Te Tira Ahu Pae is your students’ association for Massey University — we’re here to provide services such as advocacy and events, representation, and help bring your voice to Massey University. We’re what’s called an incorporated society, as well as a registered charity. This means we have to follow the rules of the Incorporated Societies Act and the Charities Act 2005.
A few years ago, the new Incorporated Societies Act 2022 came out, and students’ associations like ours have to align with this Act’s new rules, including reregistering under the Act by 5th April 2026. This means we need to make some big changes to our own rules, known as our Constitution.
How Representation of Student Voice Looks
Te Tira Ahu Pae has also been going through some big changes of our own. Over 2025, we sought your voice in how our Student Representatives should be structured, and we received a range of different fantastic ideas and perspectives. In late 2025, we held a Special General Meeting (SGM) where you voted on your preferred models, and how you would like representation to look. Taking on this feedback, we’ve made the suggested changes to our rules (our Constitution), and we’re having another Special General Meeting to make those changes official!
What this means for the Constitution and you
At the Special General Meeting, we’ll be putting forward two motions —
- A motion to approve the new Constitution, which will be up to date with the Incorporated Societies Act 2022, and implements your suggested changes.
- A motion to approve that we reregister as an incorporated society under the new Act.
It’s important for the Association that we have a legally compliant Constitution (we follow the rules of the new Act), and that we reregister. If we don’t reregister by the 5th of April 2026, we become deregistered — meaning we would be in a bit of trouble, and we would become an unincorporated society. All students’ associations across different universities have recently held General Meetings to change their rules and make the decision to reregister, and we’d like to do the same so that we can continue providing services to yourselves!
We would love for you to come along to our Special General Meeting on 26th February, which will be held at each Massey University campus, including the option to attend online for Distance students. Here, you can exercise your voice in how Te Tira Ahu Pae operates, and help make sure our students’ association continues to provide representation, voice, and essential services.
If you have any questions regarding the new Constitution, Special General Meeting, or about the restructure, please contact our Representation Manager at s.chapman@tetiraahupae.ac.nz.
Is this the Final Version of the Constitution?
Definitely not! While we’re aiming to pass this Constitution at our Special General Meeting, Te Tira Ahu Pae is always looking to make sure we have fair and equitable structures. Just because this is how the Association might look in 2026 doesn’t mean we aren’t open to feedback and ideas on how it could look in the future!