SpeechHon Dr DAVID CLARK (Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs): Like an individual an incorporated society is born and one day eventually dies. Its birth is the incorporation process and its death is the winding up process. This bill will better regulate the birth of societies in Parts 2 and 5 respectively. However the bill's main impact will be felt between these two events while the society is alive and well and that's dealt with in Parts 3 and 4 of the bill. The obligations in Part 3 and 4 covered in the bill are comprehensive. They govern the way a society is administered and will set out mechanisms for enforcing these obligations.In this way the bill brings the rules governing incorporated societies into the 21st century. We're updating a law from 1908 and codifying law that's been developed over the past 114 years and also filling in the gaps where there isn't case law or where we haven't seen practice developed.I do want to speak just at the outset on a Supplementary Order Paper (SOP) I'm tabling—primarily it is addressing minor and technical changes. However there are three changes that warrant mention. Before I do that I do want to acknowledge the incredibly cooperative spirit in which this bill has been passed. Obviously it's been carried by successive Governments over a long period of time—well there's been input should I say under successive Governments—and the select committee itself that considered this made a number of suggested changes and those changes were then adopted by the House. So the House is cooperating around this bill and I do want to acknowledge the constructive way in which members have engaged on this bill so far.But I want to say at the outset that I just want to speak to the SOP I'm tabling to describe three of the changes which I think warrant mention beyond the kind of minor and technical changes within the SOP. First if we consider the scenario where a company or other body corporate wishes to join an incorporated society clause 72 of the bill currently requires that the body corporate's consent to joining be confirmed by two of its directors. It's become clear to me that such a requirement which represents a change from the status quo would represent essentially a disproportionate burden on companies and other bodies corporate and it doesn't gel with current practice I guess you'd say.The SOP thus proposes to amend clause 72 so that consent can be given on a body corporate's behalf by a person acting under the body corporate's express or implied authority. And that provision will align with section 181B of the Companies Act and will make it simpler for a body corporate to join in an incorporated society.The second change that I want to mention in respect of the SOP is that under the bill an incorporated society that qualifies as a small society will not when preparing its financial report each year have to follow the strict standards set by the External Reporting Board. Clause 96 sets out the conditions a society must meet to qualify as a small society for a given accounting period and these include that total operating payments and total current assets not exceed a certain level in each of the two preceding accounting periods. That formula raises the question about a new society which doesn't have two preceding accounting periods and so you know how does it qualify as small I guess is the question that's inevitably raised. In this regard the SOP proposes amending clause 96 with the effect that for newer societies that do not yet have two accounting periods under their belt total operating payments and total current assets will be assessed based simply on the current financial year for which they are preparing their accounts—you know essentially a simple fix for a pretty simple problem.The third aspect of the SOP I want to mention is Schedule 3 of the bill. It sets out the process by which the existing 24000 societies can re-register under the new regime. Under clause 7 of Schedule 3 the registrar will re-register an existing society once the society has sent in a properly completed application". The items that must be included in the application to make it complete are set out in clause 5. They include the name of the society the name and details of the contact person and the information prescribed by the regulations. Essentially it's important to minimise the disruption that existing societies endure when they're going through that re-registration process. So in that context given that some societies will inevitably make very small mistakes or omissions in their re-registration applications the Supplementary Order Paper proposes to provide the registrar with the power to waive minor or technical non-compliance issues with applications and a power to allow re-registration subject to conditions such as an obligation to provide certain information within a month.Of course there's much much more in this bill.Andrew Bayly: Within a month?Hon Dr DAVID CLARK: No. The member is already interjecting. I'll repeat for the member so that the member comes with the argument on this. Supplementary Order Paper 130 proposes to provide the registrar—I mean it's laid out in the SOP—with a power to waive minor or technical non-compliance issues with applications and a power to allow re-registration subject to conditions. So subject to conditions if it's not compliant now give them a month to sort things out. So I hope that will meet with the member's approval.The bill itself contains numerous parts and clauses which we are taking as one. They had been well debated in the House and again as I did at the outset I do want to acknowledge the way in which the House has engaged on this legislation in order to make it acceptable for all parties. There has been some substantial change to the bill as it's gone through. I think that's appropriate. We're updating it for the first time since 1908. It might be a while till it happens again. I respect the spirit in which people have engaged in making sure that we have legislation that is fit hopefully for the next hundred years."