Associations incorporation - cancellation

The Associations Incorporation Amendment (Cancellation of Incorporation) Bill 2007 commenced on 29 October 2007.

Following a review of the Associations Incorporation Act 1984, work has been underway to amend the Act in accordance with the recommendations of the review.  The Associations Incorporation Amendment (Cancellation of Incorporation) Act 2007 is the first stage of a larger package of reforms to the legislation which have resulted from the review of the Act. It is anticipated that an Exposure Draft Bill containing these further proposed amendments will be publicly available for consultation by the end of the year.

The amendments contained in the Amendment Act relate to the non-voluntary cancellation provisions and have been brought forward, in advance of the other proposed amendments, because they are necessary technical and administrative amendments.

Consequently the amendment Act:

• Clarifies the intent of the current provisions for which a proposal of cancellation notice can be sent by specifically including the following grounds:
  • annual statements have not been lodged for the preceding 3 years
  • the association does not have at least 5 members, or
  • the association does not have a public officer who is resident in the State (s54(1)).
• Ensures that creditors and other parties involved in the winding up of an association are not adversely affected by providing that the Director General cannot cancel an association’s incorporation if it is in the course of being wound up (s54(2)).
• Removes the mandatory requirement for a notice of proposed cancellation to be advertised in a newspaper circulating in the State, but retaining the requirement for the Director General to send a notice to the association about the ground or grounds upon which the proposed cancellation is based (s54(3)).
• Amends the period in which a response to the notice of proposed cancellation can be sent from 2 months to ‘at least’ 28 days but requiring the Director General to give consideration to any submissions that are made within that period (s54(3)).
• Requires that a notice advising an association that its incorporation has been cancelled to be sent by registered mail (s54(5)), and
• Includes a key safety net provision which allows the Director General to reinstate the incorporation of an association if satisfied that the incorporation should not have been cancelled and that under those circumstances the association is taken to have continued in existence as if its incorporation had not been cancelled (s54A(2)).