3. Review of the Act

In November 2006, the Government of Western Australia released a draft revision of its associations legislation for public comment. A large number of submissions were received and these will ultimately help shape the detail of the new legislation.

To the extent possible, this edition of the guide integrates both the requirements of the current Act, as well as some of the provisions proposed for the revised legislation. This occurs in two ways:

• In many cases, there are no significant changes proposed to the current provisions. Where these provisions are discussed in this guide, the specific section reference (or number) has been removed so that there is no possibility of confusion with those same provisions (but with different numbers) proposed in the new legislation.
• There are also a number of new provisions proposed which, if passed by Parliament, will introduce some changes to the way associations are managed. Where they are judged to be significant, these proposals have been separately highlighted within the appropriate chapter, using the symbol shown below.

The intention is to draw these possible changes to the attention of current associations and their members. Please note that these provisions will not necessarily become part of any new legislation, and must be considered in that context.

For the avoidance of doubt, the legislation presently regulating incorporated associations in Western Australia is the Associations Incorporation Act 1987. You can download a copy of the Act from the State Law Publisher's website.