[Osia-members] OSIA (belated) August update

[Jack Burton]

Evening, all.

Please accept my apologies for the late delivery of this update. We've
been rather busy over the last couple of months, as you'll see below.


** Changing of the guard **

It is with great regret that I inform you that Mark Phillips (Automated
Test Systems, Vic.) has resigned from OSIA's board of directors.

The board accepted Mr Phillips' resignation at its 11 August (Ballarat)
meeting. At that meeting the board were unanimous in expressing our
regret for Mr Phillips' decision to resign and in thanking him for his
outstanding service over his 7 month term as chairman.

During his tenure as chairman, Mark was directly involved in one
capacity or another in every single initiative at OSIA.

He single-handedly managed the OSIA public web site refresh, as well as
OSIA's involvement in the OGNAP/OGPAU consultation process and he led
the infrastructure audit project.

Mark was also a substantial contributing author on OSIA's submissions:
to JSCOT re CPTPP; to DTA re the draft ICT procurement framework; to
SSCFADT re CPTPP; and to DCA re copyright modernisation. He was also
our lead witness at the public hearing of the JSCOT inquiry into CPTPP.

Aside from public policy & infrastructure matters, Mark was also the
principal architect of OSIA's plans for rejuvenating our member
services portfolio.

And of course, as chairman, his tireless work behind the scenes on so
many other matters was invaluable to OSIA too.

He will certainly be missed by the board!

Also at its August meeting, the board elected Paul Moore (Astute
Systems, Qld) as our new chairman.

Mr Moore spoke eloquently to the board about his vision for OSIA's
future and we are all pleased to be working with him as chairman.

Please join me in congratulating Paul Moore on his election as OSIA's
new chairman.


** The next phase of rebuilding OSIA **

Paul is our third chairman for the current term, and with each change
of chairman has come an adjustment of tactics to meet OSIA's needs at
the time.

During the 2 month interregnum at the beginning of the current term,
under the chairmanship of Ron Skeoch (Muli Management, NSW) the board's
focus was firmly on governance & compliance. We were faced with grave
issues in those areas following the events of 2017, but resolved them
admirably under Ron's leadership.

During the next 7 months of the current term, under the chairmanship of
Mark Phillips, the board focussed on restoring, and where feasible
exceeding, OSIA's former prowess in the public policy arena. Our
successes in that area have also been substantial under Mark's
leadership. Needless to say, this phase of the rebuilding of OSIA could
not have commenced without the good work the interim board did on
governance & compliance first.

For his term as chairman, Paul Moore intends to maintain OSIA's focus
on the key area of public policy, but to hone it to a more keen focus
on only those public policy matters in the three core areas that affect
the Australian FOSS industry the most: government ICT procurement;
copyright & patent reform; and international treaties. In parallel to
maintaining OSIA's high performance in public policy, Paul brings to
the board a fresh focus on membership growth. Similarly, this new focus
is only possible now because of the good work done over the previous 7
months on public policy (without which it would have been far more
difficult to demonstrate the value of membership).


** JSCOT inquiry into TPP-11 **

The report of current JSCOT inquiry in TPP-11 (Report 181) was tabled
in Parliament on 22 August and is available here:
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportjnt/024179/toc_pdf/Report181.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf

In stark contrast to JSCOT's 2016 report of their inquiry into TPP-12
(Report 165), which was devoid of any direct references to OSIA's
arguments, the current Report 181 mentions OSIA no fewer than nine
times (not counting trivial references in the submitters list, witness
list or table of abbreviations):
* it cites our submission 3 times (ss. 6.28, 6.32 & 6.34, pp. 60-61);
* it directly quotes Mark's evidence before the 2018 JSCOT hearing 3
times (ss. 6.19, 6.25 & 6.33, pp. 58-61);
* it directly quotes my evidence before the 2018 JSCOT hearing twice
(ss. 6.24 & 6.27, pp. 59-60); and
* there's one other generic reference to OSIA's arguments (s. 6.17, p.
50).

It is pleasing to see that JSCOT are now clearly taking notice of the
arguments OSIA has been raising on behalf of the Australian FOSS sector.

Unfortunately, that did not translate into a favourable headline
recommendation: JSCOT are still recommending in favour of ratification
(rec. 4).

Nevertheless, some of our arguments do appear to be getting through and
being reflected, at least in part, in other recommendations.

The new rec. 1 is that, in the event that the TPP-11 Parties agree to
unsuspend *any* of the 22 suspended provisions, the Commonwealth should
treat that as a separate treaty action in its own right, triggering a
fresh JSCOT inquiry before considering taking any binding action.

Of course, that's nowhere near as good as removing the 22 suspended
provisions properly, but it's a step forward from the default position
of letting DFAT commit Australia to reinstating any of those 22
provisions whenever they feel like it...

Rec. 3 (the same as rec. 2 from Report 165) calls for the Government to
"consider" referring all future trade treaties to the Productivity
Commission for independent economic modelling.

Just as in 2016, this rec. again stops short of calling for any such
modelling to be done on TPP. Again that's far from ideal, but it does
at least show that they've listened to our concerns about the lack of
credible, independent, Australian economic modelling.


** Senate inquiry into CPTPP **

On 30 July, I appeared before the public hearing in Melbourne of the
Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence & Trade's inquiry
into CPTPP. OSIA Director Alexar Pendashteh attended as an observer.

The transcript of the hearing is available here:
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/commsen/8fdccb45-28d0-4fe6-aff7-55b3d3aff307/toc_pdf/Foreign%20Affairs,%20Defence%20and%20Trade%20References%20Committee_2018_07_30_6370_Official.pdf

My evidence (given alongside the evidence of the witness from Friends
of the Earth) is on pages 46 to 52 (numbered 42 to 48) and the evidence
of DFAT witnesses relating to OSIA is on page 72 (numbered 72).

>From an OSIA perspective, there were two highlights of the hearing:

Firstly, as a result of question asked of me by Sen. Claire Moore (ALP,
Qld) specifically about claims made by DFAT in their "Myth Busters"
document, two OSIA press releases have been tabled in the Senate.

Those PRs were:

* DFAT "Myth Busters" document mostly propaganda (10 March 2018)
http://osia.com.au/f/osia_cptpp_pr2a.pdf

* OSIA slams DFAT's brazen denial of TPP secrecy (12 March 2018)
http://osia.com.au/f/osia_cptpp_pr2c.pdf

Secondly, during the testimony of government witnesses at the end of
the day, Sen. Rex Patrick (NXT/CA, SA) asked the First Assistant
Secretary of DFAT's Office of Trade Negotiations, as a question on
notice, to investigate further OSIA's concerns about the potential
effects of TPP Art. 14.17.


** Membership renewals **

Membership renewal invoices for FY2018/19 were issued on 7 August.

A big thankyou to all those members who have paid their renewal
invoices already and a friendly reminder to all those who haven't yet
paid that they fall due on 30 September (only 24 days from now).

If you did not receive your membership renewal invoice, please contact
me off-list, so I can update your contact details in our records then
re-send your invoice.

This would also be an opportune time for any former members on the list
to become financial again, or non-members to join for the first time.
To do so, contact me off-list.

OSIA relies on your financial support to make possible all the things
we do for our industry, such as those described elsewhere in the update
and more, so please support the industry body that supports our
businesses.


** A gift from OSIA **

Together with the AGM packs that will go out later this year, OSIA will
be sending all financial members a small gift, so be sure to pay close
attention to what's in your AGM pack when it arrives. We hope you enjoy
it!


** auIGF **

OSIA directors Don Lowe & Alexar Pendashteh attended & participated in
the Australian Internet Governance Forum in Canberra on 19 July. See:
https://acig.com.au/governance-secretariat/australian-internet-community-planning-way-forward/

When this initiative was brought to the board's attention, we decided
to check it out.

The project has admirable goals, but lies outside the three areas of
core focus for OSIA's public policy work, so is not something that OSIA
will be pursuing further as such.

Nevertheless, I'm mentioning it here because the board feels that some
members might want to get involved in the process in their own right.


** Thankyou to Ballarat Hackerspace **

The board would like to extend a big thankyou to the Ballarat
Hackerspace, for generously providing us, gratis, with a venue in
Ballarat for our August board meeting.


** 2018 AGM: save the date **

OSIA's 2018 AGM will be held on 30 November.

To mark the significance of OSIA's second re-emergence as a significant
industry voice in Australia, the board has decided to hold this year's
AGM in our nation's capital, Canberra.

Details of the exact venue & timing will be forthcoming closer to the
date, as will the usual annual report, call for nominations, formal
notice of meeting, etc.. In the meantime, please mark the date down in
your diaries.

I and my colleagues on the board look forward to catching up with many
of our members, long-standing & brand-new alike, at the AGM in
Canberra.

Please note that, in accordance with OSIA's Constitution, AGM packs
will be sent out to financial members by post (in addition to a copy
being posted to osia-fin@). So if you have moved office (or postal
address) recently, please take this opportunity to send me your new
address (off-list please), so I can update your details in our records
before the mail out.


** Board meetings **

The board met in Ballarat, Vic. on 11 August.

As noted previously, the board will meet once each month for the rest
of the year, with two out of every 3 board meetings being held in
person. 

The schedule of board & general meetings for the remainder of 2018 is:

Sat 09 Sep Campbelltown, SA
Mon 08 Oct teleconference
Sat 03 Nov Melbourne, Vic.
Fri 30 Nov (evening) 2018 AGM (Canberra, ACT)
Sat 01 Dec board strategic planning day (Canberra, ACT)
Sun 02 Dec first board meeting of new term (Canberra, ACT)

We are making these dates public well ahead of time so that any members
who want to may meet informally with OSIA's directors around the the
dates listed in the towns listed.

In particular, note that the September meeting will be held this
Saturday (9 Sep). Any members, or other interested parties, who would
like to meet informally with OSIA directors over drinks near
Campbelltown SA on Saturday evening, please contact me off-list.

For those of you who won't be in SA this weekend, as always OSIA
members are encouraged to bring any pertinent matters (and indeed your
views on them) to the attention of the board, either on this list or by
contacting any of us directly. The OSIA email addresses of all board
members are available here: https://osia.com.au/about.html