UPDATE: Edited for brevity and accessibility.
The BIEPA Management Committee is pleased to announce that the updated BIEPA Constitution (version 2) has been approved by the membership at a Special General Meeting and by the Office of Fair Trading, so is now our official rule book!

You can always find the new Constitution on the Records page if you are logged in as a paid-up member, or at the bottom of the About Us page.
Action required: please use this opportunity to check the status of your BIEPA membership and renew if it has expired and you wish to remain a member; see instructions below.
What's changed?
The original constitution was written several decades ago and a lot has changed in that time, including the Queensland Government's Model Rules for incorporated associations on which it was based. The new version is based on the latest version of the Model Rules, so is better aligned to the modern world where not everything is done in person and on paper.
In particular, we have:
revised the objects of the association to better align with our mission; and
simplified the classes of membership.
Download and read the new Constitution for full details.
Memberships
One important change is to simplify our classes of membership by just having one class: Ordinary Member. This covers all existing members.
Membership renewals are vital for keeping BIEPA running smoothly and reaching our environmental protection goals, so we've also reduced the grace period for expired memberships from six to two months to encourage members to renew promptly.
Related to this change, we've also change the renewal policy for memberships (which is not part of the constitution) as follows.
Automatic renewals
We have found manual membership renewals to be a significant struggle for members and a time-consuming administrative task for the Management Committee, so all new memberships will now be the renewing kind where the annual fee is paid automatically each year using a payment method provided by you, just like Netflix and other online subscriptions you may be familiar with.
You can cancel your membership at any time, either on this website or by contacting the Secretary. Your membership will then expire at the end of the current term rather than renewing. You can rejoin at any time.
On the 1-year plan? Over half of existing members are already renewing automatically. If you're currently on the 1-year membership plan, you'll need to switch to the renewing plan (see below) when the current one expires. You'll get an automated email when it expires.
Renewal failed? If your card expires or is cancelled you'll get an automated email about a failed payment and will need to renew manually using your new card, which will then resume the automatic renewals.
Guidance for members
To check your BIEPA membership:
Use the My Membership page to see your current (and past) membership subscriptions. Older ones are called "Standard" rather than "Ordinary".
If you're not logged in you'll be asked to do so, using the email and password you provided when you signed up, so that the website knows who you are.
If none of the subscriptions show as active then your membership has expired.
To renew your membership:
Use the Join Us page to pay by credit/debit card or PayPal.
If not logged in, be sure to log in first (rather than signing up again).
You'll get an automated email confirming renewal, and can check your new membership status on the My Membership page.
You can get help renewing your membership at our monthly meetings and market stall.
If you don't renew, your membership will lapse 2 months after expiry.
Any problems, questions, or feedback? help@biepa.online
Credits
Many thanks to Paul O'Donohue, Liz O'Byrne, CC Wilson, Mike Howells, and the rest of the Management Committee for the many hours they've donated to get this over the line.
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