IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Beyond PMSA lodges application with Attorney-General
Beyond PMSA Lodges Letters Patent Application
Earlier this year, Beyond PMSA took an active step to force proper structural reform upon the PMSA. On 25 May 2018, Beyond PMSA took a strategic decision to lodge a very detailed, 140 page application with the Attorney-General, Yvette D’Ath, to: (a) recall and cancel the Letters Patent issued to the PMSA under the Religious Educational and Charitable Institutions Act 1861 (RECI Act); and (b) require the PMSA to apply for incorporation under the Association’s Incorporation Act. We did not take this step lightly.
What happened after we lodged it?
Despite lodging the application, we wanted to create a constructive and responsible environment where this issue could be elevated to a position of priority for the PMSA and the Churches. We therefore elected NOT to publicly announce that the application had been made at that time. To further “encourage” the PMSA and the Churches to focus on this important issue that everyone in the community wants to see resolved, we approached the Attorney General’s office on 4 July 2018 to request that our application be placed in “temporary abeyance”.
Despite the best efforts of many, the continuing stance of the Presbyterian Church is still blocking all reasonable debate and progress on this issue. That situation will not change. Today, Beyond PMSA regrettably took the necessary decision to request that the Attorney General take out application out of abeyance and proceed with hearing it.
What does it mean for our schools and why should you care?
1. All of the problems within and arising from the PMSA start and finish with its Letters Patent: All of the devastating consequences of the PMSA’s actions and decisions in 2017 (and in previous periods of historical conflict and crisis) have as their root cause the existence of the PMSA’s Letters Patent.
2. The PMSA is uniquely dysfunctional: The PMSA, unlike other organisations which can operate effectively under Letters Patent, is uniquely incapable of doing so because it operates under a dysfunctional joint mission with NO single point of accountability. “The buck stops with no one”.
3. The PMSA’s unique dysfunction when combined with a Letters Patent structure creates RISK: The PMSA’s dysfunction and the absence of a single point of accountability creates unacceptable RISK for our schools.
4. The risks can’t be overcome by overlaying “surface” reforms on a broken foundation: Any governance reforms that seek to “co-exist” under a Letters Patent structure will still be insufficient to remove these risks.
5. Letters Patent places our schools at a distinct disadvantage in a competitive 21st Century environment: The continued existence of the PMSA’s Letters Patent will place our schools at a disadvantage in the increasingly changing and competitive environment in which educational institutions and not-for-profit organisations operate and seek to attract staff, enrolments and funding.
Where to from here?
In re-lodging our application we realise that the true blockage on this issue lies above and not within the current PMSA Board. We are therefore calling upon the PMSA Board to pass a resolution at their next Board meeting on 26 November 2018 to formally approach the Moderators of the Uniting and Presbyterian Churches to make a prompt decision on whether they support retaining Letters Patent, and if so, to provide a fulsome and honest public explanation of their respective individual reasoning.
Our decision to reactivate and proceed with our Application is regrettable, but the inability to develop traction on a decision point within a reasonable period of time makes it necessary.
Support our schools!
Our Application is focused solely upon the objective of governance reform. Since the inception of this debate we have espoused a continued message of support for our schools, the quality of education that they provide, and encouragement to the community to maintain support by continuing present and future enrolments. Our schools are great schools and deliver great educational services, but their true potential is being hamstrung by an outdated structure which embeds risk, repels trust and is not sustainable over the longer term.
To find out more about the Application, the importance of trust and sustainability and why all of this is so vitally important for the future of our schools, please come to the Town Hall meeting next Monday 19 November 2018 at Wests Rugby Club, Toowong @ 6:30pm.”
