[Osia-members] Why I'm still here

[Jack Burton]

Morning, all.

[ugh -- I had meant to post this to osia-members@ & osia-fin@, but it
went out to osia-board@ & osia-fin@ instead -- sorry -- reposting to
osia-members@ now]

Please note that I am posting this on my own behalf and therefore am
not speaking on behalf of the OSIA board here.

At the 2017 AGM, I made it clear that my intention was to serve as
OSIA's company secretary only until the end of January. I reiterated
that intention in the lead up to the December 2017 SGM.

So, having now seen the February update that just went out, some of you
are no doubt wondering why I did not step down as planned at the 27 Jan
board meeting -- and I feel I owe you all an explanation for that.

My reasons are threefold:

1. During the January SGM I was asked to stay on as company secretary.
There being nobody else willing to take on the role, I agreed. Whilst
that role was very demanding during the interregnum, the burden will
not be anywhere near as great now that the rather unusual governance &
compliance issues inherited late last year have been resolved, so I was
happy to continue in that role. A lot of claims have been made recently
on this list & elsewhere that the compliance obligations of a public
company are too onerous for OSIA. I do not believe those claims and
seek to use the remainder of the current term to disprove them by
providing a counterexample.

2. CPTPP. Whilst we've known since November last year that something
was afoot, the announcements by the remaining TPP parties a day or two
before our January SGM made it clear that the objectionable treaty had
indeed risen from the dead and was in need of slaying once again.
Having spent 5 years fighting TPP the first time around, I feel obliged
to rejoin the fray now. Of course I could have contributed to any
submissions OSIA may lodge on that front as a member regardless, but
there are certain other aspects of OSIA's planned actions on the matter
to which I feel I could contribute more effectively as a member of the
board. To that end I look forward to working closely with Josh -- and
indeed with other concerned members and with the good folks from Linux
Australia.

3. The future of OSIA. Everything above could have been satisfied by my
remaining as company secretary but still stepping down as a director. I
have chosen to remain as a director as well because I believe that it
is essential that the .au FOSS industry regains & retains its own
independent voice and I believe that OSIA remains the most suitable
vehicle through which to embody, indeed  amplify, that voice. So
naturally I want to lend my support to -- and help establish -- OSIA's
second renaissance.

At the 2017 AGM I said that due to the demands of several other roles,
I simply did not have the time to commit to serving as a director of
OSIA for the full 2018 term. That was true then and it remains true
now. So how can that possibly work? I will simply make the time. During
my previous term on OSIA's board I often exhorted my fellow directors
to do just that -- and I'm certainly not above taking my own advice.

Some things are worth fighting for -- in my opinion OSIA's future is
one such thing.

[As an aside, I'd like to apologise for not participating in the
discussion on osia-members@ about OSIA's future since the January SGM.
I have had other pressing matters to attend to in the few short days
since my return from Sydney. However, some interesting points were made
in that discussion. Some of those raised by Arjen in particular I think
warrant a response and I intend to rejoin that discussion within the
next couple of days.]

Notwithstanding the rather piecemeal way in which the current board
came together over the last couple of months, I believe we now have a
group of truly outstanding individuals on the 2018 board and I'm very
much looking forward to working with every one of them.

Under Mark's leadership, I expect that in time we will build an OSIA
that not only regains, but eventually exceeds the levels of credibility
& influence in the public policy sphere which we had in 2016, enabling
us to deliver outcomes beneficial to the .au FOSS industry as a whole.

I hope that the strategic addition of certain member services, such as
those that Mark & others have spoken of before, will serve to bolster
OSIA's future successes in its core public policy mission.

And I believe that with the advent of collaboration between OSIA &
Linux Australia on matters of mutual concern, both the industry and the
community will be better off.

No matter what my circumstances or other commitments, I ask you -- in
all honesty, how could I *not* sign up to a vision like that?


Regards,


--
Jack Burton FACS CP <jack at saosce.com.au>
--
Director, Saosce Pty Ltd (OSIA Member #50)
Company Secretary, Safecoms Cyber Security Pty Ltd