After the guest speaker finished, the club held a "straw poll" to see if we supported the proposed trial to introduce a new system of organisation above the club level. Simply, Districts would no longer be the structure above the Club level. All of Zone 8 (Australia & Oceania) would have one body to administer Rotary and support all Clubs. The advantages would be to modernise the processess and systems of Rotary, streamline processes, be more cost efficient and enable quicker and more targetted assistancefor Clubs and individuals. The final structure is still to be formulated but Rotary needs the support of clubs if they are to proceed to the next stage of the process. President John will have a vote to report if our club supports this proposal. The discussion was thoughtful and engaging with both sides of for and against well promolgated. There is definitely some concerns that the trial may not reach its goal and is too vague in its structure which could result in a messy return to what we have. On the other hand, Rotary does need to change and modernise as the present model is not attracting enough new members and we need to try new changes. In the end the poll at the meeting was 15 for, 7 against and one abstension. The vote included two proxy votes in favour received by the Secretary. John would like to thank all the members who were part of the poll and the discussion and for their frank views and support.
