Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated ActsOrganisation must respond to "difficult rules" report
(1) If an organisation or branch is given a post - election report under section 197 that identifies a rule that was difficult to interpret or apply, the organisation or branch must, within 30 days, give a written response to the AEC on that aspect of the report.
Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.
(2) The response must specify whether the organisation or branch intends to take any action in relation to the rule, and if so, what action it intends to take.
Organisation must make its response available to members
(3) The organisation or branch must also make available to its members the part of the report dealing with the difficult rule or rules (the relevant extract ) and the organisation's or branch's response to it.
(4) The relevant extract must be made available to members no later than the day on which the response is to be made available by the organisation or branch to members.
Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.
(5) The response must be made available to members:
(a) if the response is not to be published in the next edition of the organisation or branch journal--within 30 days after it is given to the AEC; and
(b) if the response is to be so published--in the next edition.
Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.
(6) Without limiting the ways in which an organisation or branch may comply with subsection (3), it complies if it does all of the following:
(a) publishes, in the next edition of the organisation or branch journal, a copy of the relevant extract of the report and the organisation's response;
(b) within 30 days after the day on which it gives its response to the AEC:
(i) lodges with the FWC a copy of the relevant extract of the report and a copy of the response given to the AEC under subsection (1), together with a declaration that the organisation or branch will provide a copy of the extract and the organisation's response to any member who so requests; and
(ii) gives notice in the next edition of the organisation or branch journal, or in an appropriate newspaper, that a copy of the relevant extract of the report and the organisation's response is available, upon request, from the organisation or branch to each member free of charge;
(c) meets the requirements of any regulations made for the purposes of this subsection.
Declaration that report and response will be available
(7) A declaration under paragraph (6)(b) must be signed by the secretary or other prescribed officer of the organisation or branch (as the case requires).
(8) A person must not, in a declaration for the purposes of paragraph (6)(b), make a statement if the person knows, or is reckless as to whether, the statement is false or misleading.
Civil penalty: 100 penalty units.
(9) In this section:
"appropriate newspaper" , in relation to an organisation or branch, means a newspaper, or newspapers, whose circulation covers the main geographical areas where members of the organisation or branch reside.
"next edition" , in relation to publishing a relevant extract of a post - election report or response in a journal, means the first edition of the journal in which it is reasonably practicable for the report or the response (as the case may be) to be published.