Update On Club Developments - Be ready To Exercise Your Sense Of Humour

From The President's Desk:
 
Following on from the decisions taken at the end of last year we are in the process of incorporating the Club so that we have a proper basis for organising Club activities, offering formal membership, and giving the Club a future. In case people were wondering where this was all at I want to update you all on progress.
 
The application for incorporation was submitted earlier this year and we have just received return correspondence from the Office of Fair Trading seeking responses on a number of issues, amongst which is "what is an MR2 and what does MR2 mean?" (I kid you not).
 
I had thought that with so much connectivity in Government googling MR2 in your lunch break if it wasn't allowed during work time might have provided an answer that didn't require writing back and asking, but obviously my expectation was too great, even though we indicated in the application that it was a car club that was being formed to promote the interest of members in this type of car.  
 
We have also been asked to clarify why we want to call ourselves the Queensland Branch (I thought this might have been obvious living in Queensland), but it appears there is also an issue around having an MR2 Club of Australia of which we are describing ourselves as being a part. The issue here we have been asked is why if there is an MR2 Club of Australia we can't just be an offshoot of that which doesn't require coverage in this state. The answer of course is that the "MR2 Owner's Club of Australia" is just a grouping of state clubs with similar interests and there is no federal hierachy but not explaining this more clearly in the application is probably my fault. 
 
Like many people I don't like to politicise things but if a small organisation like ours gets this type of detailed questioning I'd hate to think what anyone trying to start a business to create employment would have to go through. Perhaps as these questions were asked just before the recent election there might be a bit more "Can Do" now getting around, and much less red tape, but let's wait and see.
 
Anyway, we have prepared a very detailed response, including a substantial amount of detail about what an MR2 is, and hope that the reply is enough to satisfy the incorporation requirements. I have included information on all three MR2 models this time to ensure that we don't get a further response asking about whether or not we are including only SW20 owners as members.
 
When we finally get through this the incorporation system we will be releasing the new website for the Club and starting to collect the $20.00 membership fees. More on this in coming weeks as we work our way through the tunnel towards the light at the other end, which is hopefully not a just a train full of bureacrats coming the other way.
 
 

Highlander,
 
thanks for the question. We are very much in the formative stages with the Club, moving as we are from just an informal Forum-based association to full incorporation, but as we have said all along the aim is to keep this as simple as possible.
 
The general feeling I get from talking to others is that membership should not be limited to only MR2 owners, largely because this would exclude people who for whatever reason, health, financial, etc; may not be in a position to own one.
As a personal example of this I have belonged to the Ulysses Motorcycle Club since I was first eligble to do so, and even though I can't ride a motorcycle due to increasing disability, the Club has never put barriers in place to stop me and others like me who still have an interest in motorcycles from being a member.
 
The real measures of membership eligibility here in my view are whether or not the person has a genuine interest in MR2's, is willing to support the Club in what it is trying to do to promote interest in these cars, and is happy to abid by the rules the Club has to ensure that it is properly managed and members funds are protected.
 
There is a proposed membership fee of $20.00 per year whether you own a car or not, the only difference being that if you do own a car and its registered as a Club car then others such as partners or family members of the owner won't also have to pay for membership.
 
I hope that this answers the question for you but if you want to know any more then please either post here or send me a PM.
 
Regards, Walter