Members
A corporation’s members make important decisions about how the corporation is run. They decide who its directors are, how it spends its money, and how it manages its operations.
Rules about membership
Under the CATSI Act members must be at least 15 years old. Corporations can make additional rules about eligibility for membership, so check your rule book.
Members' rights
Corporations have a legal identity and can own assets. But members own the corporation.
Members have rights about:
- voting at meetings
- calling general meetings
- proposing resolutions
- demanding a poll
- removing directors
- voting on financial benefits
- accessing the corporation’s information
- applying to a court
- amending the rule book.
Learn more about member’s rights.
Members’ responsibilities
Members are responsible for notifying their corporation if their address or other contact details change so they don’t miss notices. See register of members.
Becoming a member
If a person meets a corporation’s eligibility requirements, they can apply to be a member.
This is done in writing using an application form.
You can also add a rule in the rule book, for example, for:
- applicants to fill in a form
- answers to certain questions.
Keep a copy of members’ applications in the corporation’s records.
Learn more about becoming a member.
Deciding membership applications
Directors have final say on who can become a member.
The directors must check the applications and agree that accepting someone as a member won’t break CATSI Act or corporation rules.
Learn more about reviewing and deciding membership applications.
The rules on deciding membership applications are a bit different for native title bodies corporate (RNTBCs). Find out about membership rules for RNTBCs.
Finding out who is a member
The register of members has a record of all member names. You must also keep a record of former members.
As part of annual reporting, corporations provide a list of members to us.
We publish this in the Register of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations.
Learn more about recording and providing member details.
Members' requests and resolutions
If a member wants to make a change in the corporation or has a good idea that could benefit the corporation, they can ask other members to agree to it at a general meeting. This is called ‘proposing a resolution’.
Learn more about members’ requests and resolutions.
Stopping membership
There are different processes for stopping or cancelling membership, depending on the reasons.