How do we work
As an organisation we aim to be accountable while maintaining the
freedom to just get on with the things that need doing. We believe that the
worth of the group is what it accomplishes, not what it talks about!
The committee - made up basically of anyone who is actively working on something
- interacts mostly online. Physical meetings are very rare.
Projects are formed by any group of members with a common interest, and become
a "sub-committee" of the association. This is where the real work
is done, projects meet as frequently or infrequently as needed, and often work
more by email and phone than meetings.
We have a small core group who handle the practical stuff, like finances, and
admin, and whose task is to support the projects.
At all our meetings we aim to achieve consensus, and in practice decisions
or public statements are not made unless we get at least 80% approval from those
attending. We've found this decision making strucure helps us to be sure we
are speaking for the neighborhood, while stopping the factionalism which often
generates in "majority rules" systems, or the tyranny of the minority
in pure consensus groups. Basically, if we can't get 80% to agree, then we aren't
speaking for the neighborhood.
We do lots of our work by email, saving a huge amount of adminstration time,
and hopefully ensuring that most people are prepared and up to date before the
meetings.
How can I get involved
The best way to get involved is to contact Mitra at
mitra @ mitra.biz or 0414-648-722, and ask to be informed of the next meeting.
We understand and support that commitments vary from person to person, and
from time to time, and promise not to push you into being more involved than
you want. To the contrary, we'll encourage you to pick the issues you really
care about, and get involved with the other people who care about that issue.
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