Lithuanians in the News
8th January 2017
Australian Lithuanian Community Federal Council Makes Important Decisions
The Australian Lithuanian Community (ALC) Federal Council met for its biennial meeting at the Melbourne Lithuanian House in Melbourne, 29-31 December, 2016. It was part of the 29th Australian Lithuanian Days (Australijos Lietuvių Dienos - ALD) Festival, a biennial event this year admirably hosted by ALC Melbourne. During the ALD the Australian Lithuanian Community comes together to debate the community’s affairs and to celebrate their Australian Lithuanian heritage in a festival of cultural and sports activities.

The Australian Lithuanian Community Federal Council

The ALD 2016 was honoured with the attendance of Dalia Henke, president of the Lithuanian World Community (LWC) Council (Pasaulio Lietuvių Bendruomenės (PLB) Valdyba). She attended the Federal Council meeting and made a number of presentations during the ALD. Another distinguished visitor was the director of Lithuania’s National Culture Centre, Saulius Liausa, who also spoke at a number of functions about the forthcoming celebrations in 2018 relating to the 100 year anniversary of the declaration of Lithuania’s independence in 1918.
The ALC Federal Council is the supreme ALC decision making body. A major and very important task during this meeting was to consider and adopt a new Constitution (Statutas), which will allow the ALC to be incorporated. Wide community consultations had taken place before the presentation of the proposed new Constitution to the Federal Council and in the end it was adopted unanimously. To produce this document a tremendous amount of work was required to be done by the outgoing Federal Executive, with outstanding work by Antanas Čibiras, whose legal
Outgoing ALC Federal Executive with LWC president Dalia Henke.
(L-R) Ramutis Zakarevičius, Eglė Garrick, Dalia Henke, Monika Čyplienė,
Antanas Čibiras
expertise was indispensible. The Federal Executive members for 2015-2016 were Ramutis Zakarevičius (president), Eglė Garrick (vice-president), Monika Čyplienė (secretary), Laurie Cox (treasurer) with Antanas Čibiras and Kęstutis Protas as members.
The ALC Federal Council voted for the 2017–2018 ALC Federal Executive to reside in Melbourne. Elected to the new Federal Executive were Dennis Gaylard, Eugenijus Klimas, Gaila Muceniekaitė, Zita Prašmutaitė and Andrius Vaitiekūnas, together with Andy Mašanauskas ex-officio (as president of the Australian Lithuanian Youth Association). The elected members included two outgoing Federal Executive members, who were re-elected to help with continuity and strategic planning. They were Ramutis Zakarevičius and Antanas Čibiras, whose legal know-how will again be required to implement the new Constitution.
The Federal Council for 2017-2018 has Romas Cibas as president, with Henrikas Antanaitis and Irena Stumbras as vice-presidents. Elected to the Federal Audit Committee were Algis Šimkus and Bronė Staugaitienė, while Rasa Mauragienė, Eglė Garrick and Irena Stumbras were elected to the Disputes Resolution Committee. Secretaries for Federal Council meeting werre Danutė Baltutienė, Aurelia Sadauskienė and Ieva Arienė.
The delegates elected to the next LWC Congress (PLB Seimas) were Girius Anatanaitis, Monika Čyplienė, Rasa Mauragienė, Irena Stumbras and Algis Milvydas. Eglė Garrick will continue to be a delegate to the LWC Congress as a current member of the LWC Council. Henrikas Antanaitis will continue as Australia’s representative on the LR Seimas and PLB Commission, with Eglė Garrick as his deputy.