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Registered Organisations – Details-stage Regulation Impact Statement – Department of Employment

The Australian Government has tabled legislation changing the regulation of registered organisations. These changes are a specific election commitment of the Government. Registered organisations are those employer and employee associations that are registered under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (RO Act) to allow them to represent the interests of their members in certain workplace matters. Under the RO Act, registered organisations must comply with detailed regulations in relation to registration, rules, financial reporting, elections, conduct of officers and other matters. The Government has committed to increase the statutory and fiduciary obligations on registered organisations to more closely align them with those that corporations have to meet. The main changes are:

  • increasing civil penalties and introducing criminal offences for serious breaches of officers’ duties;
  • increasing the requirements surrounding officers’ disclosure of material personal interests, and changes to grounds for disqualification and ineligibility for office; and
  • strengthening financial accounting and disclosure obligations under the RO.

The main benefit of the changes is likely to be increased confidence in the operation of registered organisations by their members. The costs are largely in the form of additional compliance costs for the registered organisations; these have been estimated at $331,346 a year across all organisations. A details-stage Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) was prepared and certified by the Department of Employment, and has been assessed as adequate by the Office of Best Practice Regulation.