EFA’s 2017 Annual General Meeting was held on Sunday, 8th October, at:

15:00 AEDT (NSW, VIC, TAS)
14:30 ACDT (SA)
14:00 AEST (QLD)
13:30 ACST (NT)
12:00 WST (WA)

Draft Minutes & Transcript

Meeting Agenda

1. Minutes of 2016 AGM

Motion: That the meeting accept the minutes of the 2016 AGM held on 27th November 2016 as a true and correct record.

2. Annual Accounts

Motion: That the meeting accept the financial reports for the 2016/2017 financial year.

3. Annual Report

Motion: That the meeting accept the 2017 Annual Report of the Board of Management.

4. Appointment of Auditor

Motion: That the meeting authorises and requires the board to appoint an auditor to conduct an audit of the EFA accounts for the 2017-2018 financial year.

5. Election of the 2017-2018 Board Members

Please refer to election procedure below.

6. Adoption of new constitution and reincorporation as a Company Limited by Guarantee

Motion: That the meeting authorises the Board to incorporate a company limited by guarantee, to be named Electronic Frontiers Australia, Limited, with a constitution as per the draft published on the 2017 AGM web page (https://efa.org.au/about/2017agm), and with the current Board members of Electronic Frontiers Australia, Incorporated as initial directors, and to formulate a transition plan for presentation to the membership for transfer of the membership, assets and operations of Electronic Frontiers Australia, Incorporated, to the new company.
(Note: this is a ‘Special Resolution’ and therefore requires a 75% majority of votes cast to be carried)

Documents

These documents are all PDFs except the Word version of the Draft Constitution.

Supplementary Documents

The following documents are not subject to approval at the AGM but are provided for the reference of members (these are all PDFs).

Board Election

There are five vacant seats and nominations have been received from the following candidates. An election will therefore be held. Please refer to the Candidate Statements below for more information about each candidate:

Lyndsey Jackson
Peter Tonoli
Liam Pomfret
David Cake
Lachlan Simpson
Andrew Pam
Shaun Haddrill
Jin-oh Choi
Kade Morton (nomination withdrawn)
Justin Warren

Election Process

The election will be conducted using the OpaVote online voting service. Voting is open to all EFA members who are financial at the commencement of the voting period (15:00 AEDT on ~~28th September~~ 5th October 2017), except for those members whose initial joining date is after 3rd September 2017. If you are unsure of your membership status, please email memberadmin[AT]efa.org.au.

Please note that the election process is separate from voting on the AGM motions. Attendance at the AGM, or lodgement of a proxy form is therefore NOT REQUIRED for voting in this election.

All eligible members will be sent an email containing a unique URL, which will enable them to cast their vote through OpaVote’s web interface. In order to enable these emails to be generated, eligible member’s email addresses will be uploaded to the OpaVote system, which is hosted in the continental United States. Once the election is concluded, all data, including email addresses, details of votes cast and voter’s IP addresses will be deleted from the OpaVote system. For more information, please see OpaVote’s Privacy Policy at the link below:

OpaVote Privacy Policy

If any eligible member does not consent to their email address being uploaded to the OpaVote system to enable this election, please email memberadmin[AT]efa.org.au prior to 12:00 AEST on ~~18th September~~ 5th October 2017, so that the relevant email address can be removed from the upload file. Please note that javascript is required for this voting system.

If you choose to not normally allow javascript, we ask that you temporarily enable it for the opavote.org site, to allow your vote to be lodged.

Voting

Each eligible member will have five votes, of equal value, to be assigned to the five candidates for whom the member wishes to vote. Members are not required to use all five votes. The order in which the candidates will appear is shuffled for each voter, to ensure that no candidate gains an unfair advantage by always appearing at the top of the ticket.

The voting emails will be sent at 15:00 AEST on Thursday ~~28th September~~ 5th October 2017. Members may vote at any time after they receive that email, until voting closes at 15.30 AEDT SHARP on Sunday ~~1st~~ 8th October 2017 (30 minutes after the start of the AGM). Votes will then be tallied while the AGM is in progress and the result of the election will be during the meeting.

EFA Executive Officer Jon Lawrence has been appointed by the Board as Returning Officer for this election. Any queries for the Returning Officer should be emailed to: memberadmin[AT]efa.org.au.

Candidate Statement: Lyndsey Jackson

How is it that Lyndsey Jackson is just now a brand new member of EFA? That’s a question I believe needs serious consideration moving forward. I believe I am typical of the sort of new member EFA should be looking to attract and be known to.

I have been in the technology industry for over nine years, working primarily with not for profit and government organisations. I am an open source advocate and I actively participate in open source communities internationally. I have built over 100 open source websites and worked on web and digital strategies within over 50 communities across Australia. I am the national Experience Director for the GovHack global operations team. I have spoken nationally and internationally on the #notmydebt experience, the impact of algorithms on lives, and the need to provide opportunities for women and non technical people to use and understand technology.

On December 20, 2016 I started the #notmydebt campaign by collaborating with key people within the digital rights community. This campaign that shone a very bright light on the lack of transparency and oversight inherent in rolling out a poorly tested algorithm on a large population without understanding the consequences (as revealed in the subsequent Senate Inquiry), the ongoing administrative failings of the Government in its response, and the very real impact on people’s lives. The success of this campaign is attributable to the collaboration between individuals and organisations, the inclusion of the public in the debate, and the ability to mobilise and empower people to connect, create resources, and share experiences and knowledge.

I want to work with groups that are effective, active, are confident about standing behind their expertise and agency. To that end I am well suited to a group wanting to campaign and be active, and who will play a leading role in the digital rights space.
Actions I believe organisations such as EFA should take include:

to actively and vocally campaign for the need for privacy to be acknowledged as a human right, and to hold government, business, and civil society to account on their responsibilities in maintaining this now and in the future;
providing clear and decisive information, recommendations, and action positions on digital privacy and security publically;
to vocally and publicly uphold these stances for greater public good despite opposition from Government and industry;
to vocally and publicly lobby for the current and future needs for digital privacy, and to work with grassroots groups, experts, and other organisation on collaborative action and messaging;
to visibly and vocally campaign on digital rights issues that are facing Australians and those around the world now, and to be forward thinking in how choices and technology will impact digital privacy and rights into the future.

I have a particular interest in providing support, resources, and guidance to the not for profit sector; this sector is increasingly pushed to use data, but they have limited budgets and knowledge, and their need to uphold trust and ethics affects their ability to create impact within a community. Living in regional Australia, I am very conscious of digital divide and knowledge gaps that happen regionally, and thus the need to ensure advocacy work and education goes beyond city lines.

Candidate Statement: Peter Tonoli

Peter Tonoli is an Information Technology Specialist at the University of Melbourne, with a Masters Degree in Information Technology Management majoring in Information Security, Graduate level qualifications in Project Management and Management, and industry certifications in IT Project Management, Information Security and IT Service Management.

Peter also is the Head of Security and Technology of Blueprint for Free Speech, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving freedom of expression and whistleblowers rights.

Peter is a freelance information security, digital rights and online privacy consultant, servicing individuals and organisations across the government, media, community, non-profit and medical research sectors. His involvement in information technology security and management dates back to the establishment of the Internet in Australia.

Peter has a long history of voluntary community involvement including holding a position on EFA’s Governance Standing Committee; organising and facilitating CryptoParty events across Melbourne; and teaching professionals, including journalists and lawyers, how to protect themselves and their clients.

This is a time for change at EFA, and that’s why Peter’s running as a candidate for the EFA Board. Peter maintains that EFA has the potential to be the organisation that provides the catalyst and enabler for collaboration between all organisations involved in protecting and promoting digital rights in Australia. Peter trusts that EFA can do more, through increased consultation and engagement with its large member base, and improved transparency and accountability within the organisation.

Peter would welcome the opportunity to hear your feedback, and discuss your thoughts on digital rights. You can find him on Twitter at
@peter_tonoli

Candidate Statement: Liam Pomfret

Liam is an Associate Lecturer in Marketing and a PhD candidate in the UQ Business School at The University of Queensland. He has been a Life Member of EFA since 2014.

His academic research focuses on the antecedent factors of consumers’ privacy protection and self-disclosure behaviours in social media. Through his research, he aims to identify avenues for persuading consumers to act more responsibly with regards to sharing their information online; and for persuading companies to shift to business models which respect and promote consumer privacy.

Liam holds strong concerns about the (sometimes seemingly wilful) lack of understanding demonstrated by politicians and bureaucrats about privacy, transparency, censorship, and intellectual rights issues, and feels that this poses a clear and present danger to the well-being of this country and its citizens. At the same time, he has been encouraged by the growing consciousness among the non-technical public about the intersection of digital technologies and civil rights, such as with the public outcry over issues such as #NotMyDebt and #CensusFail. He sees a need for an organisation like EFA who can both advocate for the public with an expert voice, and provide clear information on digital rights issues with actionable advice for the consumption of the general public.

More broadly, he feels that it is vital for there to be co-operation and co-ordination between advocacy bodies and activist groups for creating broader social change, and believes that EFA has an important role to play in pushing for that change. As part of the EFA board, Liam would seek to improve collaboration with other civil society bodies, and to position EFA to provide mentorship and
guidance to the grassroots of people who are passionate about the cause. As part of this, Liam would look to provide clearer paths for EFA members to actively engage with and contribute to the organisation without being needing to participate at a board level.

Liam is a currently serving board member of the Australian Privacy Foundation. In his role as chair of the APF Technical Committee, Liam was responsible for the overhaul of the APF website for the foundation’s 30th Anniversary. In joining the EFA board, Liam would help to facilitate resource sharing between EFA and other civil rights organisations for the continuing improvement and
maintenance of online platforms and resources.

Liam is a founding member of Digital Rights Watch Australia. He was also an early member of Pirate Party Australia, previously serving as their Queensland state co-ordinator from 2012-2013, and standing as a senate candidate for Queensland in the 2013 Federal Election.

Candidate Statement: David Cake

I’ve been on the board of EFA, and Chair of the board, for several years now. I was elected to the Chair by my board colleagues, and i know I have their confidence. I’ve also been Secretary and Vice-Chair of the board in the past.

In that time I’ve lead EFA through many campaigns and crises, represented EFA nationally and internationally at events and in the media. We’ve fought mass surveillance, censorship, privacy threats, a badly run census, and many efforts for more government control of the internet.

I have been working on the challenges necessary to improve EFAs structure (and especially revenue) for some time, and I’d really like to see that project through with another term on the board. This term will be a crucial one, as our new structure will have many challenges for us to change the way we work as a board and require more of the board as a governance body, but also gives us great opportunities to put the organisation on a more stable footing and improve the range of work we do. I’ve been working on this for a while, and I’d really like the opportunity to help finish the job.

In my time on the board we’ve seen EFA improve the way it works in many ways. We’ve been able to involve many more members in our work via our policy team, and our other volunteer teams. We’ve improved and organised our social media to reach thousands of Australians. We’ve started local branches in major cities so we can meet in person, and we’ve run many events. We’ve improved our international outreach significantly, and so have been able to work with other organisations effectively on international campaigns against bad treaties, and improving the way the internet is run globally (especially as regards privacy). We’ve worked at improving our parliamentary lobbying, talking to politicians directly and working to educate them about Internet issues. And now we have one more big set of changes to make, and I’m hoping you’ll give me the opportunity to continue to be part of that process.

Besides EFA, I’m a technology consultant, and a graduate student looking at Internet governance issues internationally. I’ve got both a technical background (over 20 years as a coder and sysadmin) and now doing a lot of Internet policy work related to EFAs goals (I’m involved in a policy effort to reform the domain name WHOIS system to be more compatible with modern privacy law). I’ve helped lead Internet policy efforts at ICANN, (the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the organisation that coordinates the global domain name system and the IP number system), including hour years on the GNSO Council, a body that oversees global domain name policy (including two years as Vice-Chair), and i’ve also been part of a team that reviewed the Security, Stability and Resilience of the global domain name system for ICANN. i’m currently working on projects involving community media, and internet security.

Candidate Statement: Lachlan Simpson

My name is Lachlan Simpson, I’m a 41 year old New Zealand born Australian, and I would like to nominate myself to be a candidate for the EFA’s board.

I want to help broaden the Australian political narrative, especially around technology, open data – transparency – and privacy. Civil and Digital liberties have long been important to me and I believe that the EFA can help both expand the dialogue and provide excellent representation for parts of the community unserved by lobby groups or business.

On culture and freedom of expression, my work in community radio, web development and activism is evidence that I am committed to the ideals of an open and free culture.

Since 1997 I have actively been committed to a free, open and public media – as a presenter on a number of Melbourne independent radio stations including most recently on 3RRR’s Byte Into It show. In the early 90s I was a zinester, participating at the then Newcastle Young Writers Festival and going on in the late 90s to help build and create Melbourne Indymedia, The Paper, and two Media
Circus conferences. From that platform, we opened Melbourne’s first free and open computing space in a Brunswick warehouse.

Around this time I became a founding collective member of EngageMedia.org, who built an open video sharing platform using open source software to challenge YouTube – Plumi – and built a site dedicated to social justice and environmental videos from Australia, the Pacific, and South East Asia.

I think that education and science are fundamental to a free society, and my participation in learning environments and work as an educator shows my commitment to those projects.

Recently, I’ve focused on open data, coupling teaching and using tools like bash, git, the Natural Language Toolkit, CartoDB, Open Refine, Django and SLURM at Melbourne University and with the Digital Fabulists, for research students.

Before that I taught Translation Technology at Monash University. The work at both Monash and Engagemedia often meant teaching people of low technical literacy, and having to write courseware accordingly.

I was a winning participant in GovHack Melbourne 2014, and an organiser of GovHack Melbourne 2015. As a result of my participation in GovHack and HealthHack, at the end of 2014 I helped kickstart the weekly Melbourne Open Knowledge group.

In 2016 I was chosen by the Pirate Party of Australia to be the lead Victorian Senate Candidate for the 2016 Federal Election. I remain a financial member of The Pirate Party of Australia. I believe that these two groups have common interests and should make efforts to collaborate when possible and practical.

I am a computer scientist, currently working as a Systems Administrator with the Computational Research Facility at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, working with, and supporting, bioinformaticians and researchers.

I have been a Linux user for over 15 years, and a blog that hasn’t been updated in a while at http://pineappledonut.org. I have spent a lot of time over the last decade providing free or cheap hosting and support for local artists and activists, including Belgrave Survival Day, Breakdown Press (.org), Abolition Collective, and Craig Minogue.

In 2013 I spent a year as an Australian Aid volunteer in Kiribati, building IT infrastructure for the Government of Kiribati. I have also lived in Japan and Indonesia.

I think that I make an excellent candidate for the EFA’s Board. I have a proven history of supporting the ideals of the EFA, I have been privileged to have a rounded education in art, philosophy, politics, science, technology and shift work.

Candidate Statement: Andrew Pam

Andrew Pam is an active advocate of Free and Open Source software and free speech rights. He has been the President of Linux Users of Victoria since 2014 and currently works at Infoxchange, a non-profit that seeks to employ technology for social justice. He is a Life Member of EFA and has been a board member since 2002. Andrew would be happy to step aside in order to get some new faces on the board, but he is also happy to remain if EFA members continue to see value in his institutional memory as the longest-serving board member.

Andrew’s LinkedIn page is https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpam/ and his full resume is available at: http://www.sericyb.com.au/apresume.html

Candidate Statement: Shaun Haddrill

As the current Treasurer of Electronic Frontiers Australia Incorporated I would like to continue on the board under the new company structure and help with the transition to a company structure should the members vote in favour of this motion.

As I have been Treasurer for less than two months, much of what I wish to accomplish has not been possible in this short time. As our funds are quite limited at this point in time, the first objective will be to rein in unnecessary spending.

The second step will be to focus in increasing fundraising activities so that we can return our budget to a healthy level.

I believe I am suitable for a board position because I have experience running a company trust account of Pacific Point Properties which has a multi-million dollar annual turnover.

In addition to my practical accounting experience, I am a strong supporter of the objects and purposes of the EFA to protect online civil liberties and help educate the general public in respect to internet security and privacy.

Candidate Statement: Jin-oh Choi

There is a unique balance when dealing between security for all and the privacy for the individual.

We live in a world where a lot of our information and data is on the internet or some other service. When we provide this to both government and non-government entities, we expect a certain level of security, privacy and integrity. Unfortunately this is often not the case.

We have both these entities continually trying to overstep these boundaries. But what can we do about this? The simple answer is by championing the Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) along side other entities that support our cause and being part of the discussion.

I have numerous years of experience on boards and executives of both profit and non-profit organisations and understand the challenges faced.

I would love to help not only the EFA as a board member. But also fellow members of the EFA and the wider community by championing the efforts of the EFA.

If you have questions please feel free to contact me via any of the following: –
– Mobile: 0408 271 800
– Email: [email protected]
– Email (Secure): [email protected]
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jinohchoi/

Candidate Statement: Kade Morton

Nomination withdrawn.

Candidate Statement: Justin Warren

Justin is Managing Director of PivotNine, a boutique IT consulting firm based on Melbourne. He
has been a member of EFA since 2001.

An IT veteran with over 20 years experience, he has worked with enterprises and startups around the
world including ANZ, Australia Post, IBM, HP, Illumio, NetApp, Nutanix, Pure Storage, Suncorp, Telstra,
and VMware. He is a regular contributor to Forbes and CRN Australia, and hosts the popular podcast The Eigencast.

He is a strong proponent of civilian oversight of authority and the State, and enjoys collaborating
with different groups with a diversity of skills and experience. Justin has been active in providing guidance and
mentoring to grassroots and non-technical groups of people passionate about a cause but who need support to navigate
technology, government, and organisational structures transparently and safely.

Justin was a major contributor to the #NotMyDebt campaign, and has provided expert media commentary on #CensusFail
and #NotMyDebt. He has learned far too much about the FOI Act in his attempts to hold government departments to
account, and regularly attempts to make otherwise dull documents accessible with his Too Long; Justin Read series.

He has been inspired by what can be achieved when technical and non-technical people come together for a
common cause. He believes EFA can become a widely acknowledged catalyst for change and a force to be reckoned with.

Justin holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School, and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company
Directors.