Queensland association amendments proposed

The Queensland Department of Justice and Attorney-General has proposed amendments to the Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999 and the Collections Regulation 2008.

The amendments support some of the changes made by the Associations Incorporation and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2020 that recently came into effect.

The department’s consultation papers seek feedback along the following lines.

Consultation paper 1: Seeks feedback on matters related to the model rule grievance procedure that will apply by default to all incorporated associations unless the association has its own compliant grievance procedure.

Consultation paper 2: Seeks feedback on matters related to the disclosure of remuneration and benefits. Specifically, stakeholder views are sought on what remuneration and benefits details should be disclosed, whether remuneration should be disclosed as aggregate reporting or individual reporting, whether the individual disclosure of benefits is appropriate and whether disclosure should only be required in circumstances where the amount or monetary value of the benefit is over a particular threshold, and the inclusion of related-party transactions as part of the disclosure requirements.

Consultation paper 3: Seeks feedback on matters related to financial-reporting requirements and thresholds, as well as other financial matters. Stakeholders are asked to comment on whether the annual revenue and current asset thresholds for incorporated associations’ reporting requirements should be increased, and if so, what the new thresholds should be, whether a threshold system for reporting under the Collections Act should be adopted and whether an audit threshold should apply, and if so, what these thresholds should be, and what financial documents incorporated associations (including ACNC registered entities) and charitable entities (including ACNC registered entities) should be required to maintain.