Dear colleagues,
You will be aware that reform of the Order’s structure and statutes in Australia has been on our agenda for at least the last 10 years. You were last asked to be involved in the process in 2017 when we held a non-binding plebiscite to canvass opinion about the then proposed changes. That plebiscite achieved a result of 62 per cent in favour of the proposals. The process was put in abeyance then, however, because of the continuing process of reforming the Order’s Constitutional Charter and Code in Rome.
When this Executive Council was voted in last year one of Rome’s most significant requests of us was to complete our own statutory reforms in spite of the delays in concluding the reforms in Rome to the Order’s central statutes.
We have spent most of the last year preparing the proposed changes here, building on the essential framework of the legislation proposed in 2017. We circulated the proposed new Constitution and accompanying documents on 7 December last year and again recently to remind you of the issues.
We have compiled some Frequently Asked Questions to assist members decisions when voting.