Firstly, let's clear something up. The 2011 Nationals were held 20th to 25th of April (
http://www.rctech.net/forum/australi...nationals.html). According the the calendar I've just checked 3 times (
http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/?country=29) that WAS Easter in 2011! WA didn't get the event moved.
The reason the event was able to be moved in Qld, is because Townsville had it, and Easter would have placed it inside the wet/monsoon season*. That's not an increased chance of rain, that's more like a guarantee of rain, and lots of it.
Additionally, thanks to the work of Gavin and others we now actually have a rule set that we can follow as of January 2011. In that rule book it says the Nationals date is Easter. So, a club would need a good reason to be granted another date, more so than in 2010 when the rule book was such a mess it was ignored as often as it was followed.
The AARCMCC Executive are the ones responsible for scheduling sanctioned meetings, if a club requests a date change from the published calendar they are the ones who are going to make the call.
*
Originally Posted by http://www.abc.net.au/storm/monsoon/what.htm under the heading "The Australian Wet or Monsoon Season (November to April)" describing weather in Tropical Australia
*During the wet season there are usually two or three major monsoon events. These events occur when the monsoon trough ( a low pressure trough associated with intense rainfall ) moves south over the landmass of north Western Australia.
The trough may remain over the land for periods of one day, to several weeks.
It usually overlies the continent for about seven days, during which time strong north westerly winds blow and rain falls almost constantly.
The later phases in February and March are often longer and more intense. It is then that the cumulative effect of the rains may be seen as surface water becomes evident.