At the 45th Annual General Meeting of the Boating Industry Association (BIA) of NSW last night, under the Chairmanship of President Alan Blake, the membership voted in favour for a merger with the BIA of South Australia. This vote by the members follows a similar outcome at a South Australian meeting of members in March. The five Special Resolutions recommended by the Board of Directors were all approved by majority vote. As a result BIA NSW & SA have adopted a new constitution. There will be a change of name to the Boating Industry Association of NSW & SA Limited and they will trade publically as the Boating Industry Association. This initiative establishes a new platform that can be followed by other state BIA’s at their discretion. Moving forward the South Australian office will seek agreement from the SA Attorney General for their approval for the merger of the operations under S42 SA Associations Incorporation Act. This is a formality and it is expected after the designated 90 day period that the merger will be finalised. Preceding the vote the forum allowed members to put forward their views on the proposal. Past President and Life Member of the BIA NSW, Ian McAndrew spoke passionately about the benefits of such a move, as did Darren Vaux who also held the position of President until recently and continues to work at a national level with the Boating Industries Alliance Australia. Roy Privett, General Manager for the BIA NSW said “This merger has come after much consideration, planning and the appropriate due diligence. There is still a lot of work to do to merge the operations and I’m sure with the strength of the Associations relationship it will be an outstanding success. The merger of BIA NSW & SA will see both boards continue as state councils, with each appointing directors to a new centralised governing board. The BIA of NSW Divisions will remain the same. Offices will also remain in Sydney and Adelaide with the objective
Posted on: Wed, 14 May 2014 07:31:11 +0000