NENA New Economy Network Australia & BrisLETS

15/09/2018 | Featured, News, Opinion | 2 comments

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For some time now NENA has been developing and now is forming a non-distributing (whatever that is) Cooperative (Limited), registered in Victoria. What, if any, synchronicity is there between NENA and LETS/CES?
Their draft Constitution Rule 1.3 Purpose and Mission states, (paraphrased – please see their governance documents here)

  1. The purpose of the co-operative Is to facilitate the emergence of a positive vision for diverse economic systems in Australia that will advance the social welfare of all Australians and, in so doing, support the creation a New Economy underpinned by: a. Ecological Sustainability b. Social Justice c. Democratic and Distributed Governance d. Place–based/local economies e. Recognition of, respect for and solidarity with First Nations Peoples

Rule 1.4 Primary Activities states, (paraphrased) – to facilitate relationships, research, innovative enterprise & education, build a community of practice, host events and support advocacy of issues through deliberative democracy processes that are relevant to building an alternative economy in Australia as described in 1.3.

Rule 1.5 Active Membership Requirements states, (paraphrased) an annual subscription and participation in one of the co-operative’s geographic or sectoral hubs or 8 hours per year of volunteering to support one of the co-op’s primary activities… For Organisation Members, the active membership requirements must be performed by one or more of its authorised representatives.

I invite actively interested members to run their eyes over this and record their thoughts here as feedback to the Management Committee and Management Support Team. In due course, with the support of the membership, BrisLETS could join as an Organisation.

Personally, I see nothing in NENA that goes against the spirit of LETS/CES, in fact I think we appear to be birds of a feather. Our mutual credit system could provide the platform for trade that the alternative economic vision NENA seeks and of course the connection may expand the number of people participating in LETS/CES.

However, I have yet to consider NENA’s Draft Operational Handbook and Discussion Paper for Strategy Development (see governance link above).

Thoughts?

Simon, President and Management Support Team members as Trading Facilitator

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2 Comments

  1. President
    President on 10/12/2018 at 6:23 pm

    From today’s webinar introduction to NENA Hubs, I’ve learnt that NENA is trying to connect the vast array of groups and people who want to see Australia move towards an economic system that embraces social justice and ecological sustainability. It’s more than an online portal, although that’s a primary part of it; it is garnering social energy for this and aiming for goals that can be earmarked and once achieved, celebrated.

    I will add BrisLETS and CES to their Directory (anyone can do so on their website) and I will also tell Michelle Maloney about the CES Global and Australian homepages so she can add them to the NENA Hub Listings.

    BrisLETS can consider joining NENA as an organisation ($50/year) and forming a Sectoral or Regional Hub. This would enable us to feed into the NENA Strategy Group, MC & Budget Group.
    At this point, I see no reason not to support NENA by joining and forming a Hub.

    Comments, please!