Constitution
About this page
The Bicycle Victoria Constitution was passed 7 November 2005
Bicycle Victoria Constitution
(pdf 313k)
Under this constitution, a voluntary group of nine Members (the Board) are elected by other Members to represent them in the highest positions of responsibility in the organisation. The election is usually held by phone vote. Every year, three Board positions come up for election.
Although it is not compulsory, it is an important Membership responsibility to vote in the election.
The Board make collective decisions in the best interests of the organisation and the Members. Its main roles are to set the strategic direction of the organisation and to supervise the senior staff who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.
New Constitution adopted 2005
New Constitution
In December 2005 Consumer Affairs Victoria approved the proposed Constitution, which is now the new Bicycle Victoria Constitution. (See PDF below)
Special Resolutions 1 and 2
Members at the AGM passed the name change (Special Resolution 1), and adopted the Constitution (Special Resolution 2).
Be the first to know
Register to receive updates on this page (see 'Email me updates on this subject' at right) to find out the latest on the new Constitution, as well as draft minutes from the 2005 AGM.
Background
For several years Bicycle Victoria's Council has been working on a new Constitution.
In February 2005, a sub-committee was formed to prepare a draft Constitution. (See below for details of the sub-committee.)
Rationale
The current Bicycle Victoria Constitution was written 22 years ago. The proposed Constitution includes a number of changes:
1. Since the existing Constitution was written, the world inside Bicycle Victoria has changed. For example, in the current Constitution the Treasurer needs to sign all cheques. This is clearly inappropriate in a number of ways.
2. Since the current Constitution was written, the outside world has changed:
- There are new expectations from both state and federal governments
- There have been governance and legislative changes, including those following the collapse of HIH in 2001
- There have been changes in technology (e.g. capability of electronic meetings and voting).
3. The desire for a plain English, accessible and concise Constitution.
The proposed Constitution maintains many features of the existing Constitution, including:
- The number of councillors
- The terms of office (years) of each councillor.
A detailed list of the principal features of the proposed Constitution can be found in the Explanatory Memorandum on the proposed Constitution (PDF at right).
Read the proposed Constitution
At the right of the screen are PDF versions of:
- The current Constitution
- The proposed Constitution
- The Explanatory Memorandum on the proposed Constitution.
About the Constitution committee
Tony Lang
Tony Lang is a lawyer who specialises in writing plain language constitutions for not-for-profit organisations. For further details, see Tony Lang's profile on the barristers on List A at the Victorian Bar website.
Terry Kilmister: Director, BoardWorks International
Terry Kilmister is an experienced director and has over 20 years experience of corporate consulting. This work has included governance development, strategic planning, quality management, business facilitation, organisational review and management development and mentoring. He is personally trained by leading USA governance expert Dr John Carver. For more, see BoardWorks International.
Also on the Constitution committee
Explanatory Memorandum on the proposed Constitution (PDF 28k)