A general meeting of the members of the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects is proposed to be held on 6th June 2026, or the soonest date thereafter.The meeting is being called by members to consider a proposed resolution to change the Constitution, in the area of Board composition.
The existing constitution has allowed the Boards to limit their composition to just five elected directors, when an additional two expert directors could have been appointed. It is possible that this has contributed to the current state of the organisation.
By keeping the group small, the Boards have perhaps overlooked the benefit of bringing in a wide range of additional expertise, which has always been available in the Constitution.
The current structure also weighs heavily towards representation from Victoria and NSW. It seems preferable, with the benefit of hindsight, for directors to be elected from the States and Territories. This will create a sense of ‘natural accountability’ where all directors have a constituency of colleagues and friends, perhaps drawn from the chapters and volunteer work. This would give much more meaning to the existence of the Chapters, and have the potential to link election to the Board with proven commitment to volunteer work in the Chapters.
The proposed resolution, to be further developed by members, would include:
Increasing the number of Board members to help expand the Board’s collective expertise; and
Amending the way Board members are elected to support better representation of all members.
These, and other ideas would all be discussed amongst the members, but only if the meeting gains the support of 5% of the membership (or about 100 votes [TBC]). At the proposed meeting, a draft resolution would be debated and then put to a vote, requiring 75% of members present to support any change.
This needs to happen prior to the next Board election and AGM. If we don’t act now, this sort of change may delay renewal of AILA for a long time. If you would like to help make this meeting happen- please sign and return the below using the weblink provided. The contact email is landscapeforum2026@gmail.com if anyone would prefer to send support in that way.
Thank you for reading this far,
Neil Hobbs : Michael Wright
for the Landscape Forum Collaborative
This General Meeting is being proposed following Article 12.1(b) of the AILA Constitution and section 249F of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). The AILA trade mark is used here solely for the purposes of identifying the business of the members as it relates to the AILA Company in calling the proposed General Meeting. All correspondence is private and confidential and will be managed according to the Australian Privacy Principles.