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CO-OPERATIVES (AMENDMENT) BILL 1992
NEW SOUTH WALES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This Explanatory Note relates to this Bill as introduced into Parliament)
The Co-operation Act 1923 ("the existing Act") requires directors of a co-operative
society to be members who are or have been active members within the last 12 months,
but with power for the Advisory Council and the Minister to approve of other persons
being directors.
The Co-operatives Act 1992 ("the new Act") generally requires that directors be
active members of the co-operative or be otherwise qualified to be a director under the
rules of the co-operative. The new Act imposes an additional restriction on the
composition of the board of directors by requiring that at least 3 out of 4 directors must
be persons who are active members of the co-operative. The new Act has not yet
commenced.
The object of this Bill is to amend the new Act in the following respects:
· A new provision is to be
which will allow the Minister to exempt a
co-operative from the restriction referred to above on the proportion of directors
who must be active members. The Minister will have to be satisfied as to certain
matters before granting an exemption (including that control of the Board will
not thereby pass to persons who are not members and that it is in the interest of
the co-operative and in the public interest that the exemption be given). A
co-operative which receives such an exemption will be subject to a requirement
that a majority of its directors must be active members of the co-operative and
that a majority of the directors present at a directors' meeting must be active
members.
· A savings provision is to be inserted whereby an existing co-operative which has
the benefit of an Advisory Council or Minister's approval resulting in it not
complying with the requirement that at least 3/4 of its directors be active
members will not be subject to that requirement. Such a co-operative will
however be subject to a requirement that a majority of its directors must be
active members of the co-operative and that a majority of the directors at a
directors' meeting must be active members. The Minister is given power to
revoke the application of this new savings provision to any particular
co-operative.
Clause 1 specifies the short title of the proposed Act.
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of the proposed Act on the date of assent.
Clause 3 is a formal provision to give effect to the amendments to the
Co-operatives Act 1992 specified in Schedule 1.
Schedule 1 contains the amendments to the Co-operatives Act 1992 described above.