MAAA Affiliation

All members who fly at VARMS are required to pay MAAA Affiliation fees to either VARMS or their primary (other) club.

Model Aeronautical Association of Australia Inc (MAAA) provides comprehensive public liability insurance as well as a personal accident policy to all it's affiliated members.

To make sure you’re not grounded, the MAAA looks after all of our members insurance needs. MAAA experts provide the most comprehensive coverage and take care of the paperwork so we can spend more time in the air.

To find out more about the MAAA Insurance cover take a look at the MAAA Insurance Page (click here).

Regarding terminology, remember that nobody pays "insurance fees" to the MAAA. Club members pay affiliation fees to the MAAA and the MAAA provides insurance cover for their affiliated members. The MAAA is not a seller or re-seller of insurance and you do not pay an insurance premium to the MAAA.

Here is a quick summary of the MAAA Affiliation types and definitions used by VARMS.

• MAAA Affiliation type MAAA Affiliate - This means you will pay your MAAA fees to VARMS now.
• MAAA Affiliation type MAAA Associate - This means you have paid your MAAA fees to another club already.
• MAAA Affiliation type MAAA None - This means you don't need to pay MAAA fees (ie: Social Members).

So the MAAA Affiliation type only describes how a member has paid their MAAA fees - nothing more.

Remember, the MAAA Affiliation type has no bearing on a VARMS member's membership category and hence has no effect on a member's rights as either a full (senior, junior, student or life) VARMS member or as an associate (social and non-flying) VARMS member.

At VARMS we have come up with these definitions to help solve the confusion caused by the MAAA's usage of the word 'associate' to categorise club members in the MAAA Register.

Brilliant!

It is folly to assume that everyone understands where the term "associate" is being used in the MAAA Register and how it differs from the way it is used in the VARMS Association Rules (Model Rules for an Association). More than likely it is only the club registrars who know the source of this conundrum.

Allow me to elaborate.

In the MAAA Register: 

• The term "Senior" or "Junior" is used to define a member who paid their MAAA fees to the club the member is being added to.
• The term "Associate Senior" or "Associate Junior" is used to define a member who paid their MAAA fees to a different club than the one the member is being added to. In various areas of the MAAA Register these members are referred to as "Associate members".

When adding a new member to a club in the MAAA Register, the club registrar is given the option to select one of three member types for the new member during the first step of a six step process: 

• Full member
• Associate member
• Social member

These terms are used during the adding of members to the club within the MAAA Register and are populated throughout all the tables of the MAAA database.

In the context described, the MAAA is currently causing a bit of confusion by using the word "associate" when referring to how a club member has paid their affiliation fees. In the 'Model Rules for an Incorporated Association', which many clubs that operate as incorporated associations use (such as VARMS), that definition already has a specific meaning. According to the Rules a club associate member has no voting rights and many people often refer to associate members as 'social' members. Even the MAAA, also being an incorporated association, has a definition of 'Associate Member' for their own association and it's not the same as the one they are using in their Register. You can refer to the MAAA's Association Rules, 'MAAA Statement of Rules 2021' Rule 9 to see this definition.

https://www.maaa.asn.au/images/Statement-of-Rules---2021-Council-300521.pdf

 As just mentioned, in the clubs an 'associate member' as defined in the club's Association Rules is often referred to as a 'social' member. You can see from the above screenshots of the MAAA Register that the MAAA separate the member types into Full, Associate and Social. This separation of their definitions of Associate and Social club members adds even more confusion because in the clubs a club 'associate' and a club 'social' member mean the same thing! Good one.... 

So it is understandable that when members are being referred to as 'associate members' most of us have little idea which particular definition is meant to be assumed.  It would create far less confusion if the terminology in use was changed to something less ambiguous. Maybe this is something the MAAA can consider while they are introducing the Member Jungle club management system in the near future.