The 2023 OSFO Annual General Assembly (AGM) was held in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday 19 April, from 1 to 4pm.
The meeting – which was significantly the first event held entirely in person since the commencement of the global COVID-19 pandemic – was held at the Sofitel Brisbane Central, in conjunction with a week-long series of meetings hosted by the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC) and other relevant stakeholders, culminating in ONOC’s own AGM.
Pleasingly, the OSFO AGM was attended by 43 individuals, representing 19 OSFO member organisations, key OSFO stakeholders and partners – including ONOC and the Pacific Games Council – two observers, and, of course, the OSFO Executive Committee.
OSFO President, Kevan Gosper, officially opened the Meeting, before welcoming keynote speaker, Adrine Monagi, to address the participants. Adrine – an athlete from PNG, who won the gold medal in heptathlon at her home 2015 Pacific Games – spoke to the meeting about her career thus far as an athlete from the Pacific Islands, and the trials, tribulations and successes she has experienced in pursuit of her athletic goals. Adrine’s favoured event is now hurdles, and she trains on the Gold Coast and studies at Griffith University, on an Oceania Australian Foundation scholarship.
Following the welcome and keynote address, it was time for the elections for vacant positions on the Executive Committee to be held, with the position of Secretary General as well as two Executive Member positions coming up to term.
Chet Gray was the only candidate to stand for the role of Secretary General, and hence, will continue in the role for a further term.
Brooke Kneebush vacated her position on the OSFO Executive Committee, choosing not to stand for re-election. Kevan thanked Brooke on behalf of OSFO for her outstanding service to OSFO, and in particular the work she has done with Helen Smith on leading the process of establishing OSFO’s new Strategic Plan.
Yvonne Mullins (current OSFO Vice President and Executive Member) and Amanda Jenkins both stood for election to the OSFO Executive Committee. With two positions vacant and only two candidates standing, Yvonne held her position on the Committee, whilst Amanda took the position vacated by Brooke, without the need to go to a vote.
Next came the time for the presentation of reports from both OSFO Executive Members and key OSFO stakeholders.
Following Kevan’s presentation of the President’s Report, Helen McMurray presented an update on behalf of the Oceania Australia Foundation and Andrew Minogue presented on behalf of the Pacific Games Council.
In his role as Secretary General, Chet Gray presented the minutes from the 2022 OSFO AGM for approval, followed by the 2022 OSFO Financial Report and the Secretary General’s Report, before making an additional presentation was made on the Oceania Regional Sport Federations Grants Program; a new initiative introduced in 2022.
OSFO Executive Member, Edwina Ricci, then presented a Major Projects Report, focusing on wellbeing initiatives and activities that had been conducted over the past 12 months. Following the AGM, Edwina ran a Workshop with interested participants on Flourishing Sporting Teams.
Further presentations came from Gill Gemming and Regan Kama in the form of the OSEP Sport Education Commission Report, Ryan Pini – OSFO Executive Member – on the Athletes’ Commission, and Yvonne Mullins, on the OSFO Member Survey results.
Executive Member, Helen Smith, also presented an update on OSFO’s 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, including the huge body of work done by the five Working Groups, comprised largely of OSFO members.
Following a call for general business items, President Gosper declared the meeting closed, with topics including the supply of technical officials within the region, improving governance within the region, and capitalising on the opportunity that is the Brisbane 2023 Olympic and Paralympic Games very much live and open for continued discussion on subsequent occasions.
OSFO would like to thank all of its members and allies for their ongoing support over the past 12 months, and looks forward to another collaborative year of working together to further sport in Oceania.