Page 3199 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 11 September 1991
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
with that incorporation. I support the Bill in principle. I congratulate this Government for bringing it on and the previous Government for their work in the preparation of the Bill.
MR STEFANIAK (3.19): While Mr Collaery is dividing himself into two or three or four or whatever is required for him to participate for the rest of the afternoon, I will also speak in principle on this Bill. The Bill has been formulated over a period of time and is another of the Bills that were prepared during the time of the Alliance Government. I am pleased that Mr Connolly in his speech indicated that when he talked, amongst other things, about public comment being sought in November last year. Indeed, a fair amount of public comment was received and it helped in framing this very important piece of legislation.
The legislation is fairly lengthy, as is most legislation relating to incorporated bodies and companies. I think it is a very useful piece of legislation because it further enhances company law generally in the ACT. The Companies Act in the ACT went through some fairly dramatic changes, and a very lengthy piece of legislation was introduced and passed in the Federal Parliament in the 1980s to upgrade company law in the ACT. It is pleasing to see this Associations Incorporation Bill being presented now by the Labor Government. It has been formulated over a period of time, and the Liberal Party has no difficulties with it.
Having just been given Mr Collaery's amendments, I have not had a chance to go through those in any great detail. I hope that in speaking to them he will indicate the rationale behind the amendments and, hopefully, I will have a chance to digest the remaining two or three pages prior to the amendments being dealt with.
It is important to note that this Bill will assist a number of associations to be incorporated in what is a much more convenient and certainly far less expensive way than forming a company. As the Attorney-General pointed out in his speech, an association gains a separate legal entity as the result of incorporation, and the powers of a natural person; that is, it can be sued and it can sue as a body. Of course, the liability of members is limited.
One of the problems with associations and bodies that were not incorporated was that all members of them could be legally sued if something went wrong. Many associations handle a lot of money and have assets, and that is a real problem if something goes wrong and you end up with a $1m debt and the members are liable. Incorporation limits the liability of members, and that is very important for people who get involved in associations that deal with people's rights, money, property and so on.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .