, and Peter Hislop Speers was appointed Chair.

The terms of the following Directors will expire at the AGM, and they are eligible to stand again for election:

  • Peter Hislop Speers
  • Ian James

There are 4 continuing directors:

  • Andrew Cowan
  • Jacky Williams
  • Janie McClure
  • Tim Marshall

The remaining director positions will be declared vacant.

If the number of candidates is less than or equal to the number of vacancies, then all candidates are duly elected as director.

If there are unfilled vacancies, candidates may be accepted from the floor of the meeting (clause 4 of the Election By-laws).

If there are more candidates than the number of vacancies, the Secretary will conduct a preferences based secret ballot using an electronic voting system (clause 2 of the Election By-laws).

Voting members are able to amend their ballot paper at any time until the election is closed and the results tallied (clause 3 of the Election By-laws).

The election

As there is a minimum of 7 required director positions, 4 continuing directors, a minimum of 3 vacant positions to fill, and 3 candidates nominated, the following scenarios will depend on how many director positions members decide on:

  • 7 directors - the Secretary will declare all 3 candidates appointed as directors to the 3 vacant positions and no election will be necessary
  • 8+ directors - the Secretary will declare all 3 candidates to be appointed as directors to the 3 vacant positions; the Secretary will then call for additional nominations from the floor of the AGM; an election will be conducted if there are more nominations than positions

Number of director positions

Motion

That there be eight (8) director positions.

Motion proposed

Janie McClure

Motion seconded

Jacky Williams

Candidates for director

Four nominations for director were received by the Company Secretary.

Nomination Proposed Seconded
Anthony Walsgott Palotus Mount Anne
Grace Stevens Palotus Mount Anne
Ian James Palotus Mount Anne
Peter Hislop Speers Palotus Mount Anne

Grace Stevens withdrew her nomination prior to the AGM.

Anthony Walsgott

Anthony Walsgott

Anthony is a Senior Solicitor specialising in the preparation of court/trial briefs, court representation/advocacy, preparing legal opinions, and conducting Alternative Dispute Resolution. Anthony is currently a Senior Solicitor for the law firm Box Forest Consultancy (since July 2022) working on legal cases that defend the legal rights of organic farmers against chemical farmers who are illegally polluting organic crops both directly and through unmitigated chemical spray drift. 

Anthony has a long history working in environmental and ecological law, previously working as an in-house solicitor for Walsgott Animal Law Service Inc and Sunshine Coast Environment Council, preparing briefs and legal opinions and running/representing in court trials in the Planning and Environment Court in Maroochydore and Brisbane.

He grew up on a 1000 acre farm near Dooen, Wimmera, Victoria, which was primarily a wheat farm that also had mixed farming, including cows and sheep. His father was convinced by chemical companies to use chemicals on the wheat crops and would later die from exposure to chemicals.

Anthony maintains a strict vegan diet eating raw organic vegan as much as he can (so much fruit, sprouted legumes and salad vegetables and other foods that can be eaten raw), but cooked vegan food is still a significant part of his diet, with foods such as bread, pasta, rice etc.

Since 2020, Anthony has co-owned a property on the Mary River north of Gympie which became the new home sanctuary for The Save A Cow Foundation. He runs this cow sanctuary farm as a vegan organic farm.

Ian James

Ian James

Ian has been a director of OIA Ltd since 29/11/2021.

Ian grew up in the marginal areas of the central wheatbelt in Western Australia on a large broad acre wheat and sheep property. Educated in Perth, Ian began working on sheep stations in the rangelands further north before returning to the family farm to settle down and raise a family.

Ian has 4 grown children and now lives and works together with his wife Jodi on their organically certified property near Meckering, 2 hours east of Perth. Ian has previously been involved in politics as a candidate for both state and federal parliament in 6 election campaigns for the WA Greens.

Ian has a keen interest in working to secure a strong future for organic operations in Australia.

Peter Hislop Speers

Peter Hislop Speers

Peter has been a director of OIA Ltd since 29/11/2021 and Chair of the Board of Directors since 18/08/2023.

Peter has been involved in the organic industries since the early 1990s, and was a part of the first organic banana exports from Cairns to Osaka, Japan which at the time was a significant collaboration project between retailers and organic producers.

From early 2000s, Peter established an organic specialist account management firm called Palotus Pty Ltd (www.palotus.com). Within this company, Peter and his team initiated the first direct organic vendor to a major retailer. This became a significant contributor to the retailer brand, and in the years to follow became a leading organic food brand.

In supporting organic producers, Peter has developed knowledge in supply chain products and services that enhance the organic food chain, including paper-based punnets which replaced plastic packaging on supermarket shelves from 2017. In 2020, Peter deployed certified compostable film on a national organic product range—a significant achievement toward removal of single use plastics in food packaging and, perhaps more importantly, a step toward sustainable packaging solutions for organic products.

Peter brings knowledge and experience in organic production, supply chain and retail environments.

Agenda 6 - Election of Councillors

There being no motion to establish a Member Council, no election was conducted for Councillors.

Agenda 7 - Appointment of auditor

Corporations law defines small companies limited by guarantee (CLBGs) as having less than $250k revenue.

Small CLBGs are not required to prepare financial accounts or appoint an auditor.

Motion

As the company is not legally required to appoint an auditor and the company's revenues are not sufficiently large to warrant the expense, no auditor to be appointed for 2023-24.

Motion proposed

Janie McClure

Motion seconded

Jacky Williams

Agenda 8 - Strategic plan

There will be a general discussion on strategic planning led by the Chair of the Board, including on the following topics:

  • New paradigms in regulation
  • NFF national campaign
  • Domestic regulation
  • Certifier forum
  • Industry coordination
  • Industry contribution
Attachments
Attachment Size
Letter to members from the Chair (158.43 KB) 158.43 KB
The Australian—Farmers lash Labor’s ‘ideological’ reforms (111.75 KB) 111.75 KB

Attended - Full members

Representative Full Member
   
   
   
   
   

Attended - Associate members

Representative Associate Member
   
   
   
   
   

Attended - Others

Representative Reason for attending
  Company Secretary