AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM TRUST ACT 1975 - SCHEDULE 1
AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM TRUST ACT 1975 - SCHEDULE 1
SCHEDULE 1 – Composition and procedure of the Trust
(Section 6 (2))
1 Composition
The trustees must include:
(a) at least 1 person who has knowledge of, or experience in, science, and
(b) at least 1 person who has knowledge of, or experience in, education, and
(c) at least 1 person who has knowledge of, or experience in, Australian Indigenous culture.
2 Appointment of deputy
(1) In the case of the illness or absence of any trustee the Minister may appoint a person as a deputy to act in the place of the trustee during his or her illness or absence.
(2) A deputy appointed under this clause shall, while he or she is acting as a deputy, have all the powers and authorities of a trustee.
(3) A deputy appointed under this clause may, if the Minister thinks fit, be paid such travelling and subsistence allowances as the Minister may from time to time determine in respect of the deputy.
(4) No person shall be concerned to inquire whether or not any occasion has arisen requiring or authorising a person to act in the place of a trustee, or as to the necessity or propriety of any appointment of a deputy, and all acts and things done or omitted by a deputy when so acting shall be as valid and shall have the same consequences as if they had been done or omitted by the trustee for whom the deputy is acting.
3 Term of office and casual vacancies
(1) A trustee is to hold office for such period, not exceeding 3 years, as is specified in the trustee's instrument of appointment but is, subject to subclause (2), eligible for re-appointment.
(2) A trustee is not to hold office for 4 consecutive terms.
(3) On the occurrence of a vacancy in the office of a trustee otherwise than by the expiration of the trustee's term of office, the Governor may, on the nomination of the Minister, appoint a person to fill the vacant office for the residue of the term of office of his or her predecessor.
(3A) For the purposes of subclause (2) only, an appointment under subclause (3) does not constitute (and is taken never to have constituted) an appointment for a term of office.
4 Application of Government Sector Employment Act 2013
The provisions of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013 relating to the employment of Public Service employees do not apply to a trustee.
5 Allowances for trustees
A trustee shall, in his or her capacity as a trustee, be paid such travelling and subsistence allowances as the Minister from time to time determines in respect of that trustee.
6 Removal from office
The Governor may, for any cause which to the Governor seems sufficient, remove a trustee from office.
7 Vacation of office
A trustee shall be deemed to have vacated his or her office if the trustee:
(a) dies,
(b) resigns his or her office by writing under his or her hand addressed to the Minister,
(c) becomes bankrupt, applies to take the benefit of any law for the relief of bankrupt or insolvent debtors, compounds with his or her creditors or makes an assignment of his or her allowances, or estate, for their benefit,
(d) becomes a mentally incapacitated person,
(e) is absent from 3 consecutive ordinary meetings of the Trust of which notice has been given to the trustee personally or in the ordinary course of post and is not before the expiration of 6 weeks after the latest of those meetings excused by the Trust for his or her absence from the meetings,
(f) is one of the trustees appointed pursuant to clause 1 (1) (a) and ceases to hold the qualification by virtue of which the trustee was so appointed,
(g) is removed from office by the Governor, or
8 President and Deputy President
(1) The President of the Trust shall be such trustee as the Minister nominates as President of the Trust.
(2) The trustees may nominate one of their number as Deputy President of the Trust.
(3) The President and Deputy President hold office until successors are nominated under this clause or until they cease to be trustees, whichever first occurs.
(4) At a meeting of the Trust:(a) the President,(b) in the absence of the President, the Deputy President (if any), or(c) in the absence of the President and Deputy President, another trustee elected to chair the meeting by the trustees present,shall preside.
8A Disclosure of pecuniary interests
(1) If:(a) a trustee has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter being considered or about to be considered at a meeting of the Trust, and(b) the interest appears to raise a conflict with the proper performance of the trustee's duties in relation to the consideration of the matter,the trustee must, as soon as possible after the relevant facts have come to the trustee's knowledge, disclose the nature of the interest at a meeting of the Trust.
(2) A disclosure by a trustee at a meeting of the Trust that the trustee:(a) is a member, or is in the employment, of a specified company or other body, or(b) is a partner, or is in the employment, of a specified person, or(c) has some other specified interest relating to a specified company or other body or to a specified person,is a sufficient disclosure of the nature of the interest in any matter relating to that company or other body or to that person which may arise after the date of the disclosure and which is required to be disclosed under subclause (1).
(3) Particulars of any disclosure made under this clause must be recorded by the Trust in a book kept for the purpose and that book must be open at all reasonable hours to inspection by any person on payment of the fee determined by the Trust.
(4) After a trustee has disclosed the nature of an interest in any matter, the trustee must not, unless the Trust otherwise determines:(a) be present during any deliberation of the Trust with respect to the matter, or(b) take part in any decision of the Trust with respect to the matter.
(5) For the purposes of the making of a determination by the Trust under subclause (4), a trustee who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter to which the disclosure relates must not:(a) be present during any deliberation of the Trust for the purpose of making the determination, or(b) take part in the making by the Trust of the determination.
(6) A contravention of this clause does not invalidate any decision of the Trust.
(7) This clause applies to a member of a committee of the Trust and the committee in the same way as it applies to a trustee of the Trust and the Trust.
9 Procedure, quorum etc
(1) The procedure for the calling of meetings of the Trust and the conduct of business at those meetings shall, subject to this Schedule and any regulation, be as determined by the Trust.
(5) Six trustees shall form a quorum and any duly convened meeting of the Trust (other than the first meeting) at which a quorum is present shall be competent to transact any business of the Trust and shall have and may exercise and discharge all the powers, authorities, duties and functions of the Trust.
(6) The chairperson of a meeting of the Trust shall, in the event of an equality of votes, have in addition to a deliberative vote, a second or casting vote.
(7) A decision supported by a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of the Trust at which a quorum is present shall be the decision of the Trust.
10 The secretary
The secretary to the Trust:
(a) shall cause minutes of each meeting of the Trust to be recorded and preserved,
(b) is entitled to be present at each meeting of the Trust and to be heard by the Trust on any matter considered by the Trust,
(c) is an ex officio member of each committee of the Trust, and
(d) shall communicate to the Minister the name of any person elected to be a trustee by the trustees appointed by the Governor as soon after the date of the election as may be practicable.
11 Common seal
The common seal of the Trust shall be kept by the secretary to the Trust and shall only be affixed to an instrument or document:
(a) by resolution of the Trust,
(b) in the presence of:(i) 2 trustees, and(ii) an officer appointed by the Trust for that purpose, and
(c) with an attestation by the signatures of the persons present, as required by this clause, of the fact and date of the affixing of the seal.
12 Transaction of business outside meetings or by telephone
(1) The Trust may, if it thinks fit, transact any of its business by the circulation of papers among all the trustees for the time being, and a resolution in writing approved in writing by a majority of those trustees is taken to be a decision of the Trust.
(2) The Trust may, if it thinks fit, transact any of its business at a meeting at which trustees (or some trustees) participate by telephone, closed-circuit television or other means, but only if any trustee who speaks on a matter before the meeting can be heard by the other trustees.
(3) For the purposes of:(a) the approval of a resolution under subclause (1), or(b) a meeting held in accordance with subclause (2),the President and each trustee have the same voting rights as they have at an ordinary meeting of the Trust.
(4) A resolution approved under subclause (1) is, subject to the regulations, to be recorded in the minutes of the meetings of the Trust.
(5) Papers may be circulated among the trustees for the purposes of subclause (1) by facsimile or other transmission of the information in the papers concerned.