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Registered Clubs Amendment Act 2006

Registered Clubs Amendment Regulation 2007

The provisions in the Amendment Act were developed by the Club Industry Working Group (CIWG), bringing together representatives from Government, peak club industry organisations, and highly experienced club CEOs. Many people accross the industry have contributed to the work on many of these issues in recent years.

Implementation of these legislative changes is being undertaken in stages, as further work is required to develop regulations to support some of the changes before they can take effect. The CIWG is closely involved in the preparation of those regulations.

Read the Registered Clubs Amendment Act 2006

Changes commenced on 22 December 2006 (Stage 1).

Prohibition on club employees voting at club elections

The prohibition on club employees voting at any meeting of the club, its governing body or at any club elections was extended to prevent a club employee from voting at elections of an affiliated club, if the members of that affiliated club's governing body are entitled to be appointed to the club's governing body.

Reduction in the number of club members who must be full voting members

Clubs are able to reduce the number of club members who must be full voting members from a majority (50% + 1) to no less than 25% of the total membership.

To make a change to the number of club members who are full voting members a club must have the agreement of club members, and must also comply with any directions from the Director of Liquor and Gaming in regard to the reduction.

'For the information of members and their guests'The requirement that clubs must include the statement 'For the information of members and their guests' in all promotional and advertising was removed.

5 kilometre rule - entering a registered club

In order to enter a club a person living within 5 kilometres of a club must be:

a member of the club; or
a guest of a member of the club; or
a member of another club who has been invited to attend the host club to partcipate in a sporting event.

Clubs can apply to the Director of Liquor and Gaming for exceptions to the 5-kilometre rule in certain circumstances. For example, to take into account geographical barriers such as a river that may result in a person who lives 5 kilometres from the club "as the crow flies" having to to travel much further to get to the club.

Application requirements for exceptions to the 5-kilometre rule are outlined in clause 50C of the Registered Clubs Regulation

The Act was also clarified to indicate that the 5-kilometre distance is to be measured as a radius from the club's premises.

Honorary membership for serving defence force personnel

Serving defence personnel were granted automatic honorary membership of all RSL and services clubs, ex-services, memorial and legion clubs, as well as other clubs whose aims and objectives include reference to active or ex-active service men and women.

As a practical interim measure clubs will be required to keep a separate sign-in register for Defence Force personnel, within their existing Honorary Membership register. A template page for this register can be downloaded from our website.

General defence to prosecutions

Under section 56 of the Registered Clubs Act 1976, it is a sufficient defence to a prosecution of a secretary of a registered club if it is proved that the secretary had taken all reasonable precautions to avoid the commission of the alleged offence, and at the time of the alleged offence the secretary did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the alleged offence had been committed.

The Act has been amended to clarify that the general defence is available to an approved manager of club's secondary premises as such managers effectively have the same responsibilities as the secretary of a club's primary premises.

Disclosure of fees received from affiliated bodies

The existing requirement for disclosure of gifts received by a director of a registered club or a top executive of the club from an affiliated body or from a person or organisation that is a party to a contract with the club was extended to include any remuneration (including a fee for service) received.

Amendments to club rules

A club is required to lodge with the Director of Liquor and Gaming (within one month after amending its rules) a copy of all the rules of the club and the amendments certified by the club secretary. This may now be done electronically or in some other manner as approved by the Director, replacing the previous requirement that a club must lodge 2 hard copies of its rules.

Changes that commenced on 21 December 2007 (Stage 2)

Registered Clubs Amendment Regulation 2007

The following changes took effect on 21 December 2007 following the commencement of the Registered Clubs Amendment Regulation 2007.

Club amalgamations

Most of the requirements for club amalgamations have been transferred into the regulation. The main changes are as follows:

the number of clubs a 'parent' or 'principal' club is able to amalgamate with will be increased from 4 to 10;
a club seeking to enter into an amalgamation must explore all avenues of amalgamation from other registered clubs located within a 50 kilometre radius through an Expression Of Interest (EOI);
failing to find an amalgamation partner from clubs within that region, a club may seek amalgamation partners from outside the 50 km radius;
the requirement for a deed of amalgamation is being removed, instead amalgamating clubs will need to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MUO) which will be made available to members of both clubs; and
the definition of "major assets" of a club has been amended and updated.

Transitional arrangements have been made so that amalgamation applications that have been lodged with the Licensing Court of NSW but not granted before the commencement of the new club amalgamation requirements can be dealt with under the pre-existing requirements.

Guidelines and a club amalgamations template (Word 24kb) for seeking EOIs have been developed to assist clubs to adapt to the new process.

Club Governance

Definition of top executive

The definition of top executive has been clarified so that it applies only to those club employees with clear managerial responsibilities. The new definition captures the secretary of the club, a person appointed under section 34A as the manager of any premises of the club, and a person (or class of persons) as prescribed in the regulations.

Financial and other reporting requirements

The reporting requirements for clubs have been transferred from the Act and consolidated into a single section of the Registered Clubs Regulation. This includes lodgement of balance sheets and accounts, keeping of financial statements, and other miscellaneous annual reporting requirements. The regulation requires that club members continue to have access to this information.

Also, the requirement in section 40O of the Act for clubs to provide the Director of Liquor and Gaming with a copy of controlled contracts has been removed.

Disposal of club property

A new definition of core property has been introduced. The definition includes the defined premises of a club, and any facility provided for club members. Virtually all other club assets will be regarded as non-core property, and disposal of non-core property need not comply with section 41J, but is subject to disclosure requirements.

To ensure accountability and transparency, clubs are still required to report to their members which property is being classed as core and non-core. Approval of members is required should a club want to reclassify land as either core or non-core.

To allow for greater flexibility, the regulations provide for exemptions to the disposal requirements.

Upcoming changes (Stage 3)

It is envisaged that Stage 3 matters will be in place by mid-late 2008.

Conduct of club elections

To improve the probity of club elections and address the concerns of club members, a club with more than 10 000 members (approximately 175 registered clubs in New South Wales) will be required to have the election of the club's governing body conducted by a person or body approved by the Director of Liquor and Gaming. Clubs with 10 000 members or less have the option of using an external person/body to conduct their elections.

A process will be developed for the accreditation of election service providers that will be undertaken in consultation with the New South Wales Electoral Commission (NSWEC) and ClubsNSW.

In addition, an agreed set of procedures to assist clubs in carrying out elections will be developed by the NSW Office of Liquor Gaming and Racing, club industry representatives and the State Electoral Office. Once finalised, these procedures will be included in the Registered Clubs Regulation.

Training of club directors

A person will not be eligible to stand for election to a club's governing body unless they have acknowledged receipt of education and training material approved by the Director of Liquor and Gaming. The acknowledgement will be in the form of a written declaration, which will be kept by the club in a register for a period of at least three years.

This package will also be developed in consultation with the NSWEC and ClubsNSW.