I just had a few beers over lunch with Tony McKenny and Dave Humphries.
Amongst other things, we discussed the possibility of reviving the CCT.

Tony's idea is to make the club as online as possible - a virtual club, so as to minimise all the crap you have to do for an association - meetings, minutes, officers, constitutions, membership, bank accounts etc etc. We would still have to have an AGM and a public officer, but there aren't all that many legal requirements.

The main purposes for the existence of the CCT I can see are:

  • Advocacy: representing climbers' views to government as orgs such as National Parks and the Wellington Parks Trust
  • Guidebooks: being the publisher and copyright holder for guideboooks, such as the upcoming Pipes guide
  • Standards: publishing codes of conduct, and things like policies on bolting

I am more than willing to create a space on this site for the CCT, involving a set of pages, a membership list, and a forum. In order to resurrect the CCT it will require at the least a new constitution, and some new members. Wouldn't be anything to grand to start with, but it could grow if people get keen.

Ideally, if we can manage it, membership would be free or very low cost.

So, are people out there keen for the resurrection of the CCT? Would you be a member?

Jon.

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3 Comments

  1. Jon Nermut AUTHOR

    Btw, the requirements for an incorporated association in Tas are (from http://www.consumer.tas.gov.au/business_affairs/incorporated_associations) :

    Requirements

    Annual General Meeting
    Annual Return and Audit Requirement
    Auditor Requirements
    Public Officer
    Fees and Payment

    Annual General Meeting

    Every association must hold and Annual General Meeting (AGM). Ideally, an AGM should be held within 3 months after the end of the association's financial year.

    If you are unsure as to when to hold the AGM and/or how to notify members of the association, you should refer to your association's constitution. If the process is not outlined in the association's constitution you should follow the Model Rules for Associations (Rule 13).

    Where an association uses the Model Rules, the Model Rules also outline the types of business that may be conducted at an Annual General Meeting. These are to:

    • confirm the minutes of the last AGM;
    • receive the financial report of the transactions of the Association for the last financial year;
    • elect the officers of the association and the ordinary committee members;
    • appoint the auditor and determine his/her remuneration;
    • determine the remuneration of servants of the association; and
    • transact special business of which notice is given in the required manner (Rule 12, Model Rules).

    If you require an extension of time to hold your AGM you must apply to the Business Affairs Branch for permission.
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    Annual Return and Audit Requirement

    An Incorporated Association is required to lodge an annual return in accordance with Section 24B of the Act within 6 months of the end of its financial year. Section 24B requires the annual return to contain the following:

    (a) a report on the accounts of the association stating whether the
    association has, in the opinion of the auditor of that association, kept proper accounting records and other books during the period covered by those accounts;

    (b) such statements as in the opinion of the auditor are adequate to explain its financial transactions for that financial year and its financial position at the end of that financial year;

    (c) a report by the auditor on the statements referred to in paragraph (b), and;

    (d) a list, signed by the auditor, of the names and residential addresses of the committee for that financial year.

    The auditors report must not only fulfil the provisions of Section 24B (1) (c) but must also fulfil the requirements of the association's own rules (as in the association's constitution).

    The annual return can be lodged by post, or at Service Tasmania with the prescribed fee (see below).

    Annual Return Reminder Form

    Each year, the association will receive a reminder to lodge the annual return (as long as the Public Officer details are current for the association). The association should receive an annual return reminder form shortly after the end of the association's financial year. The Annual Return form is computer generated by Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading for each particular incorporated body and is therefore unavailable from our website. If you do not receive, or if you lose an Annual Return form, please contact the Business Affairs Branch so that we can reprint and post you another copy. The Annual Return form will include information regarding fees and required documents. The form also allows associations to make changes or updates to committee members, the public officer and auditor details so that our records remain current.
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    Auditor Requirements

    Section 24 of the Act provides that unless an incorporated association is exempted under subsection (1B), at least once a year the association's affairs must be audited by a person who is a registered company auditor within the meaning of the Corporations Act.

    Subsections (3) of that Section, places certain restrictions on the persons who may be appointed as auditor. Those persons who may not act as auditor are:

    • the public officer or a committee member;
    • a servant of the association;
    • a partner, employer, or employee of the public officer, or a member of the committee.

    Alternatively, the auditor need not be a registered company auditor if he or she is a person approved to act as such by the Commissioner for Corporate Affairs. The basis upon which approval is granted is upon a comparison of the expertise of the person to be approved and the degree of complexity of the financial affairs of the association.

    The kinds of persons that might be approved would include:

    • qualified accountants who are not registered company auditors ie accounting graduates from a recognised University or College of Advanced Education;
    • members of the Australian Society of Accountants, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, or National Institute of Accountants;
    • Bank Managers;
    • Council Clerks; and
    • Chartered Secretaries.

    Where an association wishes to apply for approval of a person who is not a registered company auditor to act as auditor for an association, a Request for Approval of Auditor for an Incorporated Association form should be completed.

    Approval should be sought before the person is
    appointed to act as auditor.

    Associations that are recipients of government funding, who wish to replace their present registered company auditor with a person approved by the Commissioner, should first check with the funding authority to ensure that it has no objections to the change. It may be one of the terms of funding that a person, who is a fully registered company auditor, audits the financial affairs of the recipient association.
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    Public Officer

    It is a breach of the Act for an association to be without a Public Officer for a period longer than one month. The Public Officer's name and current residential address must at all times be registered with Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading.

    If the Public Officer changes his or her residential address, or if the association changes its nominated Public Officer, the Business Affairs Branch should be notified within one month of the change on the prescribed form. No fee is payable.

    Generally the association's committee of management makes the appointment of a Public Officer. The rules of an association can provide for particular procedures to be followed. Where the rules are silent, the appointment is made at a meeting of the committee.

    Where the change being notified is a change of residential address, there is no need for the committee to authorise the change. The Change of Particulars form is simply completed giving particulars of the change of address and signed by the Public Officer. Where the change being notified is a change of Public Officer, the form must be signed by the new (incoming) Public Officer.

    The role of public officer is in some instances misunderstood. The public officer has a number of statutory roles to fulfil. The principal role is that of being the official of the association on whom notice is required to be served in the legal sense. For example, a summons to appear in a Court has to be served on the public officer. Section 28 of the Act deals fully with the matter of service.

    The other principal roles of the public officer are to notify his or her appointment, change of address, amendments to rules and the passing of special resolutions. The rules of a particular association may also give the public officer further duties to fulfil.

    In some instances, public officers have regarded themselves as the principal official of the association to whom all other officials are subservient. This is not the case. The public officer is the servant of the committee. He or she is appointed by the committee and may be dismissed and replaced by the committee. An association's rule which purports to provide a different method of appointment or dismissal is invalid and is overridden by the provisions of the Associations Act, which are set out fully in Section 14.

    A person is not eligible to be appointed as a public officer unless the person has attained the age of eighteen years and is resident in this State.
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    Fees and Payment

    Payment of lodgement fees

    Fees can only be paid when accompanied by the Annual Return form and it's attachments. It is important that you do not lodge any fees without the required paperwork.

    All fees are increased annually by the Department of Treasury and Finance. The Annual Return form will outline the fee payable for that year.

    Tax Invoices

    All fees levied under the Associations Incorporation Act are exempt from GST. As such we are unable to issue a Tax Invoice. Receipts are only issued for the annual return form if specifically requested by the association. If you require a receipt please outline this on the front of the Annual Return Form.

    Fees must be paid annually

    Fees payable under the Act may be waived only if an association does not have sufficient means to pay them. Application for waiving the fee payable upon lodgement of the annual return should be made each year when the annual return is lodged.

  2. Anonymous

    >>>>>>So, are people out there keen for the resurrection of the CCT? <<<<<<<

    Yeah, it might just work , this time ... being on-line 'n' that ...

    ... the Hobart vs McMahon  version, in the 1970's, was pretty f###ed ...

  3. Jon Nermut AUTHOR

    Tony has dug up some info from corporate affairs:

    Climbing Club stuff for your information:

    • The last documents lodged with Business Affairs by the old CCT was on 30 April, 1995, and was the Annual Report and Audit for 1994.
    • The CCT was taken off their books on 29 August 1996 under Section 34/2, after they had sent warning letters to the club, asking for audited accounts etc for 1995.
    • From then on, the club was NOT registered or incorporated, even though it continued to trade etc right through to at least 2003/4 ish.
    • The last accounts were under the name of the then treasurer, Doug Fyfe, and it then passed on to the next person.
    • At the time of the withdrawal of the Incorporation etc, the there was a bank balance of $3301.92, and a stock of Guides for sale (525 copies). There was trading surplus in 1994 of $694.46.
    • Hmmmmm.. Barbara and I will now seek advice as to how we can get access to the Bank details, and how we can further proceed.
    • Advice given by Business Affairs was that we can proceed with cranking the Club back up if we want, and can get the Model Rules off the web at www.consumer.tas.gov.au (goto Business Affairs, then Incorporated Associations and scroll down to Model Rules)