page 3       2.  Purposes – These are unchanged from our original Constitution.

3.  Our financial year ends on 31 December – again unchanged.

page 13    36.  Quorum at general meetings – The Model Rules require 10% of members to be present physically or by proxy whereas our original Constitution required only 5%. Given the fact that we are a small organisation but very spread nationally, we consider 5% to be reasonable.

page 14    38.  Voting at general meeting -The Model Rules allow for the chair of the meeting to have a casting vote if votes are divided equally on a question. Our view is that it is preferable that such a motion is lost and a resolution found that is acceptable to a majority. Furthermore, the principle of one vote, one value should apply, as it does, for example, in the Australian Senate.

page 18    53.   Election of ordinary members – This Model Rule is the most significant (and welcome) departure from our old Constitution because it allows members at AGMs to not only elect committee members but to determine the number, including a range of numbers. Our old rules set the number which was inflexible and made us non-compliant if, for instance an unexpected resignation could not be filled immediately.

page 23   72.  The Austral Fungi Fund (Gift Fund) – Whilst not in the Model Rules, these clauses are necessary for our Deductible Gift Recipient status and similar to previous wording.