25 June 2012

At a special general meeting on 22 June 2012, NPCA members voted to change its membership rules.

The constitution was changed to provide for four membership categories: principal, organisation, ordinary and employee. New rules deal with situations where there is no consensus, although the traditional decision-making by consensus remains an objective if possible.

The changes were made to better align NPCA's membership, voting and funding rules with its wider role in New Zealand’s vertebrate pest control sector, which has evolved over the years.

NPCA Chair, Bill Martyn, said the changes were particularly around principal membership and funding NPCA’s administration.

“Currently. there are two principal members and the gate is left open for any organisation to become a principal member in the future. Principal members under the new rules have ten votes each. The Department of Conservation will contribute with governance and technical advice.”

In commenting on the changes, Bill said that the measures were a transitional step awaiting the resolution, over the next couple of years, of NPCA’s role within the ‘toolbox’ initiatives of the Ministry of Primary Industries’ Pest Management National Plan of Action.