Since 2014, it has been practice that the AARE Executive include two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members - the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Researcher Member and the Co-opted Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Researcher Member. In October 2022, leaders of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research SIG called attention to this and noted that the AARE Constitution only referred explicitly to one identified Indigenous member position. This is despite long term advocacy and past gains made.
As an immediate effort to remedy this, the AARE Executive Committee put a motion to members at the 52nd Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 30 November 2022: That clause 6.6f of the AARE Constitution be changed as follows:
Clause 6.6f (wording revised at the Executive meeting)
The Executive Committee may co-opt the chairpersons of any standing committees for a defined period. The Executive Committee may also co-opt up to two other members. One of these co-opted positions will be filled by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person, identified by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research SIG. The other co-opted member will have expertise in relation to particular issues or activities as required. Co-opted members will serve for a defined period and will have all the powers and functions of elected members.
The Executive strongly recommended approval of this motion and it was passed by a quorum of voting members.
The change was subsequently drafted and submitted for approval by the South Australian Government (where AARE is Incorporated as an Association). Approval was granted in January 2023 and the revised Constitution is published at www.aare.edu.au > Publications > Corporate Documents; and available here for download.
Next steps
Members at the AGM acknowledged the need for AARE to go beyond the above resolution if the Association was to fulfill the commitments made in the Statement of Reconciliation in 2018. As a result, a second motion was put to the AGM: That the AARE Executive work with the leadership of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research SIG to bring forward the constitutional change required to ensure two identified positions on the Executive filled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members; and to establish an accountable and sustainable AARE Indigenous Governance model; by the 2023 AGM.
This motion was also passed by a quorum of voting members at the Annual General Meeting (2022). The AARE Executive Committee commenced planning toward these aims at its February meeting held in Melbourne on the 9th & 10th of February.
Further updates will be provided in future Member News updates and Association reports.