2026 Aroid Society of Australia Annual General Meeting Minutes

Date:          Thursday 1st October 2026, 6:00pm

Location:   Mt Coot-tha Botanical Gardens Auditorium

Attendees:

Stephen Flood

Matcha Phimphila

Arno King

Greg Ure

Aaron Urquhart

Sandra Kane

Jenny Felton

Melissa Cameron

John Woodbridge

Andrew Baker

Leanne Bennett

Cat Bennett

Suzy Perry

Trevor Perry

Lee Thorneycroft

Emmaleigh Muddle

Peter Starkey

Thulasi Rajah

Vance Li

Alejandro  Solano orozco

Charlotte Shipsey

Klaus Querengasser

Vivienne Lewis

Barry Kable

Robert Reilly

Lien Reilley

Sarah Muggleton

Alec Newman

 General Meetup:

Suspend General Meetup at 18:29 AEST and AGM Commenced.

Welcome by the President  - Andrew Baker

-   References to the emailed apologies to secretary@aroids.net email and opened to the floor for any more apologies

For those in attendance you may notice that no-one is taking notes; the meeting is being recorded and to be transcribed at a later date and emailed to all committee members.

List of apologies presented and acknowledged:

-   Alexia Loader

-   Heather Brown

Previous minutes presented and members reminded that they were emailed to all financial members 12 months ago and available on the website.

•  No objections were made and the motion  to move Previous AGM minutes was moved by Sandra Kane and seconded by Steve Flood.

Presidents Report 2025/2026:

Those who are not aware I’m Andy Baker and I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved with the ASA committee since mid 2021 where I functioned as a general committee member, vice president, interim president and as the president since 2022.

Over the last 12 months the society continues to experience growth and activity and as of this time we have 431 financial members, which is about 30 less than last year which considering the reduction in disposable income and the tailing off of the “Aroid hype” this is a feat not to be understated. The Committee has again been focused on regular in person meet ups with there being a total of 17 in person events and a one off online symposium. Some of these events included field trips, plant sale events and regular in person meet ups to name a few. 

The society has expended it’s flag ship plant sales eventFloresta which included a Melbourne leg in October 2025 and a Sydney event held later this month. Floresta continues to grow as the brand becomes well known as it establishes it’sself with an additional 100 people attending the Brisbane event compared to the year prior. The Melbourne event was extremely well received with over 700 attendees for the 2 days which is fantastic considering their conditions are less suited for growing tropical plants. We look forward to watching Floresta to continue to grow from strength to strength and can’t wait for the upcoming instalment in Sydney brings!

Unfortunately, due to a lack of volunteers we have had some barriers in getting our publication “Aroida Australis” out to members. The society now looks to have 1 x printed and 1 x online addition per year however these still remain quite popular with our members upon release. We are still requiring articles from our members to add to its content. If you have any ideas for content or would like to contribute, please us know by reaching out by email to committee@aroids.net

The society has invested significant time and finances in technology over the past 12 months with updated to the members only area of the website now continuing the links to purchase member only raffle tickets and having finally caught up editing the many hours (more like days) of content from previous guest speakers around the country, which are now available for members to peruse. The members only section is your one stop shop for all your ASA member benefit perks as it contains all our Aroida and archived newsletter copies, IAS articles, our ASA official merch shop and Youtube links. This is something which provides a great tool for members who may not be able to attend regular meetings to give a bigger bang for your buck. 

I would also like to thank you, our members, who continue to engage with the society, be that renewing membership, attending events and even contributing to our Facebook pages. The society is always looking for ways to engage members and encourages you all to participate in any way you can. At the end of the day; the Aroid Society is YOUR society!

A massive thanks and congratulations go out to all of our previous Office Bearers, State Representatives and general committee members for all their contributions over the last 12 months in continuing to grow our Society from humble beginnings to the nation wide club we are today and I wish the 2026-2027 committee the best for the year ahead

No objections were made and the motion to move President Report was moved by Barry Kable and seconded by Suzy Perry. 

Treasurer’s Report  2025/2026- Liz Showniruk

Financially, we are in an excellent place.This year we made a Net Profit of $5,843.83. Our financial year has been strong.

Income from memberships has remained consistent, despite the economic climate. Although our budget has increased for things like advertising and events, we have seen a payoff from this that has improved our financial viability and made us confident that such measures do receive a benefit.

I suggest we continue to host larger events with this knowledge and improve on our performance in this regard.

Our term deposit remains strong, but I do suggest we can negotiate a better interest rate, given the financial climate. I would suggest, moving forward, that more of our funds be placed in term deposits to reap the benefits of higher interest rates.

As I retire from my post as treasurer, I do not doubt that the Aroid Society of Australia will continue to grow and thrive.