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  • 01 Understanding governance
    • 1.0 Understanding governance
    • 1.1 The important parts of governance
    • 1.2 Indigenous governance
    • 1.3 Governance in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations
    • 1.4 Case studies
  • 02 Culture and governance
    • 2.0 Culture and governance
    • 2.1 Indigenous governance and culture
    • 2.2 Two-way governance
    • 2.3 Case studies
  • 03 Getting started
    • 3.0 Getting started on building your governance
    • 3.1 Assessing your governance
    • 3.2 Mapping your community for governance
    • 3.3 Case studies
  • 04 Leadership
    • 4.0 Leadership for governance
    • 4.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership
    • 4.2 The challenges of leadership
    • 4.3 Evaluating your leadership
    • 4.4 Youth leadership and succession planning
    • 4.5 Building leadership capacity to govern
    • 4.6 Case studies
  • 05 Governing the organisation
    • 5.0 Governing the organisation
    • 5.1 Roles, responsibilities and rights of a governing body
    • 5.2 Accountability: what is it, to whom and how?
    • 5.3 Decision making by the governing body
    • 5.4 Governing finances and resources
    • 5.5 Communicating
    • 5.6 Future planning
    • 5.7 Building capacity and confidence for governing bodies
    • 5.8 Case studies
  • 06 Rules and policies
    • 6.0 Governance rules and policies
    • 6.1 What are governance rules?
    • 6.2 Governance rules and culture
    • 6.3 Running effective meetings
    • 6.4 Policies for organisations
    • 6.5 Case studies
  • 07 Management and staff
    • 7.0 Management and staff
    • 7.1 Managing the organisation
    • 7.2 The governing body and management
    • 7.3 Managing staff
    • 7.4 Staff development and training
    • 7.5 Case studies
  • 08 Disputes and complaints
    • 8.0 Dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous approaches
    • 8.2 Core principles and skills for dispute and complaint resolution
    • 8.3 Disputes and complaints about governance
    • 8.4 Your members: dealing with disputes and complaints
    • 8.5 Organisations: dealing with internal disputes and complaints
    • 8.6 Practical guidelines and approaches
    • 8.7 Case studies
  • 09 Nation building and development
    • 9.0 Governance for nation rebuilding and development
    • 9.1 What is nation rebuilding?
    • 9.2 Governance for nation rebuilding
    • 9.3 Governance for sustained development
    • 9.4 Networked governance
    • 9.5 Kick-starting the process of nation rebuilding
    • 9.6 Case studies
  • Glossary
  • Useful links
  • Acknowledgements

Tips: The top 15 tips for a healthy corporation

Looking after the corporation

1. Ensure your board has the right people on it.

To add value to your board, make sure:

  • board members have the right skills
  • board members are committed to their responsibilities
  • the board is the right size for the corporation.

2. Keep an up-to-date register of members.

Make sure the register has the following information for each current and former member:

  • their name and current address
  • the date they became a member
  • the date they stopped being a member.

An up-to-date register will help to resolve any disputes about who is a member.

3. Know your rules and your constitution.

  • Know and understand your organisation’s rules and its constitution.
  • Encourage your members to learn about them.
  • Propose changing the rules and constitution if they don’t work for your corporation.

4. Promote responsible decision making.

Ensure that the people who make the decisions have the best interests of the corporation, community and the corporation’s members at heart.

5. Manage risk.

Have plans and controls in place for recognising and managing risk. Risks can be in relation to:

  • finances
  • management and staff members
  • members
  • the environment (such as community, buildings or location).

Looking after the people

6. Know your role and your duties.

Make sure the board members fully understand their role and duties.

  • As a whole, the board oversees the goals and direction of the corporation, while the manager is responsible for day-to-day management
  • Board members’ duties include:
    • acting with loyalty, good faith, care and diligence
    • not trading while insolvent
    • managing conflicts of interest
    • respecting and upholding the rights of members.  

7. Review staff performance

Be fair in your reviews and encourage good performance.

8. Pay people fairly

  •  Pay people fairly and responsibly.
  • Make sure that their pay is sufficient, reasonable and aligned with their individual performance.
  • Make sure staff members know exactly what is expected of them.

Looking after the money

9. Know your finances.

Make sure you know your corporation’s financial status. If you are worried, ask your auditor to check every three months that your staff members are managing the money properly (a good auditor will do this for the board).

10. Pay your taxes.

  • Make sure taxes are handled correctly, especially Goods and Services Tax (GST), Pay As You Go (PAYG) and Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT).
  • Make sure all your staff superannuation guarantee contributions are paid.
  • For more information, visit the Australian Taxation Office website at www.ato.gov.au. You can also call 13 28 66 for business tax enquiries, or 13 10 20 for superannuation enquiries.

11. Insure your corporation’s property.

  • Make sure the corporation’s property—such as cars, buildings and equipment—is insured.
  • Check that insurance policies are renewed on or before the due date.

12. Be careful how you use the corporation’s assets.

Ensure that the corporation’s assets and income are used in the way the funding agency has set out. Better still, make a policy about this for everyone to see and use. Make sure you report openly to your members and to the funding agency about how the money is spent.

Looking after meetings

13. Keep minutes of all meetings.

  • Make sure you keep minutes of every meeting of the corporation.
  • Minutes should say:
    • what type of meeting you had (for example, annual general meeting (AGM), special general meeting or board meeting)
    • the day the meeting was held
    • who came
    • what decisions were made.

14. Hold an AGM.

Make sure you have an AGM every year (usually before 30 November).

15. Attend meetings with the funding agency.

Build a good relationship with the funding agency. Make sure someone from the board is at every meeting when the funding agency comes to visit.

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Case Studies

NPY Women’s Council – strong culture, strong women, strong communities

  NPY Women’s Council (NPYWC) was set up in 1980 and incorporated in 1994.  The organisation was founded in response to the concerns of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women throughout the APY lands.   The women were concerned about the …

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Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly

Self-determination and community control The Murdi Paaki Regional Assembly (MPRA) is comprised of the Chairs or representatives of 16 Aboriginal Community Working Parties (CWP’s) across the Murdi Paaki Region of NSW. MPRA see self-determination as the key success to their …

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NPY Women’s Council: Building your cultural guiding principles into your rulebook

The NPY Women’s Council became incorporated under new legislation in 2008. The council undertook a significant period of consultation with its members—spread across a large geographic region—in the lead-up to lodging its new rulebook (formally known as the constitution) with …

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News

ORIC Top 500 Report 2014-15

The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) released the 2014-2015 top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations report in December 2015. This is ORIC’s seventh report on the top 500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations. It collates and …

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Social Justice Commissioner launches 2014 Social Justice and Native Title Report

Mr Mick Gooda is the current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner. The Commissioner has a unique role at the Australian Human Rights Commission, responsible for advocating for the recognition of the rights of Indigenous Australians. As part …

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Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2014 Report

The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report: Key Indicators 2014 (OID Report) was released by the Productivity Commission in November 2014. The OID Report measures the wellbeing of Australia’s Indigenous peoples. The report provides information about outcomes across a range of strategic …

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The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute

The Australian Indigenous Governance Institute is a unique Indigenous led national centre of governance knowledge and excellence. We know that practically effective and culturally legitimate governance is the staple building block for delivering real change.

We assist Indigenous Australians in their diverse efforts to determine and strengthen their own sustainable systems of self-governance by identifying world-class governance practice, informing effective policy, providing accessible research, disseminating stories that celebrate outstanding success and solutions, and delivering professional education and training opportunities.

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