Promoting deadwood, limiting openness, discouraging new thinking and probably the worst thing, undermining members trust: did the MIA National Board, consider any of these when they decided to put to the vote the changes to its Constitution to remove the 2 year term limits for the tenure of MIA Directors?

They must have, and figured that given how comfortably their Directors get re-elected each time, they would also have this easily passed. They seemed to have confused their members’ patience with apathy and are undoubtedly hoping to achieve a coup for the incumbents so that they can boast the title “MIA Director” for potentially a lifetime, without ever achieving anything much for their members.

However, the reaction in some quarters to this selfish move has been swift with the resignation of MIA’s Qld/NT committee member, Sharon Harris. In a selfless open letter which would not have reached RMAs if it wasn’t for the open nature of the Migration Alliance forum, Ms Harris outlined her concerns and objections.

“In 2010 whilst I was a Director on the MIA Board, there was some criticism from members of the Board which included:  they sat on Board for their self-interest; did not represent ALL members; were committee 'junkies' and there for the kudos; did not share information with members, was a 'closed shop',“ wrote Ms Harris adding, “I cannot support unlimited tenures for directors of MIA Board - remember they are elected by us and are there to best serve our interests.”

Other dual members of the MIA and Migration Alliance are offering to volunteer their time and resources to attend the MIA’s EGM on 18 February 2015 to vote ‘No’ against the motion. Liana Allan and Christopher Levingston along with John Hourigan are taking up the main fight for a 'no' vote.

With over 4000 RMA members, Migration Alliance has a huge number of dual members.  Migration Alliance represents the majority of the RMA profession.  This means that Liana Allan could effectively collect proxies to control the outcome of the MIA's motion.

“MIA has lost it. It has decided to embark on policy that will continue to alienate whatever membership it has left. Have MIA board members flown so high that they feel they can no longer take pride in getting back into the fold with ordinary members after a comfortable 2 year tenure?” says Ms Allan.

Rotation in office is a good thing. The Americans do it with their presidential system because people mistrust those in power. Many say, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is because those in power do everything they can to remain there.

Even in ancient Athens, the ruling council of 500 rotated its membership. They did it annually. The Romans followed it and according to historian Garrett Fagan, office holding in the Roman Republic was based on "limited tenure of office" which ensured that "authority circulated frequently", helping to prevent corruption.

“It’s not as easy as simply voting out a bum from the MIA Board. Their motion now aims for a closed system and one that discourages new minds from taking up the challenge. But with the publicity afforded by the Migration Alliance’s open forum and the work of its members we’ll keep this issue in the news and encourage dual members to vote “No”, says Ms Allan.

Proxy form for voting ‘No’ the MIA EGM: APPOINTMENT_OF_PROXY_FORM_20150208-225055_1.pdf

Notice of EGM on 18 February 2015 at 5:15pm: EGM-MIA-Motions_20150209-021617_1.pdf

Send all proxies to allow Liana Allan or Christopher Levingson to vote 'No' on your behalf to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Send proxy form for John Hourigan to act to this address:

1st Floor, AMP Building, 1 Hobart Place, CANBERRA ACT, 2600 Australia”