Cancelling membership

The process for stopping membership differs depending on the reasons.

Member no longer benefits the corporation

A corporation can cancel a person’s membership if the member:

• can’t be contacted for 2 years 
• is not an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person
• misbehaves.

The corporation must make at least 2 attempts in 2 years to contact the member at their address on the register of members.

If the member can’t be contacted, the corporation can cancel membership at the next general meeting.

Some corporations require all their members to be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. If a member is found not to be Indigenous, the corporation may cancel their membership.

There is no definition of misbehaviour in the CATSI Act. Each corporation must work out what this means for them. 

Cancellation of membership is a serious step, so only do so if the misbehaviour:

• is not something minor
• greatly interferes with a corporation’s business or meetings.

Pass a special resolution to cancel members

To cancel membership, members must pass a special resolution at a general meeting.

The directors must send a copy of the resolution to the former member as soon as possible after the meeting.

Changes to this process

Corporations can change the process for cancelling the membership of a member who no longer benefits the corporation by requesting an exemption from the Registrar and putting the new process in its rule book.

Learn more about exemptions.

Member is no longer eligible 

The directors can cancel membership because a member:

• does not meet or no longer meets the corporation’s eligibility requirements – such as moving away when location is a membership requirement 
• has not paid their membership fees – if the corporation’s rule book requires one
• meets other corporation rules for cancelling membership – for example, the member misses a certain number of general meetings in a row.

Give the member a chance to object

To cancel membership for these reasons, the director must give the member 14 days to object.

If the member doesn’t object, you can cancel the membership.

If the member does object, their membership can still be cancelled by passing an ordinary resolution at a general meeting.

After cancellation

The directors must send the former member a copy of the resolution as soon as possible after the meeting.

Within 14 days of cancelling a person’s membership the corporation must:

• take the person’s name off the register of current members 
• add the date they stopped being a member in the register of former members.

A person’s membership stops when the name of the person, their address and the date they stopped being a member are on the register of former members.

Suspending membership

Sometimes you can suspend membership. This is very rare.