Report to members of Merricks Pony Club Inc: Resolution toadopt newrules of incorporation

23 October 2013

Purpose of this Report:

1)First resolution: to adopt the draft rules referred to in this report

The purpose of this report is to explain to Merricks Pony Club members, changes that it is proposed will be made to our Rules at the Special General Meeting on 16 November 2013referred to in the Notice of Special General Meeting accompanying this Report.

Legal Background:

The Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 changes the law regarding the rules of incorporated associations. Merricks Pony Club Inc is an incorporated association. The transition provisions mean that if an incorporated association does not change its rules by 26 November 2013, its rules will automatically transfer to the new model rules set out in the Act.

Thedefault rules are very general and do not cover many of the issues peculiar to our pony clubor to equestrian activities generally. Therefore it is very important that we change our rules before the deadline.

PCAV draft model rules:

PCAV has provided affiliated clubs with draft model rules (“model rules”) that we have been told have been reviewed by Consumer Affairs Victoria. However PCAV advises that its draft rules have not been sighted by a lawyer.

The PCAV model rules do not cover many of the items covered by our old rules so the draft model rules have been amended to capture the spirit of our old rules with some changes to bring them up to date and reflect current practice.

The amendments to the model rules have been marked up in the draft document so that everyone can see them. The draft new rules both marked up and a clean version will be available on our website or can be obtained by emailing Liz Magee . The clean version will be put to the members at the Special General Meeting.

If you have any queries please contact Penny Pengilley on 0414 827 646.

Clarity regarding suspension and expulsion:

In reviewing the model rules, members should note that the Act contemplates that there is clarity about the circumstances in which members can be suspended or expelled. Therefore clear disciplinary and grievance procedures are required.

However in the case of pony clubs, the club must also ensure that the District Commissioner (“DC”) has power to direct that a member not participate in an activity if the DC considers that it would be unsafe or contrary to animal welfare for the member and horse to do/continue to do so.

In the Committee’s view, it is important that this power is available without affecting a member’s underlying membership or invoking the disciplinary regime which is not designed to deal with on-the-spot safety driven decisions of a transitory nature. The Committee believes that an appropriate balance can be achieved by including the old provisions regarding the conduct of rallies and then distinguishing between a direction at a rally and suspension of membership. However if the issue is more serious or is an ongoing concern, the amended new rules provide for the issue to become a disciplinary matter.

Proposed additions to the new Rules:

As members will see, the model rules are silent regarding many aspects of pony club life and therefore the Committee has added provisions to cover the following:

  • the purposes of the Association: adopting some suggested wording provided by PCAV in another document (Rule 2);
  • membership categories: the model rules distinguish between voting and non-voting members only while we have a variety of categories - adopted from the old rules (Rule 12A);
  • the use of a waiting list for membership: added provisions based upon the old rules but trying to follow the drafting scheme of the new rules (Rule 9(3));
  • As mentioned above, the Committee has also added the old requirement that the DC can prevent a horse or rider from participating in a rally (Rule 19A(6));
  • disciplinary action: the model rules do cover this but don’t include the provision enabling expulsion/suspension from the concern of safety which appears in the old rules – a provision regarding this has been added (Rule 19(5));
  • rallies: not mentioned while our old rules have a whole section devoted to them. The Committee has tried to adopt the wording in the old rules tweaking them to align with the new requirements under the Act (Rule 19A);
  • any minimum number of rallies required to attend: not mentioned and the Committee proposes to continue with the current requirement of at least 5 rallies in a calendar year (Rule 19A(7));
  • uniforms and crash helmet: not mentioned and again the Committee has adopted the old rules (Rule 19B);
  • visiting members: not mentioned, so the Committee has adopted the old wording (Rule 19A);
  • suspension then resignation of members: the Act is concerned to ensure clarity about members’ rights so members can only resign, be suspended or expelled. Further the model rules say that a member is taken to have resigned if their membership fee is more than 12 months in arrears with the right to ride at rallies being a separate matter dependent upon payment of the fee. The Committee believes that that is too long given the existence of a waiting list and the club’s community focus so it recommends 3 months with the Secretary to advise the member in writing as soon as the member is in arrears that he or she will be taken to have resigned if the fee is not paid within the 3 month period (Rule 16A);
  • zone duty: when a member join the club they commit to providing volunteers for zone duty. The Committee has included provisions to support this requirement (Rule 15A);
  • zone duty fines: sometimes a club can be fined by the zone if it does not provide zone duty volunteers after committing to do so. The Committee has added a provision such that if a member has agreed to do zone duty at an event and then does not attend at the event, and the club is fined for this reason, the fine will be paid by the non-attending member (Rule 15A(4)).

Finally, the model rules contemplate giving voting rights to members 15 years and over. The Committee recommends a minimum of 17 years which is consistent with the demarcation between ordinary members and associate members (Rule 14(1)).

2)Second resolution: transition provisions

These are being passed to avoid any doubt about continuity of office and of membership.

Assistant Secretary: Liz Magee.

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