01 Membership
The honest headline: membership is scarce by design
cl 11.3cl 11.5
The company may have no more than two Ordinary Members unless the Protected Provisions themselves are amended. Members hold the constitutional levers — amendments, director elections, winding up — so the constitution keeps the group small, known, and consent-gated rather than building a mass membership whose votes could be marshalled against the public-benefit lock.
If you want to support the work, membership is rarely the right instrument: contribution to the open repositories, research collaboration, provider participation in the VirtEngine network, and commercial engagement all advance the purposes without touching the governance perimeter.
02 Membership
The actual process
cl 13.1cl 13.2cl 13.3cl 15.2
Eligibility: at least 18 years old, resident of Australia, and supportive of the company's purposes. Application: in writing to the company. Decision: the directors may accept or refuse without giving reasons — and must not accept without prior written Founding Member Consent (admission of a member is also Reserved Matter 18A.2.1). Effect: membership begins when the secretary enters your name on the register.
Obligations follow: comply with the constitution, support the purposes, comply with the Code of Conduct and any required undertakings, treat others with respect, and stand behind the member guarantee — capped at $444 on winding up. Membership cannot be transferred, and voting is two votes for the Founding Member, one for each Ordinary Member.
03 Membership
Leaving, discipline, and fairness
cl 17.1cl 50.1cl 50.2cl 50.3
An Ordinary Member may resign in writing at any time, and membership ends automatically on death, ineligibility, or winding up of a corporate member. Discipline requires procedural fairness: fourteen days' written notice of allegations and proposed action, a reasonable opportunity to respond, and no power to fine. The Founding Member's membership is permanent under clause 17.2 and cannot be ended by expulsion.