One of the changes made by the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) is to improve the internal governance rules of Indigenous corporations. Corporations already incorporated under the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 (ACA Act) will have up to two years to change their rules or constitution to comply with the new law. Groups wanting to register under the CATSI Act will also need to adopt rules that comply with the CATSI Act.
The rule book tool is a model that corporations can use to make their own rule book that complies with the CATSI Act and suits their needs. It is available as an electronic tool or in printed form.
The rule book includes set laws which cannot be changed (rules that apply to
all corporations) as well as:
rules that must be completed (special to that corporation)
rules that can be replaced
laws that can be changed
rules that are good governance ideas recommended by ORIC.
If you are a corporation that was incorporated under the ACA Act you might
find the following fact sheets and posters useful:
Fact sheet: Arrangements
for corporations to move to the new CATSI Act [A4, 4 pages, PDF 37KB]
Poster: 'A
corporation's path to CATSI' poster [A3, 2 pages, PDF 746KB]
Poster: 'Steps
to the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act' [A4, 1 page,
PDF 841KB]
Information sheets supporting the rule book:
Having trouble downloading the etool? Read the step-by-step process for downloading and installing the etool.
Some documents in the rule book etool need Adobe Reader. To see if you already have Adobe Reader try and open the following test document. Test document that requires Adobe Reader.pdf [34KB]
If you could not open the test document you should download and install Adobe reader for free from the Adobe website. Visit Adobe's website for downloading Adobe Reader
The following is a quick guide to the rule book tool. Getting started with the rule book etool.
If you need more detailed instructions you can click on the help icon or press F1 on the keyboard while using the rule book etool.
When you save your rule book it will be a special file type (.igr) which can only be opened using the rule book etool.
Once you have filled in the rule book, your members will need to consider whether to adopt the rule book. The rule book etool lets you print a copy of the proposed rule book to give to members. The rule book etool also has a draft resolution that you can include with the notice of the meeting and a form for you to submit your rule book to ORIC after the meeting.
The following fact sheets include suggested wording for resolutions to adopt a new rule book which complies with the CATSI Act:
The Registrar then decides whether or not to approve the proposed rule book.
IMPORTANT—changes to the rule book do not become effective until after the Registrar has approved and registered them. Until then, your existing rule book continues to apply.