Despatches from the front – that AGM
Yesterday’s annual general meeting of the Papua New Guinea Association recognised it was time to pass on the baton to the next generation. In my view, it was very appropriate that this happened at a contested election – the first in the Association’s 57-year history.
I say this because the election provided a clear choice to members between an Association that would continue in its present state and one that would seek a new and more expansive direction. Members chose the latter.
While the returning officers merely announced the result of yesterday’s election, not the precise count, I understand the policies I espoused secured the overwhelming support of members who voted at the meeting and the overwhelming number of members who voted by proxy. The new committee therefore has been given the clearest mandate for change by those members interested enough to vote.
Change, however, does not mean disregarding or disrespecting the inheritance and history of the Association. On the contrary, the committee will be seeking new ways to honour the past and the senior members of the PNGAA, who care for the organisation so passionately.
Yesterday was also an opportunity for members to pay fitting tribute to outgoing president Harry West, stepping down after 25 years at the helm.
Harry’s PNG experience began as a young Lieutenant in the Australian Army and saw him tasked with many exacting roles including representing the then Territory at the United Nations Trusteeship Council and, when District Commissioner in Rabaul, leading the Administration’s response to the Mataungan uprising on the Gazelle Peninsula.
Harry was honoured by his peers yesterday by being given life membership of the Association. I also intend to ask the new committee to create a position of ‘President Emeritus’ that Harry can occupy at his pleasure.
I encourage readers of ASOPA PEOPLE who are not PNGAA members to join the Association. The excellent quarterly journal, Una Voce, which is only available to members, is alone worth the membership fee of just $20 a year. You can click through to the membership form here.
