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What about the distance issue – you have students from all over the place... |
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Rather than being a disadvantage, having a diverse group of students across a number of different universities will help us to spread the AMSA message even further. It makes us more representative of the breadth of students across Australia, and their differing views and opinions.
However, regular meetings and face to face contact are clearly needed to effectively run the organisation, and individual members on our team have made the commitment to be a part of this executive bid recognising the need for periodic travel, at their expense. AMSA already uses a range of video-conferencing and Skype communication methods and we continue to use these as they are needed. We will also bundle our phone plans to a carrier with free network-to-network calls.
Being at a smaller or regional university should not preclude students from being involved in AMSA or being involved in an executive bid, and though there are some logistical issues involved, we have the right plans in place to make it work. |
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How will your team integrate with national secretariat? |
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Our team recognises that there is more to any executive than the 14 students involved on the bid team. We see Shayne and the National Secretariat as an important part of an effective and productive team. But we also recognise that over the last few years, the role of the secretariat has shifted to one that is more administrative rather than what it was originally intended to be, that is, focusing on strategic direction and relationship building.
We have had discussions with the executive officer on how we can use her skills and resources better, and having a Canberra-based student on our team, we propose integrating the Membership Officer into the National Office to do this. The MO will provide more face-to-face contact with the secretariat, and better distribute the workload allow the XO to focus on long term policy and planning.
Our MO will also take on greater responsibility for NLDS, being a Canberra based event. Steve has worked at Parliament House now for 4 years and has a great deal of access and proximity to help organise the event at a lower cost and higher quality than ever before. Our MO will also be involved on our standing committee for Government Affairs, bringing personal interest and a convenient geographical location. |
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