2018 Presidential Election

Any Fellow of the College, who is in good financial standing with the College, can be nominated as a candidate. The candidate will need to complete a nomination form (which will be made available when nominations open on 14 September 2018).

No. Any member can complete a nomination form and put themselves forward as a candidate in the election. If you would like to nominate someone as a presidential candidate, you would need to talk to them about this and, if they were willing, they would need to sign and submit a nomination form before 5 October 2018.

Other than being a Fellow who is in good financial standing with the College, there are no specific requirements. To help them with their voting decision, all eligible voting members will be provided with a short biography and statement from each candidate. Previous roles and responsibilities, and the candidate’s vision for the College’s future, will no doubt be important considerations.

On 14 September, the College will publish a nomination form on its website. Candidates will need to complete, sign and return this form to the College’s chief electoral officer before midnight on 5 October.

The College does not have any rules or restrictions on how candidates can campaign during the election.

The College President automatically becomes a Trustee of College and Chair of the College Board.

Trustee

In 1973 the College was incorporated as Charitable Trust. Its Charitable Purpose is to ‘encourage, foster and maintain the highest possible standards for medical care within the scope of general practice, in order to reduce health inequalities and achieve improved health for all New Zealanders.’

As trustee, the President has legal and financial responsibilities in ensuring the College operates in accordance with the rules and requirements of the Charities Act 2005. This includes responsibilities relating to financial management and personal liability.

Chair of the Board

The Board is responsible for managing, directing and supervising the business affairs of the College, in order to achieve its Charitable Purpose.

As Chair of the Board, the President is the main link with the College Chief Executive. They have legal and financial responsibilities, for example, in relation to the Health and Safety Act.

They will be required to attend and chair the College Board meetings. There are eight scheduled each year, and these are typically held in Wellington and Auckland. They will also be required to deliver the opening address and chair the College’s AGM. This is held in July each year (the 2019 AGM will be held in Dunedin on 27 July 2019). For more information, you may like to visit the Institute of Directors’ website and WorkSafe’s website.

President

The President is one of three media spokespeople for the College. As such, they are often sought for comment on sector issues and may be regarded as the ‘public face’ of the College and all GPs. The President is also invited to represent the College a health sector events – both domestic and international. In terms of leading the College, the President may develop relationships with key influencers and decision makers, for instance the Minister of Health.

The size and extent of the role, will depend on the individual who fills it. Members will vote for the candidate they feel can best represent them, so it will be up to each candidate to communicate what they can bring to the role and what their priorities will be. The College will provide a fair, impartial platform for candidates’ messages.

The standard remuneration for the role of President is $54,000 pa. The President also gets paid a representation fee of $45,000. These honoraria are paid each quarter.

The President’s term is three years and it starts and finishes at the College AGM. Therefore the new President’s term officially starts in July 2019 and concludes in July 2022.

The President is able to seek re-election for a second (and final) term, at the conclusion of their first term.

Note: As we are running this presidential election earlier than anticipated, we will have a President-elect in November 2018. In advance of the official start date of this President’s term (the 2019 AGM), the Board has indicated it would appoint the President-elect as President in December 2018. This will not change the end date of the new President's term, which remains as July 2022.

All College Fellows and Members (registrars who have passed their clinical and written GPEP1 exams) are eligible to vote. These people will receive an invitation to participate in the online election. Voting opens 19 October and closes at midnight on 13 November 2018.

The deadline for candidate nominations is 11.59pm, Friday 5 October 2018. The College will publish the list of candidates on our website as soon as possible after this date. On 19 October we will email all voting members a list of candidates and a link to the online voting system.

The College rules can be viewed here.

The rule relating to the election process is Rule 21.7.