Former members of the South Australian Country Women’s Association are urging the organisations to allow online voting at state council meetings. Three branches of the Sa-CWA have closed this year with members citing the inability to attend decision making meeting in Adelaide as a contributing factor.
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00:00Emily Buttle and Stephanie Schmidt have been friends for years.
00:06They set up a branch of the South Australian Country Women's Association in 2019.
00:11But the life of the branch was short lived.
00:13There is this perception across, even within members, that it's not actually the Country
00:19Women's Association anymore, it's the Adelaide Women's Association.
00:23Continuing to try and push to make our branch exist was becoming more exhausting than it
00:29was becoming rewarding.
00:31A major factor in these farmers closing the Goita branch was branch delegates only being
00:35allowed to vote in person at state council meetings.
00:38Often too busy to attend the meetings held in Adelaide, they advocated for a change to
00:43the SACWA's constitution to allow voting via video conferencing.
00:47There was great concern from the organisation that we were going to move 100% online and
00:52that wasn't the case.
00:53We were advocating for a hybrid model.
00:55If we can't have a seat at that table, whether it's virtual or in person, it makes it really
01:00hard for us to be part of that.
01:02The Gilbert Valley and Adelaide Plains branches also closed this year.
01:06Some members say the inability of regional members to attend state council meetings in
01:10Adelaide was a key factor in their decision.
01:13Now there's more and more people in head office, in state office, in town, from the city and
01:19not from rural and haven't actually lived in that rural life.
01:23The acting state president, Rosalind Schuman, didn't have permission to speak on camera,
01:28but told the ABC the association had trialled video conferencing at state council in Adelaide
01:33in November.
01:34However, members online weren't allowed to vote as the constitution only permits in-person
01:39voting at state council.
01:40We have learnt that we need to invest in much better equipment.
01:43This would also include the eventual ability for delegates to vote online.
01:47We're certainly not there yet.
01:50Since the first branch was established in Burra in 1926 with the aim of helping people
01:54in need, the SACWA has grown to more than 80 branches.
01:58I cannot imagine the Australian landscape in rural areas without the CWA.
02:04They've just been such a huge part of our culture and society for so long and they do
02:11such great work.
02:12These countrywomen believe rural branches will struggle to continue to do that great
02:16work unless members are given the option to vote online.
02:19If the branches don't exist in the regions, then how is the association at large supposed
02:24to know what the regional problems are?
02:27A country icon under pressure to keep up with technology.