Rationale for Special Resolutions
Special Resolution 1
Presently the Management Committee is responsible for guiding Shelter Tasmania’s policies and positions on housing and homelessness issues in Tasmania as well as governance of Shelter Tasmania itself. These amendments to the Constitution will split these two functions, with the Policy Committee responsible for formulating policy on housing and homelessness, and the Executive Committee responsible for governance of the organisation.
To ensure cohesiveness of the two Committees, six (6) members drawn from the Policy Committee will make up the Executive Committee.
The maximum number of Policy Committee representatives would be increased from twelve (12) to sixteen (16) and the Executive Committee would be expanded from five (5) to six (6).
Executive Committee terms would increase from one year to two years, to bring them in line with the Policy Committee term length of two years.
The bulk of major amendments to the Constitution associated with this issue are contained in Clause 15, with smaller renaming changes spread throughout the document.
Special Resolution 2
The term ‘directly or indirectly’ has been added to Clause 23, which gives guidance on issues associated with conflicts of interest. Specifically, ‘directly or indirectly’ means a representative of an organisational member (Clause 6.1.1) take into consideration both their personal interests and the organisation’s interests when determining if there is a conflict.
Special Resolution 3
Major irreconcilable disputes are proposed to be heard by the Executive Committee. Formerly the Management Committee was the body to adjudicate on disputes, but it was felt that a smaller body would better protect privacy and lead to a speedier resolution. In addition, if Special Resolution 1 (above) is successful, governance issues fall to the Executive Committee rather than the Policy Committee.
Special Resolution 4
Like Special Resolution 3 (above), the body proposed to adjudicate on membership termination is the Executive Committee, taking over from the Management Committee.
Special Resolution 5
Many of the proposed changes to this Clause are due to Shelter Tasmania’s application for Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) Status. In essence, in the event of Shelter Tasmania’s dissolution or if it loses its DGR Status, excess gifts and fund-raising assets must be transferred to organisation/s with a similar purpose to Shelter Tasmania and they must have DGR status.
Additionally, Clause 27.5 explicitly limits member’s liability in the event of Shelter Tasmania’s dissolution.
Special Resolution 6
This resolution is a ‘miscellaneous’ one, with three distinct amendments combined.
- Clause 7.2 is a clarification of the voting rules for the Organisational Membership category outlined in Clause 6.1.1
- Clause 8.5 limits membership application and appeal to once per financial year.
- Clause 9.7 explicitly states what was previously implied in that Clause.
Please click on the titles below to access the full documents:
- Shelter Tas 2014 Constitution (original)
- Constitution with proposed changes
- Resolution to be voted on at the AGM