1. Meeting overview and key information
Present
- Joel Addison (President)
- Jennifer Cox (Vice-President)
- Neill Cox (Secretary)
- Russell Stuart (Treasurer)
- Elena Williams (Council)
- Jonathan Woithe (Council)
- Harrison Oates (Council)
Apologies
Not Present
Meeting opened at 19:36 AEDT by Joel and quorum was achieved.
Minutes taken by Neill
2. Log of correspondence
- [LACTTE] Enquiry from Ctace Palasin via the Linux Australia Website Contact Form – Ctace has tried contacting SLUG without success. SLUG has a matrix channel – Neill will investigate and point Ctace at it.
- Re: Request for Payment Approval: PyCon AU – Sofitel Brisbane Central – Joel has responded
- PyCon AU update for 18 May 2026 – Joel has responded
- Please add Owen to upcoming LA meeting – Joel has responded. A separate meeting was organised
- Progress/update on Brisbane/Meanjin bid for EO2027 – Joel has requested an update on progress. Arjen has responded with a bid. Joel has responded asking for a budget.
- You’ve received a Business Manager partner request – we’ve received a pile of these emails. Joel has checked Facebook and there doesn’t seem to be any more information.
- [LACTTE] Request for insurance cover for a Perth Linux User Group event – Joel has responded
- Activity statements are available online [SEC=OFFICIAL:Sensitive] – notification from the ATO
- We’re Lowering Redbubble’s Payment Threshold 💸 – notification from Redbubble
- Payments for DrupalSouth cancelled – Russell has responded
- Re: Everything Open 2026 YouTube videos? – enquiry about videos. Joel will respond.
- PLUG: Evidence of Insurance – Joel has responded
- Insurances for PyCon AU 2026 – Joel and Russell have responded
- Joomla Steering Committee Update – discussed at last meeting.
- Fwd: JoomlaDay Venue – request for seed funding – discussed at last meeting.
- NZ GST payment – discussion about late fee. Russell has responded
- Client Auth EKU removal – Notification from Steve Walsh about changes to SSL certs. Russell has responded.
- Linux Australia tax registration details (ABN) – request for our ABN from Jack Skinner – Russell and Joel have responded.
- Re: PayPal Refund needed – discussion about a refund for a PyCon Au speaker. Russell has responded. Nic Crouch is now dealing with it.
- Re: Seeking formal association agreement with Linux Australia – Joel responding to a request from PLUG (Perth Linux Users Group) to become a Linux Australia subcommittee.
- Upcoming Domain Renewal Notice – Please Do Not Reply – notification from Digital Pacific – no action required
- [LACTTE] luv.asn.au domain renewal – enquiry from Russell Coker about how to renew the luv.asn.au domain. Joel has responded.
3. Items for discussion
- DrupalSouth conversation
Joel and Russell had a discussion with Drupal South about this. There are some notes in the shared drive.
Drupal South would like to spend $30k to 40K on marketing.
Drupal South believes that as they have accumulated about $400,000 over the years they should be able to use that money.
Joel has explained that we need a budget to approve, and a justification as to how this will benefit the community.
They believe that they had previously put forward a proposal to spend $10,000 for a similar activity which was rejected. No council member recalls this.
Russell has explained the need for both a budget and a KPI to measure success against.
We need to be sure that the benefit is not just for businesses in the Drupal space, but for the community.
We will have further discuss this
The Drupal South community did seem to understand the need to satisfy the auditor and to show community benefit.
On the whole the meeting seemed to go well, especially when they understood that we are not opposed in principle to providing funding if we can see a budget and community benefit.
We have also asked for a budget for the funds requested to be returned to the Drupal South subcommittee for its future activities. Again, because we need to show benefit to the community and satisfy our auditor that funds have been properly spent.
Providing the $35,000 for the upcoming event will mean that this year’s Drupal South conference will effectively return a loss.
- PLUG to become an Association subcommittee
They do not want to handle money, but will get access to our other resources, particularly insurance.
They would also like to be able to offer volunteer hours that can count towards the mutual obligation requirements for Centrelink which would require LA to complete a form to be submitted to Services Australia. We are not currently sure of exactly what is involved and will need to do some further investigation. Potentially this could be extended to other user groups.
We do need to clarify whether the PLUG committee members are willing to form a subcommittee as individuals as our constitution does not allow anyone but individuals to join LA. Assuming they are, we can work out how to provide insurance cover and meet the Services Australia reporting/certification requirements.
- Russell is continuing to investigate alternatives to Xero.
Our free trial of the alternative has expired so we have paid for continued use.
Russell has also had a consultation with an expert in use of the system to address Linux Australia’s particular requirements.
That consultation seems to confirm that pretty much everything that LA needs can be done with the possible exception of downloading bank statements. Russell will investigate pricing for paying an intermediary to download the bank statements.
4. Items for noting
5. Other business
6. In camera
- No items were discussed in camera
7. Action items
secretary@linux.org.au – write to PLUG explaining the need for the associated subcommittee to be formed by members of LA, not by an incorporated association.
7.1 Completed Items
7.2 Carried Forward
Meeting closed at 20:40
Next meeting is scheduled for 2026-06-17 and is a subcommittee meeting, but before that we will have our face to face meeting.
