The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Australian Property Institute was held on Wednesday 27 May via webinar, our first virtual AGM, in line with many corporations and associations at this time.

The Hon. Bruce Billson welcomed members to the meeting and confirmed a quorum had been achieved. He began with an acknowledgement to country and then took a moment to remember the 15 members who have sadly passed since last year’s meeting.

Bruce congratulated Phil Lyons on his appointment as an API Life Fellow and thanked Phil for his numerous contributions, both past and present, to the API, since joining as a student member in 1966.  Phil joins our group of esteemed Life Fellows, now totaling 49 across Australia.

The Minutes of the API 2019 AGM were adopted.

Our CEO, Amelia Hodge, shared the 2019 highlights, our membership data, further details of events, education and a general review of the year past and the 2020 highlights to date. This included the establishment of the Australian Property Research and Education Fund (APREF) and an increase in the number of webinars offered as part of API’s professional development programme.

There followed an announcement and detailed voting data in respect of our 2020 Board elections.  We welcome newly elected and re-elected Board Directors – Katherine Bartolo, Chris Knight, Bart Mead and Michael Leech. This year saw the highest rate (25.1%) of voter participation in the API’s history and Amelia thanked members for their time and attention to such an important part of the API’s yearly governance programme.  The full Returning Officer’s report is available here and has been uploaded to the AGM page on our website.

Sincere thanks and appreciation must be given to our outgoing Director Mark Kay. Mark has contributed so much to the API over his almost 6 years on the Board. His witty repartee is always a joy and his experience in our profession most valued around the Board table.  Mark will be continuing his API contribution, in his continuing roles as Deputy Chair of Complaints Committee, Chair of the Standards Steering Committee and Chair of the Education Innovation Committee.

Geoff Buchanan, CFO, discussed the financial results, stating that cost containment was a key focus of 2019. The results were then endorsed by API’s auditors HLB Mann Judd and ultimately accepted and adopted.

The meeting then turned to the proposed motions and Bruce indicated that due to the number of proxies that were received prior to the AGM, the motions would not pass.  Respectful of the time and effort made by members present at the AGM and to ensure members had the opportunity to ask questions and the speak to the motions, the chair invited members to contribute to deliberations.  With member contributions concluded, the Chair invited those present to vote for each of the three motions, stating that a final count would be available in the coming days once proxies were calculated and the votes scrutineered by the Assistant Company Secretary.  A full report is available here and has been loaded to the AGM Page on our web site.

Members were then invited to speak and ask questions. Following these discussions, the Chair thanked all members for their contribution and the feedback provided prior to the AGM. The results of the motions indicated to the board that further consultation and discussion with members is warranted and advised that the Board looks forward to undertaking this work.

Bruce closed the meeting by thanking members for their involvement, participation and patience as the API has explored new ways to conduct the AGM using technology in light of COVID-19.

I am pleased to confirm that the business of the API’s 2020 Annual General Meeting is now complete.

Amelia Hodge

Chief Executive Officer

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