Australian Capital Territory Current Acts Australian Capital Territory Current Acts(1) If a tribunal member (the interested member ) has a material interest in a matter in an application, the interested member must, as soon as practicable after the relevant facts come to the interested member's knowledge, disclose the nature of the interest to—
(a) the president, the presiding member and the parties; or
(b) if the interested member is the presiding member—the president and the parties.
Note Material interest is defined in s (4). The definition of indirect interest in s (4) applies to the definition of material interest .
(2) The interested member must not, unless each party consents—
(a) take part, or continue to take part, in the tribunal dealing with the application; or
(b) exercise any function in relation to the application.
(3) If the president becomes aware that a tribunal member is, or will be, part of the tribunal dealing with an application and that the member has a material interest, the president must—
(a) disclose the conflicting interest to the parties; or
(b) if the president considers that the member should not take part, or should not continue to take part, in the tribunal dealing with the application—direct the member not to take part or continue to take part.
(4) In this section:
"associate", of a person, includes—
(a) the person's business partner; or
(b) a close friend of the person; or
(c) a family member of the person.
"executive officer", of a corporation, means a person (however described) who is concerned with, or takes part in, the corporation's management, whether or not the person is a director of the corporation.
"indirect interest"—without limiting the kinds of indirect interests a person may have, a person has an indirect interest in a matter if any of the following has an interest in the matter:
(a) an associate of the person;
(b) a corporation if the corporation has not more than 100 members and the person, or an associate of the person, is a member of the corporation;
(c) a subsidiary of a corporation mentioned in paragraph (b);
(d) a corporation if the person, or an associate of the person, is an executive officer of the corporation;
(e) the trustee of a trust if the person, or an associate of the person, is a beneficiary of the trust;
(f) a member of a firm or partnership if the person, or an associate of the person, is a member of the firm or partnership;
(g) someone else carrying on a business if the person, or an associate of the person, has a direct or indirect right to participate in the profits of the business.
"material interest"—a tribunal member has a "material interest "in a matter if the member has—
(a) a direct or indirect financial interest in the matter; or
(b) a direct or indirect interest of any other kind if the interest could conflict, or reasonably be seen to conflict, with the proper exercise of the member's functions in relation to the tribunal's consideration of the matter.