Our Constitution
ANIMAL JUSTICE PARTY INC. CONSTITUTION
Objects
(a) To seek the election or appointment to parliaments of the states, territories and Commonwealth of Australia, of people committed to the principles of the Animal Justice Party Charter.
(b) To promote the election to the Commonwealth Senate or to the Commonwealth House of Representatives of candidates endorsed by the Animal Justice Party.
(c) To develop and implement policies consistent with the principles expressed in the Animal Justice Party Charter
(d) To encourage members to take part in policy development for the Animal Justice Party
(e) To support and assist in the individual and public educational processes necessary to develop an understanding of animal issues
(f) To promote cruelty-free behaviour in the community
(g) To expand the membership of the Animal Justice Party
(h) To organise activities which publicise and further the aims of the Animal Justice Party
(i) To engage with other organisations with aims consistent with those of the Animal Justice Party
Rules
Part 1 Preliminary
1 Definitions
(1) In these rules:
Committee means the governing Committee of the Party elected under these rules.
Constitution of the Party means these rules read with the Objects of the Party and the Charter of the Party.
Director-General means the Director-General of the Department of Fair Trading.
Meeting where it refers to a meeting of the Committee includes a meeting by telephone conference, video conference or any means of instantaneous communication agreed by the Committee.
Member means a person admitted to Membership under these rules who has made any payments to the Party required by these rules.
Ordinary member means a member of the Committee who is not an office-bearer of the Party, as referred to in rule 14 (2).
Party means the Animal Justice Party Inc.
Proscribed Organisation means any organisation determined to be such an organization by majority vote of the Committee.
Secretary means the person holding office under these rules as secretary of the Party.
Special General Meeting means a general meeting of the Party other than an annual general meeting.
Voting Member means a Member who has been designated by the Committee as a voting member.
the Act means the Associations Incorporation Act 2009.
(2) In these rules:
(a) a reference to a function includes a reference to a power, authority and duty, and
(b) a reference to the exercise of a function includes, if the function is a duty, a reference to the performance of the duty.
(3) The provisions of the Interpretation Act 1987 apply to and in respect of these rules in the same manner as those provisions would so apply if these rules were an instrument made under the Act.
(4) References to statutes in these rules are references to statutes of New South Wales.
(5) The Constitution of the Party identifies the principles governing the conduct of the Party’s affairs and the persons responsible for implementing them.
(6) All other Party documents are subordinate to the Constitution of the Party.
Part 2 Membership
2 Membership qualifications
Membership of the Party shall be open to any person who:
(i) accepts and abides by the Constitution of the Party,
(ii) who is not a current member of any other political party,
(iii) who is not a Member of a Proscribed Organisation,
(iv) who has been nominated for Membership of the Party according to rule 3, and
(v) approved for Membership of the Party by the Committee.
For the avoidance of doubt, if a person applies for Membership of the Party and is at the time he or she makes the application a member of a Proscribed Organisation, but does not communicate this fact to the Committee, that person’s application is null and void.
3 Nomination for Membership
(1) A person wishing to apply for membership of the Party:
(a) must apply in writing using the form as approved by the Committee, and
(b) must lodge the form with the Secretary.
(2) As soon as practicable after receiving a nomination for Membership, the Secretary must refer the nomination to the Committee which is to determine whether to approve or to reject the nomination.
(3) As soon as practicable after the Committee makes that determination, the Secretary must:
(a) notify the nominee, in writing, that the Committee approved or rejected the nomination (whichever is applicable), and
(b) if the Committee approved the nomination, request the nominee to pay (within the period of 28 days after receipt by the nominee of the notification) the sum payable under these rules by a Member as entrance fee and annual subscription.
(4) The Secretary must, on payment by the nominee of the amounts referred to in clause (3) (b) within the period referred to in that provision, enter the nominee’s name in the register of Members and, on the name being so entered, the nominee becomes a Member.
4 Cessation of Membership
A person ceases to be a Member if the person:
(a) dies, or
(b) resigns Membership,
(c) is expelled from the Party,
(d) has not paid their Party Membership subscription during the period of ninety days since its due date according to these rules, or
(e) if and when the person joins another political party or Proscribed Organisation.
5 Membership entitlements not transferable
A right, privilege or obligation which a person has by reason of being a Member:
(a) is not capable of being transferred or transmitted to another person, and
(b) terminates on cessation of the person’s Membership.
6 Register of Members
The public officer of the Party must establish and maintain a register of Members of the Party specifying the name and address of each person who is a Member together with the date on which the person became a Member.
7 Fees and subscriptions
(1) A Member must, on admission to Membership, pay to the Party a fee of $1 or, if some other amount is determined by the Committee, that other amount.
(2) In addition to any amount payable by the Member under clause (1), a Member must pay to the Party an annual Membership fee of $20 or, if some other amount is determined by the Committee, that other amount:
(a) except as provided by paragraph (b), before 1 July in each calendar year, or
(b) if the Member becomes a Member on or after 1 July in any calendar year—on becoming a Member and before 1 July in each succeeding calendar year.
(3) In the event that the Membership fee of any Member is not paid by the due date, the Membership will lapse after a period of ninety days after the due date.
8 Members’ liabilities
The liability of a Member to contribute towards the payment of the debts and liabilities of the Party or the costs, charges and expenses of the winding up of the Party is limited to the amount, if any, unpaid by the Member in respect of Membership of the Party as required by rule 7.
9 Resolution of internal disputes
(1) Disputes between Members (in their capacity as Members) of the Party, and disputes between Members and the Party, are to be referred to a community justice centre for mediation in accordance with the Community Justice Centres Act 1983.
(2) At least 7 days before a mediation session is to commence, the parties are to exchange statements of the issues that are in dispute between them and supply copies to the mediator.
10 Disciplining of Members
(1) The Committee may expel any Member if their conduct is considered by the Committee to be inconsistent with the Constitution of the Party and after the disciplinary procedure set out in these rules has been followed.
(2) Before expelling any Member under sub-rule (1), the Committee:
(a) must cause notice of the conduct to be served on the Member concerned, and
(b) must give the Member at least 14 days from the time the notice is served within which to make submissions to the Committee in connection with the conduct complained of, and
(c) must take into consideration any relevant submissions made by the Member.
(3) If the Committee expels or suspends a Member, the Secretary must, within 7 days after the action is taken, cause written notice to be given to the Member of the action taken, of the reasons given by the Committee for having taken that action and of the Member’s right of appeal under rule 11.
(4) The expulsion or suspension does not take effect:
(a) until the expiration of the period within which the Member is entitled to appeal against the resolution concerned, or
(b) if within that period the Member exercises the right of appeal, unless and until the Party confirms the resolution under rule 11 (5),
whichever is the later.
11 Right of appeal of disciplined Member
(1) A Member may appeal to the Party in general meeting against a resolution of the Committee under rule 10, within 7 days after notice of the resolution is served on the Member, by lodging with the Secretary a notice to that effect.
(2) The notice may, but need not, be accompanied by a statement of the grounds on which the Member intends to rely for the purposes of the appeal.
(3) On receipt of a notice from a Member under clause (1), the Secretary must notify the Committee which is to convene a general meeting of the Party to be held within 28 days after the date on which the Secretary received the notice.
(4) At a general meeting of the Party convened under clause (3):
(a) no business other than the question of the appeal is to be transacted, and
(b) the Committee and the Member must be given the opportunity to state their respective cases orally or in writing, or both, and
(c) the Voting Members present are to vote by secret ballot on the question of whether the resolution should be confirmed or revoked.
(5) If at the general meeting the Party passes a special resolution in favour of the confirmation of the resolution, the resolution is confirmed.
Part 3 The Committee
12 Powers of the Committee
The Committee is to be called the Committee of Management of the Party and, subject to the Act, any regulation made under the Act, and these rules, and to any resolution passed by the Party in general meeting:
(a) may exercise all such functions as may be exercised by the Party, other than those functions that are required by these rules to be exercised by a general meeting of Members of the Party, and
(b) has power to perform all such acts and do all such things as appear to the Committee to be necessary or desirable for the proper management of the affairs of the Party, and
(c) is the only body authorised to make statements or communications to the media or any other person concerning the activities or policies of the Party, save that the Committee may by majority vote delegate that function to any person or persons, and
(d) may determine the financial year which is to apply to the affairs of the Party, and
(e) may determine which Members are to be designated as Voting Members, provided that the Committee must ensure that at all times there are at least five Members designated as Voting Members.
13 Constitution and Membership
(1) Subject in the case of the first members of the Committee to section 21 of the Act, the Committee is to consist of:
(a) the office-bearers of the Party, and
(b) 5 ordinary members,
each of whom is to be elected at the annual general meeting of the Party under rule 14, providing that only Voting Members are eligible for election as members of the Committee.
(2) The office-bearers of the Party are to be:
(a) the president,
(b) the vice-president,
(c) the treasurer, and
(d) the secretary.
(3) Each member of the Committee is, subject to these rules, to hold office until the conclusion of the annual general meeting following the date of the member’s election, but is eligible for re-election.
(4) In the event of a casual vacancy occurring in the membership of the Committee, the Committee may appoint a Voting Member to fill the vacancy and the member so appointed is to hold office, subject to these rules, until the conclusion of the annual general meeting next following the date of the appointment.
14 Election of Members
(1) Nominations of candidates for election as office-bearers of the Party or as ordinary members of the Committee, who must be Voting Members:
(a) must be made in writing, signed by 2 Voting Members and accompanied by the written consent of the candidate (which may be endorsed on the form of the nomination), and
(b) must be delivered to the Secretary at least 7 days before the date fixed for the holding of the annual general meeting at which the election is to take place.
(2) If insufficient nominations are received to fill all vacancies on the Committee, the candidates nominated are taken to be elected and further nominations are to be received at the annual general meeting.
(3) If insufficient further nominations are received, any vacant positions remaining on the Committee are taken to be casual vacancies.
(4) If the number of nominations received is equal to the number of vacancies to be filled, the persons nominated are taken to be elected.
(5) If the number of nominations received exceeds the number of vacancies to be filled, a ballot is to be held.
(6) The ballot for the electi