Tag Archives: 06 Rules and policies

Girringun Aboriginal Corporation was awarded Highly Commended Category A in the 2014 Indigenous Governance Awards. Here CEO Phil Rist describes how Girringun’s cultural and spiritual foundations underpin the organisation’s success.

• Membership—rules for who can and cannot be a member of the organisation.
• Representation—rules for who is eligible to sit on the governing body, and how people are elected to it.
• Conduct—rules for how the governing body, managers and staff behave.
• Decision making—rules for how accountable consensus-based decisions should be made.
• Meetings—rules for how and when meetings are held and for addressing culturally sensitive issues.
• Communication—rules for how members will be consulted and kept informed.
• Mediation—rules for how disputes and complaints will be resolved.
• Administration—rules to enable greater cultural flexibility in employment and human resources conditions.
• Planning—rules that support future cultural vision and priorities.
• Gender roles—rules for the different knowledge and leadership responsibilities of men and women.

A policy usually contains:

• A purpose statement. This outlines why the organisation is issuing the policy and what it should achieve.
• An applicability and scope statement. This describes who the policy affects and what will be affected by the policy. This statement may include or exclude certain people, organisations, behaviours or activities from the policy requirements.
• An effective date. This states when the policy begins.
• A policy statement. This sets out the specific guideline, regulation, requirement, or modification to people’s and organisational behaviour that the policy is trying to encourage.
• A review and evaluation statement. This explains when and how the policy will be assessed.
• A complaints statement. This sets out the process for how complaints about the content of the policy will be handled, its implementation or impact.
• A communications statement. This talks about how the policy will be communicated to staff, members, the wider community.
• A roles and responsibilities section. This states which people or sections of the organisation are responsible for carrying out particular parts.
• A definitions section. This provides clear meanings for terms and concepts.
• A cultural issues statement. Many Indigenous governance policies contain extra sections setting out cultural issues, goals, values and traditions that the policy recognises and is supporting, protecting, regulating or limiting.

To increase the effectiveness and legitimacy of policies, many Indigenous organisations are also including a cultural enforcement statement in their policies. This sets out practical processes and mechanisms that the governing body has identified as something that might help the governing body, management and staff to implement the policy in the face of challenging cultural pressures.

Every incorporated organisation needs to hold an annual general meeting (AGM). In this video, WYDAC managers explain the various steps and rules that must be followed before and during the annual general meeting.

Listen to how the NYP Women's Council has built cultural values into their constitution and how these guiding principles are the spirit of the organisation and foundation of their governance.

This list of contents will give you an idea of the kinds of information you could include in a governance reference or induction manual for your leaders. Your community and nation will also be better informed about how you do things if they have access to it.