Minutes of 2018 Annual General Meeting

Transcription

1 Minutes of 2018 Annual General Meeting Wednesday 12 September 2018, 4:10 5:00 pm (AWST), Riverside Theatre, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, 21 Mounts Bay Road, Perth. Chairperson: Adrian Linacre 1. Welcome Chair Adrian Linacre welcomed all to the meeting. 2. Apologies and attendance a. Apologies: Telesia Fatiaki, Gary King, Judith Odgaard, Karen Cavanagh, Tony Raymond, Anna Davey. b. Attendance: see list attached c. Proxies: see attached 3. Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting, 27 October 2017 held in Adelaide Motion: that the minutes of the previous meeting are accepted as a true and accurate record of that meeting. Proposed: Jim Pearson; Seconded: Carolyne Bird.* Note: Ian Calhaem seconded the minutes during the AGM, however, he wasn t present at the AGM in Reports on transactions of the Society in the previous year a. President s Report (Adrian Linacre), see attached. Adrian also noted that Taylor & Francis and ANZFSS Council have an in-principle agreement for a supplementary issue of the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences, to contain 2-page extended abstracts of 2018 symposium presentations. b. Treasurer s Report including Annual Financial Statement (Kate Grimwood), see attached. Kate gave a summary of her report, noting that most income is from membership, workshop and event fees. This year we also received funds from the 2016 Auckland symposium profit. The large expenditure is re-distribution of incomes to branches, minus GST & capitation, with smaller costs relating to meeting costs for Executive & Council, and administrative support. The Society remains in a comfortable position. An audit of the Society s financial records has been undertaken. A copy of the audit report can be obtained by ing Kate at treasurer@anzfss.org A question was raised by Dimitri Gerastamoulos regarding the gradually increasing registration fee for attendance at ANZFSS biennial symposia. Adrian addressed the question referring to the joint IAFS/ANZFSS meeting in 2020 being a bit different, as a compromise between the usual working of both symposia; the registration fee for the 2020 symposium will be reduced from this year s symposium. Motion: that the finance report is accepted as a true and accurate record of the financial position of the Society. Proposed: Carl Streeting; Seconded: Hadyn Green. ABN: /ARBN: Page 1 of 3

2 5. Special business a. Ratification of new Life Members Adrian announced the nomination of the following life members, and outlined their individual contributions to the field of forensic sciences and the ANZFSS: i. Emeritus Professor Hilton Kobus ii. Dr Carolyne Bird iii. Darren Bails. Darren was not able to be present, but was awarded via video call. Darren outlined the support he received from the SA Branch committee, and the people he worked with on the Adelaide Symposium Organising Committee. Motion: that the nomination of Hilton Kobus as a life member of ANZFSS is accepted. Unanimously agreed. Motion: that the nomination of Carolyne Bird as a life member of ANZFSS is accepted. Unanimously agreed. Motion: that the nomination of Darren Bails as a life member of ANZFSS is accepted. Unanimously agreed. b. Presentation of progress on Professional Member category (Alison Sears) Ali Sears outlined the membership package for Professional Member category. Membership will be open to practitioners and academics, who will be bound by the Society Rules & Code of Professional Conduct. Membership will be $140 in first year and $120 in following years, with applications anticipated to go live on the ANZFSS website in the week of 23 rd September Each application will require two professional referees as well as supporting documentation. Applications will be assessed by a core panel consisting of Executive President, local Branch President & discipline expert(s). Comment from Steven Cordner, regarding RCPA who recently brought a forensic science stream to their curriculum. A supervised, curriculum-based, 5 year training program was written, an insert on which was included in the symposium satchel. Ali mentioned that any cross-over or collaboration between that program and ours will be looked at. Annalise Wrzeczycki asked whether a list of Professional Members will be made publicly available on the website. Ali advised that the listing of members will be retained as is (i.e. the member look up function will be the only way the public can see if a particular person is a member). Bindi Burnell asked about the breakdown of funds back to Branches from Professional Membership fees. This will be discussed further at Council, but it is likely that the current amount will go back to the respective Branch (fee minus capitation), with some funds retained to further the professional development of members (via workshops and other opportunities). ABN: /ARBN: Page 2 of 3

3 6. Elect members of Executive James Curran acted as returning officer and chair for this agenda item. The following nominations were received: President: Adrian Linacre Vice President Australia: Ali Sears Treasurer: Kate Grimwood Secretary: Carolyne Bird Further nominations were called from the floor, with none being made. Motion: that all nominations be accepted. Unanimously agreed. 7. Any other business None raised 8. Close 16:48pm Dr Carolyne Bird ANZFSS Secretary 7 November 2018 PO Box 221, WELLAND, SA 5007 executive@anzfss.org Attached: Attendance list List of proxies Minutes of previous Annual General Meeting held on 27 October 2017 President s Report 2018 Treasurer s Report 2018 ABN: /ARBN: Page 3 of 3

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13 Proxies for ANZFSS AGM 2018 Name Branch Proxy Vote Nicola Barrett WA Chair At their discretion Elizabeth Chan NSW Joanna Bunford At their discretion Georgina Sauzier WA Simon Lewis At their discretion Talia Newland WA Simon Lewis At their discretion Rhiannon Boseley WA Simon Lewis At their discretion Sorour Shahbazi WA Simon Lewis At their discretion Michael Perkal Vic Jim Pearson At their discretion Loren Laverty Vic Jim Pearson At their discretion Ian Neely Vic Jim Pearson At their discretion Philip Skelton WA Simon Lewis At their discretion Rebecca Jones WA Kari Pitts At their discretion Denise Downe WA Kari Pitts At their discretion Teresa Chan WA Kari Pitts At their discretion Kevin Thomas WA Peter Thomas At their discretion

14 President s Report/2018 ANZFSS Annual General Meeting Perth, September 2018 President s Report Dear ANZFSS Member, It is two years since the current Executive took the reins of the ANZFSS and much has been achieved. This report is presented by the ANZFSS President with assistance from the two Vice Presidents and the Secretary. The achievements are due to the work of the current Executive and Council. The Executive is: President: VP New Zealand: VP Australia: Treasurer: Secretary: Past President: Prof. Adrian Linacre Prof. James Curran Dr Alison Sears Dr Kate Grimwood Dr Carolyne Bird Prof. Claude Roux The Council has varied throughout the two-year period as for many branches there is a two year nominal tenure of Branch President. Branch Presidents included: Branch President(s) ACT Eric Davies, Joanne Giacco NSW Rebecca Johnston NT Karen Cavanagh NZ James Curran Queensland Lyza-Jane McMenz, Carl Streeting, Annu Nangia SA Natasha Mitchell, Julianne Henry Tasmania Roberta Julian, Charles Connor VIC Jim Pearson WA Chris May, Simon Lewis Page 1 of 4

15 President s Report/2018 Executive and Council have each met four times since the 2017 AGM in Adelaide in late October. During this time, a number of improvements to ANZFSS systems have been implemented, including updates to the event booking system that allows a Branch to set a cap on tickets sold for limited capacity events, and for people to request an invoice be generated for event bookings, which can subsequently be completed for payment. Professionalization One central issue that was agreed at the meeting in Auckland was the establishment of a professional membership category. VP Dr Alison Sears has been tasked with chairing this and developing the membership criteria and application process. An application form has now been drafted that is simple to complete, road-tested already by members of Council, and will allow anyone applying for this membership category to complete and submit online for review and assessment. An assessment process has been devised that includes input from the Branch from which an application is made, plus continuity by a member of the Executive, and assistance from a Discipline Advisor chosen from the area of forensic science to which the applicant makes reference in their application. Membership benefits have yet to be finalised but may include free access to the official journal of the ANZFSS (currently the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences) and access to specifically designed workshops or short courses. It is essential that there is a professional basis to the ANZFSS to allow greater credibility of our society to all in the criminal justice system. The concept that was agreed at the 2016 Auckland symposium will now finally be established. Workshops There have been two workshops in the last 2 years that were initially instigated by a Branch and supported by Council. Agreed by Council was a process by which a Branch may apply to host such a workshop that can be supported by Council. The support includes publicity and marketing to members, financial security, and the offer of supporting up to 2 members to attend with their registration paid by the Executive. WA Branch hosted a workshop on Evidence Evaluation and Presentation of Forensic Science. Dr Anna Davey was the workshop tutor and the ANZFSS supported two members to attend (Tegan Collins and Jennifer Young). The ACT Branch hosted a workshop on Cognitive Bias with the tutor being the world renowned Dr Dror. The Executive supported Gerald Dutton and James Inskip to attend this workshop. Allan Hodda Award Nine high class applications were received for this award. VP James Curran and VP Alison Sears assisted the President with the assessment process. Dr SallyAnn Harbison was the winner of the award for Applications for 2018 are now called for with a deadline of Friday 28 th September. We have moved this deadline a couple of months earlier than previous years to allow time for assessments of all the applications to be concluded and the winner, as well as all the unsuccessful applicants, contacted well before the Christmas period. Page 2 of 4

16 President s Report/2018 Symposium Awards There were 125 applications received for 2018 Symposium Awards. These were assessed by members of the Executive from which 40 full and 20 student were awarded the cost of registration. Speaker Transfer A real focal point of our society are the members meetings and/or public events. This often entails local speakers presenting on forensically related matters, such as case studies, recent research, or just points of forensic interest. There is however, a finite number of local speakers available. The Council have looked at means to support the transfer of speakers/presenters from one branch to another. This started originally with the concept of financially assisting an international speaker giving a talk at one Branch to then attend a second Branch. This support has been applied for twice since its agreement by Council, and allowed two speakers to travel interstate in Australia. The number of attendees at these meetings where the speaker was supported from Executive funds was increased compared to other such meetings. This concept will continue as it meets the aims of the ANZFSS to encourage exchange of ideas. Community engagement ANZFSS has also contributed some funds to a not-for profit organisation, That s RAD! Science, for the third in their series of children s science books. This book features forensic science, of course, and is provided free of charge to children through a variety of outreach programs. International Criminal Court (ICC) The President of the ANZFSS (or nominee) is invited to be a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ICC. This requires attending the headquarters of the ICC in The Hague for an annual two-day meeting. I attended the meeting in 2017 and played a part in drafting SOPs for medical data handling and remote collection of data. I was unable to attend the meeting in 2018, but delighted that VP James Curran took my place and was able to represent the ANZFSS. It is excellent that the ANZFSS has this representation at the ICC and I have already blocked off the 3 rd week of June in 2019 so that I can attend. The 2018 meeting was again productive. The committee continued to work on the documents drafted in The ICC has an urgent need for the medical data document as a good part of their work involves collecting medical information from those involved in their cases. The meeting also saw the retirement of Dr Eric Baccard, who is the inaugural Head of the Forensic Science Section of the Office of the Prosecutor. We wish Eric all the best, and look forward to working with his successor. Standards Australia As ANZFSS President I am invited to play a role on the forensic panel of Standards Australia. In the first year this required attendance at meetings, either in Sydney or the Gold Coast. More recently much of the work can be done on-line. Standards relating to the packaging and labelling of forensic items have been reviewed and revised by the committee along with processes to minimise contamination. Page 3 of 4

17 President s Report/2018 IAFS/ANFSS The next symposium will be held jointly with the International Association of Forensic Sciences and will be in Sydney at the newly refurbished ICC on Darling Harbour. The dates are now fixed (21-25 September 2020) and the venue booked. Claude Roux as the elected President of the IAFS is chairing a small committee charged with the initial planning of this joint meeting. This committee comprises Chris Lennard, James Wallman, Tony Raymond, Rebecca Johnston (current ANZFSS NSW Branch President) and myself, all of whom are very much supporters of the ANZFSS and will ensure that this joint meeting is planned with our society in mind as well as meeting the expectations of the IAFS. There have been four planning meetings already and more regular meetings will be planned after the Perth symposium. The conference, with a theme Forensic Science 2020: where to from here? will require much organisation and no doubt we will be reaching out to many others to assist with the planning and preparation of a conference that will be a once in a career experience. The joint ANZFSS/IAFS conference will be one meeting, with one registration fee and one scientific program and will be a truly joint meeting building on the strengths of both societies. This will require compromises compared to previous ANZFSS symposia or IAFS conferences and one thing that ANZFSS members will notice is the reduced registration fee. The plan is that there will be similar symposium awards to assist some members to attend, while the IAFS has assisted delegates to attend from developing countries. Concluding Comments Finally I wish to state as ever that all activity of the ANZFSS is due to the work of local Branches, Council and the Executive. My personal thanks to all for their support and help. I also wish to thank for the members of the ANZFSS for their trust in allowing the Executive and Council represent their views. Adrian Prof. Adrian Linacre President Australian & New Zealand Forensic Science Society Page 4 of 4

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20 MINUTES Annual General Meeting 6:00 pm (ACDT) Friday 27 October 2017 Adelaide Pavilion, South Terrace, Adelaide. 1. Open: 18:06 2. Welcome (Adrian Linacre) a. Meeting commenced at 18:06 pm b. The President welcomed everyone and declared the meeting open. 3. Apologies and attendance a. No apologies b. A total of 43 members were in attendance, including members of Council: Adrian Linacre (President), Kate Grimwood (Treasurer), Carolyne Bird (Secretary), Ali Sears (Vice- President), James Curran (Vice-President NZ), Claude Roux (Immediate Past-President), Natasha Mitchell (President, SA), Karen Cavanagh-Steer (President, NT), Chris May, (President, WA), Eric Davies (President, ACT), Roberta Julian (Vice-President, Tas), Jim Pearson (President, Vic), Rebecca Johnson (President, NSW), Carl Streeting (Vice- President, Qld). See attached attendance list for all members and non-members present. 4. Minutes of the previous annual general meeting (21 September 2016) Adrian Linacre noted that under item 10. General Business, the nomination and ratification of Bryan Found as a life member was missing. Pending the addition of this omission, a motion was made that the minutes of the previous annual general meeting, held on 21 September 2016, be accepted as a true and accurate record. Proposed: Chris May (WA); seconded: James Curran (NZ). 5. Reports on transactions of the Society in the previous year a. President s report (Adrian Linacre) The president tabled his annual report (attached) and highlighted the following: His first duty was ratifying new life members, Keith Bedford and Bryan Found, but his second, sad duty was attending the celebration of Bryan s life. The PCAST report was published just before the last AGM. ANZFSS made a comment on this which was published on the ANZFSS website. There have subsequently been responses to the ANZFSS comment published in the AJFS. Soon a response to these, clarifying our position, will be submitted to AJFS for publication. He attended a meeting of the International Criminal Court as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board and also sits on Standards Australia as ANZFSS representative. Council has developed workshop guidelines to facilitate ANZFSS in supporting Branch workshops. Vice-President (NZ) James Curran is the chair of the Awards subcommittee, while Vice- President Ali Sears is the lead for the Professionalisation subcommittee. ABN: ARBN: Page 1 of 3

21 b. Treasurer s report (Kate Grimwood) The Treasurer, in her annual report (attached), gave an overview of the financial position of the Society. She noted that the Society had a good income in the financial year, driven primarily by membership fees & the return of seed funding from the Auckland Symposium. Expenditure was attributed to awards, scholarships, disbursements of online branch event payments, and membership payments to branches. Other expenses include PO box rental, administration, and website support. The online payment portal works well in Australia, but there are some small issues with transacting in NZ. The Society is not required to perform an audit based on our income tier, but did this year. It was finalised today (27 October) for signing by ANZFSS and sent back to the auditors to review. The audit report will be available for any member to view upon request via treasurer@anzfss.org. A motion was made that the Treasurer s report be adopted. Proposed: James Curran (NZ); seconded: Natasha Mitchell (SA). c. Secretary s report (Carolyne Bird) The Secretary reported that, since the last AGM, the new Executive had transitioned at a meeting on 18 October 2016, and met a further five times since then (22 Nov 2016, 16 Feb 2017, 19 April, 26 June and 15 Aug). Council had also met six times over the same period (1 Dec 2016, 28 Feb 2017, 2 May, 11 July, 6 Sept and 27 Oct). She noted that Society membership continues to grow, with members up approximately 10% from the numbers at the last AGM (currently 1,329 members). A summary of achievements over the past year was reported: o o o o o o 6. Special business Revised membership application form to improve efficiency, saving our Secretariat (Deb Sandilands) time and the Society money. Developed workshop guidelines and form, for branches to put forward proposals. The WA Branch was the first branch to use this form, and Executive funded scholarships for two members to attend their Expert Evidence workshop. Clarified Allan Hodda Memorial Award and Ian Riebeling Memorial Medal criteria, making expectations and deliverables clearer from the outset. Implemented a secure webpage for each branch to upload documents for committee member access. Engaged more economical teleconferencing facilities for Council and Executive meetings. Partnered with GCC Forensic Science Conference in Dubai (November 2017) as a media partner, allowing an ANZFSS member to attend the conference for free, to promote our Society. a Symposium update (Chris May) CM reported that the ANZFSS 2018 website had recently been updated. Abstract submissions (for workshops and presentations) are open, with closing dates listed on the website. ABN: ARBN: Page 2 of 3

22 The organising committee has been encouraging promotion of the symposium at conferences, via inclusion of promotional slides in presentations given. b. IAFS 2020 (Claude Roux) CR noted that the only previous IAFS meeting held in Australia was held in Adelaide (in 1990). The strength of ANZFSS and our symposium was used to promote the IAFS Sydney bid. The 2020 meeting will be a joint IAFS-ANZFSS meeting, with a single registration process. CR expects it will attract around 1500 delegates, with more from the medical field due to IAFS focus. CR expressed his excitement about 2020 and hopes to see everyone there. c. Nomination/ratification of new Life Members In 2014, the ACT Branch nominated Eric Davies for life membership, however, ratification at an AGM has been outstanding since then. Adrian Linacre outlined some details from Eric s nomination, including his work history and involvement in and contribution to improvement to the ACT Branch. Ratification occurred by show of hands, with the majority in favour of ratification. The WA Branch nominated Peter Thomas for life membership. Chris May (WA Branch President) spoke to Peter s nomination, including his significant, solid contribution to the Branch, especially in the early days of developing their website. Ratification occurred by show of hands, with the majority in favour of ratification. 7. Any other business Nil 8. Next meeting Wednesday 12 September 2018, Perth Convention Centre, Perth, WA 9. Close: 18:36 pm Dr Carolyne Bird ANZFSS Secretary 27 October 2017 PO Box 221, WELLAND, SA 5007 executive@anzfss.org Attachments 1. Attendance list 2. Minutes of previous annual general meeting held on 21 September 2016 (excluding attendance list and Rules of Association) 3. President s report 4. Treasurer s report/finance summary ABN: ARBN: Page 3 of 3

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26 President s Report ANZFSS AGM, October 2017 It has been over 1 year since the new Executive took over and certainly seems to have been a very quick 13 months. A number of matters to report. I took over at Auckland and one of my first tasks was to congratulate new Life Members, one of which was Bryan Found. Alas one of my next tasks was to represent the ANZFSS at a celebration of Bryan s amazingly life through in Melbourne after his dreadful passing. The tremendous attendance at this event only went to highlight just what respect we all had for Bryan and what a dreadful lost his passing is to our society. Also around Auckland was the publication of the US President s for the Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) report. For anyone who took time to read the 174 page document, there was a call for further research in many areas of the forensic sciences and validation of much of our testing. There was alas some criticism of forensic practice that was not representative of the situation in Australia or New Zealand. Quite rightly our society made a response. A similar response was produced by many other societies worldwide so we were not alone in this. But, our commentary that was placed on our website led to the lead author of the PCAST report writing a letter to the Australian Journal of Forensic Sciences commenting that we had missed much information and that we should have been more supportive. There then followed a full length article from authors here in Australia commenting that our synopsis missed the need to validate basic sciences. We have now provided a simple reply and will ask that this is published as a Letter to the Editor at AJFS. I also think that the way that the letters and article were handled by the AJFS draws further into question whether this journal should be the official journal of our society. As president of the ANZFSS I attended the International Criminal Court last July. This was in The Hague and I was there as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board. Two areas were discussed in this two-day meeting use of medical records and collection of data from remote sensing equipment. This is a yearly event and I look forward to attending next year. I am now also a member of Standards Australia as a committee member for CH041. There have been a number of meetings to-date with one on Monday October 30 th. This committee has assisted in up-dating standards relating to the collection, packaging and labelling of scientific evidential material. While perhaps not everyone s idea of enjoyment, reading and commenting on these standards are crucial to ensure that these documents are suitable for current best-practice. It is excellent that the society is represented at these meetings and I aim to continue in this role for the tenure of my presidency. We heard back in August that the Claude will be the next president of the IAFS. This is a tremendous honour. The next IAFS meeting will be in Sydney in 2020 and as you are now are aware this will be a joint meeting with the ANZFSS. I have known Claude for very many years and also Claude was the previous National President of the ANZFSS. Claude has asked if I will be the Vice President of the IAFS, which I have accepted and therefore very much look forward to working with Claude. Plans have started to appoint a PCO. It will be a joint meeting as underscored by bringing the current President of the NSW Branch (currently Dr Rebecca Johnson) into the organising committee and no doubt more members of the NSW Branch will be co-opted to help. But, I stress that the immediate focus is on making Perth the success it no doubt be. I have been promoting this meeting at every opportunity and ask that we all do the same. I have delegate the role of awards to the NZ President, James Curran. He put together a small group to assess Allan Hodda award applicants and has noted a few aspects of the

27 assessment that needed attention; this has been done. I hope that James will lead assessments of applicants for this coming year. As we move to professionalization, Vice President Alison Seers has been developing some models. She has also put together a small team to help; these are drawn from practitioners, mangers, and academics. As there is no specific VP report I can report on her behalf that we are moving towards models that can be put forward to all the members. Ultimately a final aim is to present this at the AGM in Perth. Part of professionalization will be short courses and workshops. We have collectively drawn up a simple process if a branch wishes to put on a short course or workshop and use the ANZFSS branding. We have also provided support for two members of the ANZFSS to attend an up-coming workshop in Perth in November the support is to pay the registration and I like the use of funds to support more in the future. Finally, I wish to minute the tremendous support I get from the other members of the Executive. Carolyne and Kate do a huge amount of work and make my role easier than it might otherwise be so thank you. Thank you also to the SA Branch for hosting us this time. Adrian Linacre October, 2017

28 P.O. Box 221 WELLAND SA 5007; ABN: Finance Summary for the Financial Year Bank Balance We started the financial year (FY) with a balance of... $217, The closing balance for the FY was... $230, This represents an operating surplus of... $12, Income Total income of $66, was made up of the following: Online Portal Payments (Membership and Event Fees)... $58, NZ Branch capitation fees... $2, Bank interest... $3, Donation... $1, Expenditure Total expenditure of $203, was made up of the following: Awards, sponsorship and tributes... $8, Seed funding for the 2018 Symposium... $20, Membership fee payments to branches... $32, Event booking payments to branches... $7, Travel/meeting costs for Council members... $9, Administrative support (secretarial)... $3, Post Office box, legal, bank and audit fees... $2, Insurance... $2, Website and membership database fees... $ GST payments to ATO... $5, Kate GRIMWOOD Executive Treasurer ANZFSS Inc. 25 October 2017