On behalf of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia (NSW) Sydney Branch Committee (SSAA Sydney Branch), I am writing to members to inform you of an important change in our legal status that the Branch Committee is now working to implement, supported by appropriate legal advice.

The Association exists as an incorporated Association. We are established under the NSW Associations Incorporation Act 2009 (Associations Act).

The Associations Act is administered by the NSW Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT monitors incorporated associations, particularly associations that have grown to have a significant membership and to control substantial assets.

Prior to the COVID pandemic, the then Committee of the Association was informed that OFT concluded that our Association had moved beyond the size and scale identified in the OFT Guidelines. In other words, the OFT considered that the Association was too large to continue to be regulated under the Associations Act.  Instead, our legal status must change to adopt a new legal structure such as a Cooperative or a Company limited by guarantee (CLG). Our Association’s consideration of these issues was interrupted by the COVID pandemic, with all the dislocation to activities across the community caused by the pandemic. However, the Committee must now address the issue raised by the OFT and we must move to change the legal structure of the Association.

The Association has been working with our solicitors on this matter to develop a new Constitution to transition the Association from our current status under the Associations Act to become a CLG under the Corporations Act 2001, which is administered through the Federal Government and the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC).

The Association will continue to exist. We will simply transition from our current

incorporated association status to become a CLG. The Association will not be wound up, it will transition from its current legal structure as an incorporated association to a new legal structure as a CLG. The assets of the Association will be held via the new CLG structure.

You will, in the coming weeks receive further detailed information from the Committee about this transition. A copy of the proposed new Constitution will be available for review by members and members will be invited to join the consultation process.  During this process The Committee will explain the procedural and administrative steps that must be taken by the Association as it responds to the OFT’s requirements and adopts the new CLG structure.

2024 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)

A SSAA Sydney Branch 2024 AGM will delayed this year due to the Association’s requirement to move to a CLG.  The OFT has granted the Association an extension to hold its AGM and lodge its annual summary of financial affairs.  This extension will allow the Association appropriate time to transition and adjust to its new CLG status.  The Association plans to hold the AGM in early 2025 and lodge its summary of financial affairs.  Members will be notified in due course.

As always, if members have any questions, please direct those questions to the Committee or myself.

Melissa Harrison
Executive Officer