Associations Incorporation Act review

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Consultation status: CLOSED

Submissions closed 4 April 2022. Please subscribe to the Associations newsletter to keep up to date with the latest association information. 

The Associations Incorporation Act 2015 is being reviewed to check how well it is working.

Background

The purpose of this review is to find out how well the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 (Act) has worked since it started in July 2016, and to find out whether there are any improvements that could be made to help clubs and community groups to use the Act.

Associations Incorporation Act Review – Discussion Paper

The Act allows clubs and community groups to incorporate, giving the club a legal identity and basic rules. This discussion paper is part of a review of the Act that will provide advice to Government about whether the Act is working well, and how it could be improved.

Current consultation phase

Clubs and community groups are very important to the lives of people in Western Australia. If you are a member or a committee member of an association we need your views and opinions to make sure that the laws for associations are working well. This phase of the consultation is to collect your views on current legislation and your suggestions on how the laws could work better for your association.

Current recommendations

Full details of the recommendations are in the discussion paper, but the main changes being considered are about:

  • Allowing an association to reserve a name while it applies to become incorporated
  • Allowing an association to use technology like internet conferences for meetings and voting
  • Making the rules about access to the register of members clearer
  • Deciding whether financial reporting tiers should be changed to make accounting and reporting simpler for some associations
  • Making sure that members of associations can use the State Administrative Tribunal for disputes about membership
  • Making cancellation simpler if an association is no longer operating

Consultation paper

Your views are important

We encourage you to take the time to read the discussion paper in full and share your thoughts with us.

Download the full consultation paper

Please note this discussion paper was amended on 29 March 2022 to rectify an error on page 9 of the paper that stated that 90% of associations fall within the Tier 1 financial reporting category. The amendments to pages 5 and 9 have clarified that approximately 80 per cent of Western Australian associations fall within the Tier 1 reporting category.

Enquiries

Enquiries can be made by calling Consumer Protection Advice Line on 1300 30 40 54 or by email.

More information

Associations and clubs | Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (commerce.wa.gov.au)

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