Apologies: M. Shirley, D. Nias, S. Josey

Present: A. Boulton, J. Chambers, F. Bouckaert, R. Sinclair, P. Horwitz,
P. McEvoy, M. Hart, M. McGuire, R. Marchant

1. Brochures and posters: After discussion it was decided to send out posters to universities with limnology programmes and research institutes (CSIRO and state govt) with freshwater interests. The preference was to send posters to individuals at these localities who could then follow up by handing out brochures to those who wished to join the society. It was estimated that the shelf life of the material was 2-3 years. Thus the bulk of it should be distributed fairly quickly but some should be kept in reserve. M. Hart was willing to post out material provided she was given names and addresses of recipients.
2. 2002 Congress: M. Hart will send a copy of congress rules and advice to J. Chambers and M. Lund. A lecture to honour Prof Bill Williams was discussed and there was agreement that this would occur in 2002 as a one-off event. A decision to continue with this event would depend on audience response. The student mixer at the beginning of the congress needs an organiser as A. Boulton will be unable to attend the meeting. M. McGuire volunteered to do this and will liaise with A. Boulton. The executive approved A. Boulton’s nomination as the next ASL president. There was some discussion about nominations for the next vice-president and it was agreed to call for nominations via a notice in the newsletter.

 

3. 2003 Congress: The executive approved the dates (1-5 Dec 2003) and venues (Warrnambool Performing Arts Centre and Deakin University) as set out in B. Robson’s recent letter. M. Hart noted that conference finances should go through the society’s rather than the university’s books.
4. Murray Darling letter to Federal Government: The draft that had been edited by M. Shirley was approved.
5. Award committee members: More women are needed on these committees. A. Boulton suggested S. Schreiber and was asked to approach her on this matter. All nominations for both the ASL medal and the young achiever’s award should be sent to J. Chambers.
6. Adobe writer: There was unanimous agreement that R. Sinclair could buy this software.
7. NT executive position: F. Bouckaert will be leaving the NT soon and a replacement is needed. N. Rea was suggested and J. Chambers will contact her to get her agreement.
8. Publicity officer: M. McGuire volunteered for this position. M. Hart will send her an electronic copy of the membership database.
9. Policy documents: The salinity document is in late draft stage. There was some discussion about how to raise the profile of these documents among the members. A. Boulton suggested that a potential document could begin life as a workshop at a congress.
10. Science meets parliament day: This year the event will be held on 12 and 13 November. It was suggested that the ASL could fund a couple of members to attend. However, it was felt that members should be targeted for this exercise and that a younger member (perhaps the winner of the young achiever’s award) should be encouraged to go.
11. Budgets: M. Hart recommended that conference organisers must allow for credit card costs to be incorporated into conference budgets. Such costs can amount to $800 and need to be covered.