Dilip,

I simply have a good understanding of Australian corporate structures and read 
the information that APNIC publish to their website, something which a lot of 
people seem not to do.

To make you aware of the sources of my knowledge:

- APNIC publishes information regarding member meetings, annual and financial 
reports to their website.
- The financial year period is detailed in their reports, also on their public 
website.
- The date their financial report was signed off is in their financial report, 
again, on their website.
- Financial reporting for companies with such large revenue amounts takes time 
due to the complexities in doing so, especially when the way APNIC is 
structured.
- It was also raised during the last member meeting about the reports being 
released a few days prior so members had time to inspect them and ask questions 
if they felt the need to.

As I am not privy to the actual operational expenses and know nothing more than 
what is in the financial reports I can’t comment on a breakdown of these costs 
you’ve mentioned. All I can say is that it’s not cheap to run a regional 
internet registry, especially one who does as much for the community as APNIC 
does. They do list quite extensively what they do, so this may answer a few 
questions.

And for the record, I am not a consultant, spokesperson, employee or contractor 
for APNIC.

Regards,
Christopher Hawker

Sent from my iPhone

On 27 Feb 2024, at 8:17 pm, Dilip Kounmany <[email protected]> wrote:


Dear Chris,

I notice you seem to be quite knowledgeable about APNIC and even seems to be 
serving as an official spokesperson or consultant for them. Your explanation 
very details and helpful.

I'm curious to know your role, as you possess information that seems to be 
unknown to the wider community.

I would appreciate your opinion on APNIC's latest financial report, 
particularly in relation to the following figures:

- Salaries and personnel expenses amounting to 19 million AUD
- Professional services costing nearly 1.4 million AUD
- Travel expenses totaling 1.6 million AUD

As a community member, I must admit that I find it difficult to understand why 
an IP address database would require such a substantial expenditure of 33 
million AUD, with a significant portion of it allocated to salaries and 
personnel expenses.

“Personnel Expenses” is really a good wording which the audit found for the 
financial report. It appears that most of the budget is being directed towards 
Personnel, rather than benefiting the members.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this matter.

Best regards,

On Tue, Feb 27, 2024 at 3:41 AM Christopher Hawker 
<[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Okoli,

As you appear to only be a copywriter for the NRS and don’t really specialise 
in this area (and due to your failure to acknowledge or respond to my previous 
replies), I’ll address your points for those who follow the chain.

APNIC holds two member meetings, one in September (at the standalone APNIC 
conference) and the second in late February (at the APNIC conference track to 
APRICOT). APNIC’s financial and annual reports run from 01 January to 31 
December therefore it takes them some time to create these reports, compile the 
data and present the report before the Member Meeting in February each year. If 
you read the financial report, it was only signed-off on 26 February, being 
yesterday.

If they aimed to get the reports out (as an example) 4 weeks prior to the 
elections this would not leave them enough time to prepare the report. It could 
very well take Ernst & Young (the independent auditors) a month to compile 
their report.

Therefore, they aim to get their reports out with enough time for them to be 
reviewed so members can ask questions, if any. APNIC do a damn excellent job to 
get the reports out in the time that they do. To allege that they are 
intentionally holding these reports to favour certain individuals for 
re-election is just downright wrong in every definition.

Further, if you’re only paid to write articles, why would you care about 
APNIC’s governance (as these emails appear to be written in your first-person 
view)? Unless you’re being paid to write these emails (which I wouldn’t fault 
you for personally seeing as it’s your job) based on the views of others, but 
that then begs the question - why wouldn’t those directing you to write the 
emails the way you are simply post it themselves?

Your line of emails simply appears to intend to cast unjustified doubt on these 
elections, which is quite common for the NRS in the lead-up to elections and 
using yourself as a puppet to push their agenda. To call them out for 
intentionally withholding the reports then congratulating them is nothing short 
of patronising.

Regards,
Christopher Hawker
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