At the AGMs on 21 May, members of Birds Australia and Bird Observation & Conservation Australia (BOCA) voted on whether our two organisations should merge. For the merger to go ahead, at least 75% of all Birds Australia members who voted and at least 75% of all BOCA members who voted needed to vote for the merger.
*The outcome *Members of both organisations voted for the merger of Birds Australia and BOCA to create BirdLife Australia. Over 93% of those that voted from BOCA voted for the merger and over 96% of those that voted from Birds Australia voted for the merger.
A huge thank you to all members for being part of this process – and welcome to your new organisation – BirdLife Australia!
*What happens next? *Over the coming months Birds Australia and BOCA operations will begin to come together; however ensuring that the transition from two to one is smooth and successful will take time. Over the next six months, both Birds Australia and BOCA will focus on delivery of our key work as well as implementing the merger and beginning to amalgamate operations.
Between now and December 2011 this includes: § the first meetings of the ‘transition Board’ of BirdLife Australia; § meetings of Birds Australia Council and BOCA Board to wrap up organisational and financial operations; § consulting with groups and branches on future arrangements; § finalising the BirdLife Australia vision and goals and developing a new logo; § developing the new BirdLife Australia website ready for launch in early 2012; § bringing together both organisations’ staff into one building; and § producing separate membership magazines for the rest of 2011, but working closely together behind the scenes. By January 2012: BirdLife Australia is fully operational Early 2012: formal launch of our new organisation, the new website and publications.
Over the next six months we will be keeping you updated through monthly bulletins on the Birds Australia and BOCA merger web pages. These updates will be summarised in the September and December issues of Wingspan and the August and November issues of the The Bird Observer, and via Birds Australia’s monthly e-news.
By joining forces, we will achieve more for Australia’s birds in our conservation and education efforts and will work better for our members in encouraging and facilitating enjoyment and appreciation of birds. We hope that with your help we can make BirdLife Australia a place for everyone with an interest in birds – and look forward to an exciting and successful future together. ===============================
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Comments
5 responses to “BOCA-Birds Australia Merger Approval”
This is a fascinating result.
I would be interested to know the number of voting members from each organization and what percentage of the total membership the vote represents.
Ian May St Helens, Tasmania 7216
Dave Torr wrote: ===============================
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Sorry – that detail got missed from the initial posting. In total 4517 votes were cast – I don’t have the precise breakdown at home, but there were over 1500 BOCA ones so I guess just under 3000 for BA. This represents more than 50% of BOCA members and around 38% of BA members, so it was a fairly substantial vote – I can’t speak for BA but BOCA has never had a vote anywhere near this large in the time I have been involved with them.
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Bob
I believe the merger will be generally good for birds and for people. That said but I also have reservations – I can think of four that I have voiced. No doubt many others have theirs too.
I’m not going to repeat mine a) because I’m sure that the new BirdLife Australia will be listening and b) because I don’t want this mailing list to be clogged up with debates that can’t be resolved in this forum.
Michael Norris
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The announcement by David Torr that the amalgamation of BA and BOCA has been solidly approved has prompted me to make this posting.
I can easily accept that what I am about to say could be considered controversial but I hope that BA and BOCA members can extend themselves to at least reading and considering what I say with an open mind.
I am quite prepared to declare that I voted against the amalgamation. I did so on a number of grounds, most of which I don’t think it is necessary to go into now that the action has been approved. Incidentaly, I did make formal submissions on the matter.
What I do want to say is that I am disappointed and I am seriously considering not renewing my membership of the new BA when that time comes later this year.
Whether I renew my membership of BA or not now depends on whether or not I can actually decline membership of the ‘regional’ group which BA decides I ‘belong to’.
In correspondence with Birds Australia/BOCA representatives involved in organising the vote for or against amalgamation I have been given guarded assurance that I can be a member of the ‘national’ body while not being listed as a member of a ‘local/regional’ group.
I relinquished my membership of the local group of BOCA on ethical grounds some time ago and I do not wish to be now listed as a member of a ‘regional/local’ group which might include members of that previous group.
I firmly believe that each member of BA should have the facility to be a member of the national organisation but not be a member of an arbitrarily designated ‘local/regional’ group if that group is not acceptable to the member. I have been advised that what I want will be allowable according to the ‘rules’ of the organization but it will be interesting to see if this is actually the case after the amalgamation actually takes affect.
I believe it should be possible for a member to reject membership of a ‘local/regional’ group which does not meet the standards of operation and conduct which that member feels is appropriate without having to completely resign membership of the national body. There should be no ability of a ‘local/regional’ group which does not perform to a high standard ethically and/or physically to be able to get funding from the national body simply on the basis of claiming membership of members of the national body who may reside in an arbitrarily declared area. Members should be asked if they wish to be counted as members of the ‘local’/regional’ group.
In the past I have been declared a member of a ‘local’ group with which I had no affinity and which was impractical for me to relate to. In the present that still is the case. That seems unlikely to change in the future.
For the record, I have been a member of RAOU/BA for approximately 25 years and I was a member of BOCA for a slightly shorter time (my personal records have been lost so I can’t be precise). I have also at some time been a member of Birds Queensland, Australian Wader Studies Group, Queensland Wader Studies Group and several other associated birding groups. Over the years I have relinquished membership of all of those groups for various reasons including financial and ethical. At the moment I am only a member of Birds Australia. It will be a sad event for me if I do discontinue my membership of BA but I have the comfort of knowing that I can continue my enjoyment of the world’s most fascinating creatures even if I am not a member of some birding club.
Thank you for reading this.
Bob Inglis Sandstone Point Qld Australia http://users.tpg.com.au/inglisrc/
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Wow! This is incredible news!
When merger was originally discussed, I remember that the overall sense was FOR the merger. In the intervening period, the sense I was getting from the Birds Australia members was far less favourable (though not anti-merger). So for the vote to be 93% and 96% FOR is amazing news.
Congratulations to all those people that worked for this outcome from both organisations. In particular to Graeme Hamilton and the staff of Birds Australia, to Alison Russell-French and the council of Birds Australia, to Russell Hunter and the team at BOCA, and to John Barkla and the directors of BOCA.
Paul Dodd Docklands, Victoria
(Now to be the Birds Australia Victoria Group Convenor with the shortest tenure!)