news, local-news, act young liberals, young liberals, canberra, canberra liberals

The youth arm of the Canberra Liberals has been engulfed by a constitutional crisis, forcing an intervention from the party's management committee. A special annual general meeting will be held early next month, after the Canberra Liberals management committee learnt the ACT Young Liberals had no council members left, under the rules laid out by its constitution. To qualify as a council member, an ACT Young Liberal member must have attended one formal meeting in the past six months. The branch was also required to hold at least four general meetings between each AGM, and at least two meetings in the six months before and after the annual meeting. But because the ACT Young Liberals has not held a qualifying meeting within the past six months, under the constitution it no longer has any council members. This is a problem, as the council is the principal management body of the ACT Young Liberals. It also means the branch has no members who are eligible to nominate, move or second a vote at meetings, or even call a formal meeting in the first place. "To resolve this issue management committee has determined to use its good governance powers ... to call a special annual general meeting," a letter seen by The Canberra Times says. "To reduce the likelihood of this situation reoccurring in future the senior party president has also been tasked by management committee with forming a subcommittee to review the ACT Young Liberals constitution. Any proposed changes will be put before an ACT Young Liberals council at a later date." Canberra Liberals president John Cziesla said the branch did not hold the required meetings in the required timeframe because the members had "a large number of election commitments" in the first half of this year. He said the idea it was a constitutional crisis was an "exaggeration". Mr Cziesla also said the problem could be easily avoided in future by amending the constitution to include a mechanism to recall the council if meetings aren't held in the right timeframe.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/35943064-056f-4ccb-9812-67beda0ca427.jpg/r1_17_320_197_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg