Annual meeting report 2011

As you can tell, I've been pretty snowed under with work and the election campaign. But here, finally, is my report on the 2011 annual meeting held last weekend on the 29th October.

On the leadership front, myself and Savage, David Farrar, Dean Knight and Jordan Carter were all re-elected to the chair and executive respectively. Mike Smith did not stand for re-election, and we thank Mike for his work as our secretary over the past two years. Kieran McAnulty was elected to the executive after filling in as Treasurer for the last year. Reon Hogg and Mike Wilkinson both stood for, and were elected to the national executive. Their profiles are here.

As you can see above, the Republican Movement has created an award to recognise New Zealand citizens committed to the cause of a New Zealand republic. We've called it the Colonel Allen Bell award, after the pioneering New Zealand republican Allen Bell. Bell actually called for a New Zealand republic 100 years ago this year, at the 1911 general election. Savage kindly donated the award (a school bell, from a school close to Raglan where Allen Bell first ran for parliament, set on a block of Kauri from Northland, where Allen Bell was a farmer, newspaper proprietor and MP, and spent his last few years.) A video of Keith Locke, former Green MP and sponsor of the Head of State Referenda Bill, receiving the 2011 award is here.

The meeting also debated a number of resolutions, the most important establishing the Colonel Allen Bell Award mentioned above, and the creation of a policy statement. As discussed back in July, this is an important part of formalising our policy positions as we continue to campaign for a New Zealand republic.