Bills
Associations and Co-operatives Legislation Amendment Bill 2025
Second reading
Resumed from 13 August.
Hon Lauren Cayoun (2:46 pm): Like many of my colleagues, I would like to make a short contribution on the Associations and Co-operatives Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. This bill modernises and improves the operation and effectiveness of the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 and the Co-operatives Act 2009 and provides for a number of important streamlining and simplifying provisions for associations, cooperatives, clubs and community groups.
There are a lot of good practical changes in the bill. Examples include allowing associations to reserve a name, allowing an association to implement rules that are tailored to their organisation over and above those provided for in the acts, plus a number of other key changes, but I would like to focus my contribution specifically on the changes that aim to restrict and protect access to personal information that is stored on an organisation's membership database, and the changes allowing for online functions, specifically holding online meetings, allowing for online voting and allowing the online signing of documents.
Firstly, I would like to address some of the provisions around membership privacy. Clause 14 makes some important additions around the privacy of members' information taken by associations, with a new section that will allow a member of an association to apply to the secretary of that association to restrict that personal information for reasons of safety and security. It is important in this day and age that when people join clubs, organisations and groups et cetera and hand over personal information, they have some confidence in how that information will be handled, stored and protected by the organisation they give it to. We often see online and in the newspaper examples of data breaches from around the world that have the effect of lowering people's confidence in handing over personal information. I was a customer of Optus and Medibank back in 2022. It was a bad year for data breaches for me. We all remember the Yahoo breach that affected over three billion customers and others like the Equifax data breach. Stories like that are not uncommon. As I said, it makes people question when they hand over personal information how responsibly an organisation will store that information. That is particularly important when there are safety and security issues at play. One example that I believe others may have spoken about is people who are survivors of family and domestic violence. I remember in my time as an electorate officer to Hon Samantha Rowe, which was a fantastic job, we often had constituents who were survivors of family and domestic violence come into the office to discuss sensitive situations. Certainly, there was a heightened sense of anxiety about how that data would be collected, how it would be stored and who would have access to that information given the potential for their perpetrators to find them. This is a good example of why safety and security concerns would necessitate the protection of the private data that is handed over.
I was the membership officer of a small community organisation, many moons ago, called Friends of Israel WA (FOIWA), which maintained a spreadsheet of a few thousand members. I remember feeling the responsibility of holding onto that personal information, which often included names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses et cetera. It was a big responsibility, particularly when it is time-poor volunteers who take on these roles in the community and are expected to uphold that level of responsibility. I was on that committee following the changes to the act in 2015, and I remember from a membership officer's perspective that, for example, we were required to attach rules to emails welcoming people to organisations. There were some changes around things that we needed to include in an organisation's rules. We were required to undertake a review of our rules to ensure that they were compliant with the legislation, and it was quite an onerous process for what was a small community-based organisation of volunteers. I cannot remember what department it was, but I remember at the time that a department had a call centre that provided a chance to ring somebody to have a conversation and make sure that we were compliant with the legislation, so that was a really important resource for us as an organisation.
I want to touch on one of the community volunteers who was involved in FOIWA. He was a man named Phil Samuel, who was the secretary of the organisation, and I believe he may have been the founder as well. I want to talk about Phil because he was one of those classic examples of somebody who took on so many roles in his community that, in the context of this bill, meant he did not have a lot of time to deal with issues of governance and compliance. We used to meet around Phil Samuel's kitchen table. Recently, he passed away at the age of 89, and he was still volunteering at the time. He and his lovely wife, Annabell, were married for 61 years, and they were both very strong community volunteers. Over the years Phil spent time on the Jewish Community Council of Western Australia and Jewishcare WA. He was an inaugural founding member of the Jewish Men's Shed in Perth. He was on the management board of the Maccabean. After many years, he was the president of the board of Maurice Zeffert Home, plus he had leading positions in trade unions. He was involved in his children's parents and citizens associations, and he was on his ratepayers association. He was one of those people who took on such an enormous amount of work in their community. In addition to that, he obviously still found the time to undertake paid employment and be an excellent dad, husband and grandfather. I acknowledge Phil's service. He is a great loss to his community.
Phil put into perspective how time-poor so many volunteers are who are involved in these organisations, and that is why something as simple as allowing for online meetings, online voting and online signing can make a really big impact to these small volunteer-led organisations. I know during my time as a party official at the Labor Party, when we were undertaking some member engagement and understanding what people enjoyed from the membership experience, members in our regions were particularly keen to see things like online voting and online meeting participation. It gave them the opportunity to participate in a more fulsome way from the regions, and I know that allowing things like online meetings is particularly important to connect people in our regions to a range of clubs and organisations that are based in Perth. It is definitely something that is expected in the modern age as well, particularly following COVID when we all became much more literate in how we use online platforms such as Teams and the like. It is something that being facilitated in this act will make a big difference.
Before I conclude, I want to briefly touch on my brief time on the board of an organisation called the Jacaranda Community Centre in Belmont, just to further contextualise how important it is to streamline compliance and governance workloads in not-for-profits and community clubs—to, of course, then give those people more time to undertake their important service to the community. I was briefly on the board of the Jacaranda Community Centre in Belmont, which is where I did my student placement many years ago as a social work student. I think it was about a 10-week student placement from memory, and I note that the federal Albanese Labor government has now introduced paid university placements for a range of courses, including social work, eligible nursing, midwifery and teaching student placements. It is a fantastic initiative that would have certainly made a big difference to me but will make a big difference to students going forward.
It is useful to talk about some of the things that the Jacaranda Community Centre did—just as I said, to contextualise the importance of streamlining governance and compliance legislation. Jacaranda is a not-for-profit community organisation that services the needs of people living in the city of Belmont. Roughly 80% of its clients are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It also services Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal people in the wider Perth community. Primarily based in Belmont, Jacaranda Community Centre was set up by Belmont legend Lyndsey Fitzgerald. It was originally set up without any funds, with Lyndsey and her husband covering the cost of the rent of the organisation. It has now become a very vibrant not-for-profit and has a range of important programs for people in the community, including financial counselling, Indigenous family support, Indigenous Children's Court support, Aboriginal art and culture programs, the Aboriginal Men's Shed group and a range of computer courses for people in the community. This is a really important body of work that offers so much important support to vulnerable people living in the Belmont community and afar. Again, it is really important that when we can cut down on the governance workload to allow for simple things like facilitating online meetings, it makes a really big difference to these time-poor organisations. The less time, ultimately, these organisations and clubs spend deciphering governance and the more time they spend serving their communities the better. With that, I commend the bill to the house.
Hon Dan Caddy (Parliamentary Secretary) (2:56 pm) in reply: I want to thank all the members in the chamber for their contributions to the Associations and Co-operatives Legislation Amendment Bill 2025 and recognise their connections to their communities and to the associations and cooperatives in their areas and communities. I will summarise what the bill seeks to do. The bill will bring the associations and cooperatives instruments into the modern age, really, and will make things easier. That is the best way to put it. It will allow an association to reserve a name when it commences the incorporation process or when it wishes to change its name for a period of up to three months. The bill will allow electronic attendance at the voting of meetings, which many members have spoken about, as its default position. Associations will be able to opt out of allowing electronic meetings and voting within their rules and allow for the restriction of access to personal information contained in a members register in certain prescribed circumstances. The bill allows for the appointment of an auditor for a fixed period, not exceeding five years, and provides the Commissioner for Consumer Protection with the power to cancel the incorporation of an association if it is in the public's interest and without waiting for 12 months. The bill addresses a range of administrative issues for cooperatives and includes other minor consequential amendments to the Co-operatives Act to update references to sections of the federal Corporations Act 2001, a piece of Commonwealth legislation that has changed since 2015.
I will quickly go through the contributions from members, but up-front I want to acknowledge the extremely well constructed contribution from Hon Julie Freeman in her capacity as the opposition spokesperson. I note from her contribution that she has a deep understanding of what this bill is, what it does and why it is making its way through Parliament. Her description of how this bill will help associations and cooperatives was detailed and deliberate. I particularly note that, in her experience as a regional member, the ability to hold meetings remotely will be a welcome change for people living in the regions. She also spoke of her history as a grower member of Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd and shared the story of GNP 360. I acknowledge her up-front commitment as well not to take this bill to the Committee of the Whole House stage. In response, I want to address five issues she raised—three issues and a couple of questions—before a more wideranging acknowledgement of other members' contributions.
She raised the disposal of surplus property, online meetings and access to dispute resolution. She asked a question about special resolutions and a very specific question on the disposal of surplus when the commissioner becomes involved. I turn to the disposal of surplus property. The member noted that it is really good that there will be more categories as well as different types of organisations to which surplus property can be disposed. This will make it easier for small associations, particularly those in smaller communities. She is indeed correct. The intention of the distribution provisions is to ensure that when an association ceases to operate, its assets will be distributed to another not-for-profit group with similar purposes. In addition, this amendment picks up some additional types of not-for-profit groups that have been identified as suitable beneficiaries since the act commenced. I think Hon Lauren Cayoun just touched on that only a few moments ago. The increase in distribution options reflects consultation undertaken on this issue in which stakeholders sought further classes of not-for-profit entities that may be considered appropriate beneficiaries.
Hon Julie Freeman also touched on online meetings and said that probably the best part of the Associations and Co-operatives Legislation Amendment Bill is that it articulates and will put into legislation that holding meetings remotely in whole or in part is really business as usual. I could not agree more with the member's ponderings about the way operating through the pandemic really provided a reset on how we operate, and learned to operate, remotely. As someone who operated my business remotely across three continents, I never understood why in Australia with our vast distances remote meeting and working was not what it was in other parts of the world. Getting back to the bill and online meetings, the general assumption since the passage of the new legislation in 2015 has been that rules could provide for meetings and votes to be conducted by electronic means. It was only as a result of COVID that associations started doing this on a regular basis and making specific provisions for it. That led the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety legal unit to identify an ambiguity in the current provisions. This amendment will clarify the situation as well as provide the option of electronic meetings for associations that have not made that provision in their rules. The ability to hold meetings electronically will be the default position unless associations provide for otherwise in their rules.
The member touched on access to dispute resolution. She spoke of the sensible changes this bill makes to dispute resolution. Disputes about expulsion are one of the most common causes of conflict in an association, as expulsion can have a significant impact on an affected individual. This amendment resulted from recommendation 6 of the statutory review of the legislation in which there was majority support for an amendment to the act to provide for a former member to be able to make an application to the State Administrative Tribunal within six months after their expulsion.
I now turn to a couple of specific questions that Hon Julie Freeman asked. I will do my best to provide her with comprehensive answers. She asked a question on special resolutions. She said there was a provision for a special resolution still being valid even though a notice was incorrect. She understood that this was about simple mistakes not stopping the process, but questioned the provision. She said that correct notices were very important, especially for special resolutions that can have a significant consequence for associations, but she would hate to think a special resolution could blindside an association because the correct notice had not been done. I assure the honourable member that while the requirement for a special resolution to be automatically invalidated for incorrect notice is being removed, it is not a feature of associations legislation in other jurisdictions, and has caused significant problems for some associations here in Western Australia. There have been multiple situations of a resolution altering the rules of an association having been lodged and accepted, new rules published and an association operating in accordance with those rules for some time, in some cases for many, many years, before a minor defect in the notice is identified. This means that all of the activities of the association over that period have had to be reviewed and potentially found invalid. This could be disastrous if a significant decision, such as a purchase of property during that period, were to be deemed invalid. Members who are dissatisfied with a change effected after a faulty notice provision have the option either to go to SAT where all potential impacts of invalidating the amendment can be considered before a final decision is made or, if the majority of members wish to reverse the decision, to pass a second resolution to do so, noting that the amendment relates only to the notice provision and no other defects in the special resolution, which are more likely to be identified at the point of lodgement. Broadly, this amendment seeks to balance the greater likelihood of a mistake being made in the notice of a special meeting resolution, reflecting the skills and/or experience of members and the implications of significant time costs and administrative burden of remedying an error as against the lesser likelihood of there being a material negative implication with a special resolution. I believe this is a rectification for one of the concerns that Hon Kate Doust reflected on through her direct experience. The amendment strikes the right balance in this context, and I hope this helps allay the honourable member's concerns.
I turn to the disposal of surplus when the commissioner is involved. This was another very specific question Hon Julie Freeman raised and something Hon Kate Doust spoke about. The second specific question from Hon Julie Freeman was about the commissioner's role when an association goes into voluntary administration. The member asked for clarity around circumstances after the commissioner becomes involved and if there are funds left over after the process is wound up. She asked whether the commissioner will still be obliged to dispose of any remaining property under the amendments proposed to section 24. The short answer to that question is yes, the amendments will correct a drafting error in the application of the corporations law to the winding-up process. The corporations law process is currently applied in full, which means that the liquidator is required to pay, as unclaimed money, any funds remaining after settlement of liabilities that cannot be distributed to members. This was not intended when the former winding-up option was added. This amendment will ensure that in the case of a formal winding up leftover assets will be returned to the commissioner by the liquidator to be distributed to one of the entities listed at section 24 of the act in the same way that they would be distributed in the case of a voluntary cancellation or a commissioner-initiated cancellation. I think the answer to all the questions, and the way I have addressed the other issues raised by the spokesperson for the opposition, Hon Julie Freeman, should help and should allay her fears.
I want to now respond briefly to some of the other outstanding contributions to this very important piece of legislation. I want to thank my very good friend Hon Dr Katrina Stratton on her contribution in which she spoke about her time at Wanslea. She also spoke about Perth Inner City Youth Services (PICYS) and outlined some of the amazing programs that it runs. I give a shout-out to Andy and his team there for the incredibly important work that they have been doing for years, and that they continue to do. I have not known Andy as long as my good friend Hon Dr Katrina Stratton has, but I noted in one of the first emails he ever sent to me a reference to the fact that if I could not get hold of him on his phone, he would be on his motorcycle. He rode a large cruiser; at that time I had an M109, one of the largest cruisers around. Now I ride a Triumph, which is slightly more subdued and less powerful but far more comfortable for my ageing body. We hit it off in a huge way talking about motorbikes. PICYS also is associated with one of my greatest memories as an elected member. I went down there and, at the back where the young people are, there is a music room. There were a couple of vocalists there and someone who was absolutely incredible on a guitar. They put me behind the keyboard and we spent about two hours just jamming away and having a great time.
My friend Hon Sandra Carr spoke about the Fruit West Co-operative and the story of the Bravo apple and the juice of that fruit. What a fantastic story of initiative. It was initially funded through a committee of the Agricultural Produce Commission and has led to a fundamental shift, really, in the way new tree fruit varieties are released right across Australia. She also spoke of the Geraldton Fisherman's Co-operative, taking us through the journey of the rock lobster industry.
I turn to Hon Dr Parwinder Kaur, whose personal experience on committees and associations echoed her acknowledgement of those who drive better outcomes for their communities through their work, usually voluntarily, to make their communities stronger. My friend Hon Ayor Makur Chuot spoke about her personal story since coming to Australia and how being involved in community associations has been a large part of her life since then. Hon Klasey Hirst spoke about her experience in updating her organisation's constitution and also took us on a journey of her dancing prowess through the wanderers troupe. It was a fascinating story to listen to. To my very good friend and colleague on committees since I first came here Hon Samantha Rowe, I have nothing to say but "devilled eggs". That is what I remember of her contribution! Hon Kate Doust used her knowledge from her extensive time in this place, including her time as shadow minister for science and commerce, to take us through the journey of this legislation over the years, including the 2022 review, and spoke of her personal experience in helping committees over the years in dealing with issues that will now be addressed by this legislation. To any other members who spoke and outlined their personal experience with associations during their lives, I also pass on my thanks.
With that, I commend the bill to the house and retake my seat.
Question put and passed.
Bill read a second time.
Leave granted to proceed forthwith to third reading.
Third reading
Bill read a third time, on motion by Hon Dan Caddy (Parliamentary Secretary), and passed.
