National Executive Election Process 2023

As per the Australian Progressives Constitution, the composition and membership of the National Executive is outlined below:

3.1 Composition and Membership of National Executive

The National Executive is to consist of:
- A minimum of 4 and a maximum of 8 Executive members with voting rights, and the Party President.
  - The Party Secretary, AEC Registered Officer, and Party Treasurer will sit as non-voting members at Executive meetings.
  - non-voting members are appointed by elected Executive members.
- The Executive must aim to have at least 30% of its membership identifying as male, and 30% of its membership identifying as female.
The Executive may, by resolution, open up further national representative positions provided that it does not take the number of people on the executive above 9 outside of the following periods:
- During elections for Executive representatives
- During State or Federal elections where the Party has nominated candidates.

The 5th National Executive operated from July 2022 until June 2023. It consisted of four members elected in July 2022 (termed ‘class one’): Antoinette Pitt, Bruce Manefield, Rod Noble, and Drew Simmons; and four members elected in July 2021 (termed ‘class two’): Edward Carroll, Peter Wingate, Emilia Leonetti and Helen Dunn. Helen Dunn did not complete the term, thus at the election of the class one executive in July 2022, this position was available for the remainder of the term (one year). Phil Ebbott was elected to fill this position.

The Australian Progressives National Executive election process is outlined in the party constitution:

3.2 Election of General Members of the National Executive

Each Executive member is elected through direct election by Party members as per endorsed procedure.
Nominations of candidates for election of the National Executive must:
- be made in writing
- be signed by 2 financial members, and
- include written consent of the member candidate.
General Members of the National Executive will be elected for a term not longer than 2 years.
In the event of an election of the full National Executive, elected members will be numbered based on the order in which they are elected. Those even numbered Members (2, 4, 6) will serve a term not longer than 1 year.
The Date and Time for the election of National Executive will follow endorsed procedure.

To appoint the 6th National Executive for operation between July 2023 and June 2024, the party began the executive election process. Edward Carroll, the AEC registered officer, is sitting on the executive in a non-voting position as Vice President, rather than as a member of the general executive. On July 14, 2023, Edward Carroll sent an email to party members outlining the election process and calling for nominations to fill four general executive positions. Members were required to email the general executive to receive a nomination form.

The party received three endorsed nominations from Phil Ebbott (returning), Peter Denman and Roxanne McCardle. These candidates were then elected unopposed as there were more positions than candidates, eliminating the need to hold a party-wide online ballot.

The 6th National Executive will consist of: Antoinette Pitt, Drew Simmons, Bruce Manefield, Rod Noble, Phil Ebbott, Peter Denman and Roxanne McCardle. It will function alongside Therese Faulkner as President, Edward Carroll as Vice President, Justin Ryan as Treasurer, and Emma Crocker as Secretary.

The remaining unfilled general executive position is classified as a casual vacancy:

3.8 Casual vacancies

In the event of a casual vacancy occurring in the Executive for any reason, the National Executive must:
- For a General Executive,
  - By resolution, appoint another person to hold the office until the expiration of the term of office of the member so removed or,
  - in the case of suspension; by resolution, appoint another person to hold the office until the term of suspension is complete.
- For the President, trigger a Special Election for the President of the Party.

Thus, the National Executive can seek to appoint one additional person to the general executive until the class two term expires in July 2025.