South Australian Consolidated Acts South Australian Consolidated Acts6H—Duty of corporate agency members with respect to conflict of interest
(1) A
corporate agency member who has a direct or indirect personal or pecuniary
interest in a matter decided or under consideration by the agency or the
governing body of the agency—
(a)
must, as soon as reasonably practicable, disclose in writing to the agency or
the governing body of the agency full and accurate details of the interest;
and
(b) must
not take part in any discussion by the agency or the governing body of the
agency relating to that matter; and
(c) must
not vote in relation to that matter; and
(d) must
be absent from the meeting room when any such discussion or voting is taking
place.
Penalty: Division 4 fine.
(2) If a
corporate agency member makes a disclosure of interest and complies with the
other requirements of subsection (1) in respect of a proposed
contract—
(a) the
contract is not liable to be avoided by the agency; and
(b) the
corporate agency member is not liable to account to the agency for profits
derived from the contract.
(3) If a
corporate agency member fails to make a disclosure of interest or fails to
comply with any other requirement of subsection (1) in respect of a
proposed contract, the contract is liable to be avoided by the agency or by
the relevant Minister.
(4) A contract may not
be avoided under subsection (3) if a person has acquired an interest in
property the subject of the contract in good faith for valuable consideration
and without notice of the contravention.
(5) Where a
corporate agency member has or acquires a personal or pecuniary interest, or
is or becomes the holder of an office, such that it is reasonably foreseeable
that a conflict might arise with his or her duties as a
corporate agency member of the agency, the corporate agency member must, as
soon as reasonably practicable, disclose in writing to the agency or the
governing body of the agency full and accurate details of the interest or
office.
Penalty: Division 4 fine.
(6) A disclosure under
this section must be recorded in the minutes of the agency or the governing
body of the agency and reported to the relevant Minister.
(7) If, in the opinion
of the relevant Minister, a particular interest or office of a
corporate agency member is of such significance that the holding of the
interest or office is not consistent with the proper discharge of the duties
of the corporate agency member, the Minister may require the corporate agency
member either to divest himself or herself of the interest or office or to
resign from the agency or governing body of the agency (and non-compliance
with the requirement constitutes misconduct and hence a ground for removal of
the corporate agency member from the agency or governing body of the agency).
(8) Without limiting
the effect of this section, a corporate agency member will be taken to have an
interest in a matter for the purposes of this section if an associate of the
corporate agency member has an interest in the matter.
(9) This section does
not apply in relation to a matter in which a corporate agency member has an
interest while the corporate agency member remains unaware that he or she has
an interest in the matter, but in any proceedings against the
corporate agency member the burden will lie on the corporate agency member to
prove that he or she was not, at the material time, aware of his or her
interest.