Changes to the Constitution were passed at the Annual General Meeting on 15 Feb to allow the AIP to apply for Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status and to modernise its operations.

The AGM, held over Zoom, was well-attended with over 40 members present.

The major amendments to the Constitution were:

• Changes to the allowed structure of the National Executive team;

• Changes to enable the AIP to apply for Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status, allowing it to accept tax deductible donations;
• Modernisation of the operations requirements (e.g. no longer requiring postal mail as the only way to communicate official votes/decisions); and,
• Compliance with the requirements of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), including the use of more inclusive language.

You can read the updated Constitution here.

Other discussion items included our advocacy efforts throughout 2021, and the need for collecting accurate, nationwide, gender statistics for students studying physics at high school and university.

A big thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to the event!

An AIP Council meeting was held following the AGM. On the final day of the Council meeting, an updated set of by-laws was voted in. These updated by-laws map to the new Constitution, and reflect the changes made to the modernisation of the Constitution and the AIP’s application for DGR status.

The mapping of the new Constitution to the old one and the by-laws can be found here.

Photo: Happy attendees at the online AGM. Screenshot supplied by Trevor Harris.