30th October 2006

Apologies:  Paul Harcombe

Observers by Teleconference:  Don Williams & Paul Szyndler (DCITA)

1.  Continuous Disclosure

There were no matters to be disclosed.

2.  Confirmation of Minutes

The minutes of August 2006 meeting were confirmed.

3.      Auditor’s Report

Motion (proposed CLO, seconded JL): That the board accept the 2005-06 audited accounts and authorise the Chair and JL to sign them. 

4.  Finance Report

The board noted the September accounts

Action:  LP to explore short-term investments to maximise interest income from existing funds.

5.  GM Report

The following issues were noted:

•  Marketing & Promotions
  

Events:

auCD have sponsored both the NSW CTC and WA Telecentre conferences and Paul Harcombe delivered a paper on the CGDN initiative at international surveyors (FIG) conference in Munich.

auCD are exhibiting at ALGA National General Assembly Nov 27-30, 2006.

• It was noted that the LGA State conferences would be an ideal vehicle for further promotion particularly as closer to ‘grass roots’ level.

Launches:
 
Koonwarra held official website launch in Oct 23, 2006 and Wyndham’s official launch is scheduled for Dec 1, 2006.

• Applications
  
• Summary was tabled showing 27 applications since launch of which 6 have been approved 2 of which have their websites “live”.  11 applicants need to provide further documentation, 8 have cancelled and 2 have put their applications on hold as they need more time to provide documentation.  Primary reason for those who cancelled their application was price, followed by lack of resources to complete documents.

PR Activity:

Summary for year to date media activity was tabled.  It was agreed there has been extensive media coverage.

• Licence Fee.
  

It was noted that the interest shown since the launch has been considerable and that the requirements for every community are different and often dependent on the nature of the working group and the size of the community that is to be represented online.

LP advised that feedback from interested communities who had not made applications for domain names and those applicants who had cancelled their applications had indicated that the licence fee was one of the major barriers to take-up. 

The board agreed that as the initial interest in the CGDNs is greater than anticipated that lowering the fees would enable the fast tracking of communities getting on-line.  The board agreed that an appropriate fee for the licences is $99 inc GST and that it would request auDA to agree to this.

Action:  LP to revise budgets to accommodate reduced fee income.

• Stakeholder Advisory Group
  

First meeting held Oct 26, 2006 was very successful.  Attendees were interested in the Bathurst Website Groups’ experiences and were very eager to provide assistance wherever possible.  LP advised that auCD is still sourcing representatives from the Business and Tourism sectors.

6. Board Correspondence

Correspondence from Maddocks was tabled advising that the ATO had declined to endorse the trustee for .au Community Domains Trust as a tax concession charity. The Board agreed with Maddock’s proposal to make minor amendments to the Constitution and the Trust Deed to further clarify its not for profit status.

Action: auDA to consider the amendments to the .au Community Domains Pty Ltd Constitution at the next board meeting.

7. Other Business

• Community Representation on Board.
  

JL advised that auDA have received feedback recommending that community be represented at the board level.  The board agreed that this would be beneficial and proposed George Fong from cBallarat as an ideal candidate due to his past involvements with ISOC-AU, the NRG, many other community IT initiatives as well as his participation in the pilot.

Action:  JL to invite GF to Board.

• National Non-Profit ICT (NNIC)
  CLO advised that DCITA had funded a project to deliver a sustainable model for a National coalition to help push the upgrade of technology capacity of charities and community organisations and that auCD would benefit from some involvement with this initiative.
  Action:  LP to explore how auCD can be involved in this project.
  

8. Next Meeting

The next board meeting is to be held on Monday 12^th  February 2007 at 2pm at auCD office in Melbourne .