Yes Harry, a rather poor analogy.
The GFA system analogy would be as if your vote as a citizen stopped
when you elected your local council(club) who then sent
representatives to become your State Parliament(State Association)
who then sent representatives to Canberra to form Federal Parliament
(GFA Board) which had an Executive, which had been there from before
anyone could remember, which appointed representatives from say the
Public Service, the ACTU and the Business Council of Australia, who
together with the Executive had a majority in the Parliament which
could out vote the appointed representatives.
I'm sure we'd all be happy with that.
Mike
04:03 PM 19/05/2009, you wrote:
Hi All,
The big difference is that the judiciary interpret the laws made by
parliament, which is democratically elected and can change the rules
we live by if it doesn't agree with the judiciarys interpretation, (
and has done so not infrequently, particularly in regard to
taxation,) subject to the constitution, which also can only be
changed by an overall majority vote of electors and a majority of
states. If we had an arrangement like that in the GFA we would all be happy.
Sorry, but really no comparision, you will have to find a better example,
Regards,
Harry Medlicott
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Mark Newton
To: <mailto:[email protected]>Discussion of issues
relating to Soaring in Australia.
Sent: Tuesday, May 19, 2009 1:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] democracy and the GFA
On 28/04/2009, at 3:16 PM, harry medlicott wrote:
The sticking point is that the Executive and Board of Directors are
not elected by the popular vote of fee paying members, but by a
convoluted system involving club committees, state associations and
the Board then electing an Executive who may never have faced a
vote of any kind.
This separation of the Executive from the general membership is
pretty unique. I know of no other organisation whose compulsorily
fee paying members do not have a direct vote in electing the powers-that-be.
I know of one: The judiciary.
In Australia, citizens vote for members of parliament, and those
members form an executive which directly appoints judges.
The processes of electing MPs and of appointing judges are
separated. The main benefit of the separation is that the judges
won't be seen to have conflicts of interest when they make
decisions which affect citizens, because citizens have played no
part in the hiring/firing decision. Judges are free to draw
whatever conclusions they see fit, secure in the knowledge that
they'll never be held accountable by those affected by their
decisions.
I think there are a great many exact parallels between that process
and GFA's governance.
I'm not being judgmental about this. It's entirely possible that
the GFA (and/or GFA members) believes there is some kind
of overwhelming benefit stemming from a management
structure that's independent from the members. If so, the fact
that this issue has been a controversy for as long as I've been
gliding would seem to suggest that they've spectacularly failed
to communicate the attractiveness of the status quo.
- mark
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried an internal
modem, <mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
but it hurt when I walked. Mark Newton
----- Voice: +61-4-1620-2223 ------------- Fax: +61-8-82231777 -----
----------
_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[email protected]
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
----------
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
Version: 8.5.329 / Virus Database: 270.12.34/2121 - Release Date:
05/18/09 17:55:00
_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[email protected]
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
Borgelt Instruments - manufacturers of quality soaring instruments since 1978
phone Int'l + 61 746 355784
fax Int'l + 61 746 358796
cellphone Int'l + 61 428 355784
email: [email protected]
website: www.borgeltinstruments.com
_______________________________________________
Aus-soaring mailing list
[email protected]
To check or change subscription details, visit:
http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
