Imposing a 50% Maori quota on the board of the AIDS Foundation is not a legal requirement in its Constitution, says former chair Michael Stevens. Stevens, who oversaw an abolition of quotas for Maori, Pacific Island, and HIV+ representation during his time as chair three years ago, says quotas didn't work then because people became employed on the basis of a quota rather than a skillset. He feels the move to re-introduce quotas are the work of an inexperienced board driven by ideology rather than an understanding of the Foundation's work. "I totally reject the interpretation that the constitution has a legal requirement, I think this is a very forced and strange reading of it," he says. The board is engaging with members on its proposals in a series of regional hui to be held next month, however, the board will not answer questions about what legal advice has been sought to support its conclusion that it is legally required to put forward a quota proposal. Wellington-based Calum Bennachie, a Foundation member, wrote to the board for answers. He received a reply from NZAF deputy chair Simon Robb this week saying the board discussed Bennachie's questions and decided not to answer them. "We are of the view that the questions you have asked do not need to be addressed in order for you to effectively participate in the consultation process," he wrote. GayNZ.com asked Robb earlier this month to clarify what he meant by "legal requirement", and whether the board feared being open to legal challenges if they didn't implement a quota. "I think the risk of that would be really remote," he replied. "It wasn't from any concern from the outside that we may be challenged from the legal point of view, it was more of a good faith issue around our board table that we weren't actually doing it [the Treaty] justice. We needed a whole variety of reasons legal, social justice, to actually implement what the Maori version meant at the governance level." Growing dissatisfaction with the current Board's roposal and its communication processes have led to rumours that the Board may face a vote of no confidence from Foundation members at a special general meeting next month. Bennachie, who has now written to the Minister of Health Annette King in an attempt to get answers to his questions under the Official Information Act, is one member who would support such a move. "The NZAF is a non-Governmental Body that is not part of the Crown," he wrote in reply to the board, in an email obtained by GayNZ.com. "All versions of the Treaty are between the Maori and the Crown, not between Maori and non-crown entities."