Motion: That the Rules of Association of the DSWAA be changed by the adoption of the Model Rules provided by Consumer Affairs Office of Victoria (CAV) except for changes to certain Clauses as agreed by the DSWAA Committee.
EXPLANATION
The current DSWAA Rules of Association registered with CAV are the Model Rules which existed when DSWAA incorporated in 2003 in accordance with the Associations Incorporations Act (1981).
The legislation has since changed to the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 as well as the Model Rules as laid down by CAV.
This Item of Special Business seeks to:
- update the DSWAA’s Rules to reflect the changes in legislation and the CAV Model Rules, and,
- change certain Clauses in the Model Rules to more adequately serve the DSWAA.
These proposed changes reflect a process of consultation involving all Committee members and are therefore recommended by the Committee.
The changes include:
- The inclusion of the Association’s name (clause 1). The Current Rules make no mention of the DSWAA.
- Inclusion of DSWAA Statement of Purposes (clause 2). The current Rules do not include any statement of Purposes.
- Inclusion of financial year end date transferred from the existing DSWAA Rules (clause 3).
- Change to Casting Vote [clauses 38 (2) & 64 (4)]. The Model Rules provide for the Chairperson to have a second and casting vote but the proposed change is based on the argument that unless a simple majority is in favour of the resolution, then the case is not strong enough for it to pass. The Chairperson’s impartiality also may be compromised.
- Change to Eligibility for Committee [clause 49 (c)] by adding the requirement for a person to have been a member of DSWAA for a minimum of six months before they can be elected to the Committee to ensure Committee members have some knowledge and experience of DSWAA and to prevent last minute manipulation of elections.
- Change to Clause 52 (5) Election of President etc, to be amended to permit the Committee to elect office holders other than the President after the AGM. In practical terms this would happen during a brief Committee meeting immediately after the close of the AGM. This ensures that the elected Committee decide who they wish to have as key office holders based on skills and experience.
Also note that under the Model Rules laid down by CAV, the term of office for office holders and committee members is one year whereas our current Rules state the term to be two years. If we wish to maintain a two-year term, an amendment to this Item of Special Business can be put to the AGM.
If the AGM resolves in favour of adopting new Rules of Association, the new Rules will be submitted to Consumer Affairs Victoria for approval and will become binding on the DSWAA once registered by CAV.
Note: The proposed Rules will not apply to the process of conducting the 2018 AGM business and elections. For example, elections of Committee members and Office Holders for terms of two years will occur as at previous AGMs.
To view the Model Rules of Association go here.
To learn more about CAV and incorporated associations go here.
To view the DSWAA’s registered incorporation details go here. In the “search for” box type or paste DSWAA’s incorporation number: A0044737S
Unfortunately visitors to the CAV website are unable to view DSWAA’s existing Rules as these are not subject to CAV’s interactive search facility.
