Wine Australia Corporation (Annual General Meeting of the Industry) Regulations 1999

Statutory Rules 1999 No. 294 as amended

made under the

Wine Australia Corporation Act 1980

This compilation was prepared on 21 June 2011
taking into account amendments up to SLI 2011 No. 86

Prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting and Publishing,
Attorney-General’s Department, Canberra

Contents

 1 Name of Regulations [see Note 1]

 2 Commencement [see Note 1]

 3 Definitions 

 4 Notice of motion or special motion by Corporation 

 5 Notice of motion by an eligible producer 

 6 Voting on and passing motions 

 7 Proxies 

 8 Voting 

 9 Tellers 

 10 Rights of members of the Corporation 

 11 Who is to preside at meetings 

Notes  

1 Name of Regulations [see Note 1]

  These Regulations are the Wine Australia Corporation (Annual General Meeting of the Industry) Regulations 1999.

2 Commencement [see Note 1]

  These Regulations commence on gazettal.

3 Definitions

  In these Regulations:

Act means the Wine Australia Corporation Act 1980.

eligible producer has the meaning given by section 29U of the Act.

meeting means an annual general meeting.

motion means a motion moved, or proposed to be moved, at a meeting.

proxy means a person appointed under regulation 7.

Secretary means the Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

special motion means a motion about a proposal that the Corporation make a recommendation to the Minister:

 (a) under subclause 5 (1) of Schedule 13 to the Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999; or

 (b) under subclause 9 (1) of Schedule 26 to the Primary Industries (Excise) Levies Act 1999.

Note   Annual general meeting, Corporation, Corporation’s component of wine grapes levy, wine export charge, wine grapes levy and year are defined in section 4 of the Act.

4 Notice of motion or special motion by Corporation

 (1) If the Corporation intends to move a motion at a meeting that is not a special motion, the Corporation must, at least 21 days before the meeting, send notice of the motion to each eligible producer.

 (2) If the Corporation intends to move a special motion at a meeting, the Corporation must send notice of the special motion with the documents for the meeting that the Corporation is required to send to each eligible producer under subsection 29W (2) of the Act.

5 Notice of motion by an eligible producer

 (1) If an eligible producer intends to move a motion (including a special motion) at a meeting, the eligible producer must give notice in writing to the Corporation.

 (2) The notice must be:

 (a) given to the Corporation at least 28 days before the meeting; and

 (b) accompanied by an explanatory statement of up to 1 000 words; and

 (c) accompanied by evidence of the support of at least 10 other eligible producers for the motion to which the notice relates.

 (3) If notice of a motion to be moved at a meeting is given to the Corporation in accordance with subregulation (2), the Corporation must, at least 21 days before the meeting, send to each eligible producer:

 (a) a copy of the notice; and

 (b) a copy of the accompanying explanatory statement.

 (4) The Corporation may also send a statement by the Corporation about the motion.

6 Voting on and passing motions

 (1) A motion may be voted on or passed only if:

 (a) notice of the motion has been given to each eligible producer as required by regulation 4 or 5; and

 (b) the motion is moved in the form in which notice of it has been given.

 (2) For paragraph 1 (a), if an eligible producer was inadvertently not given notice of a motion, notice of the motion is taken to have been given to the eligible producer.

7 Proxies

 (1) An eligible producer may, by instrument in writing, appoint a person over the age of 18 years as his or her proxy for a meeting.

 (2) To be valid, an instrument for subregulation (1) must be:

 (a) substantially in the form approved by the Corporation; and

 (b) lodged with the Corporation at least 7 days before the meeting.

 (3) The form of instrument of appointment approved by the Corporation must provide an eligible producer with an opportunity to instruct his or her proxy on how to vote on each motion on notice.

 (4) An instrument of appointment under subregulation (1) may, for a motion on notice, require that the proxy:

 (a) vote, or not vote, on the motion; or

 (b) vote in a specified way on the motion.

 (5) A proxy attending a meeting for an eligible producer is entitled to do anything that the eligible producer would be entitled to do at the meeting.

 (6) Despite subregulation (5), if an instrument includes requirements under subregulation (4), the proxy must vote or not vote, or vote in the specified way, as set out in the instrument.

 (7) A proxy attending a meeting for an eligible producer may cast the number of votes that the eligible producer is entitled to cast under subregulation 8 (3).

8 Voting

 (1) An eligible producer for a year is entitled to vote upon any motion to be determined at the meeting in that year.

 (2) Voting on a motion must be by ballot.

 (3) An eligible producer may cast 1 vote for every whole dollar of the total amount of levy and charge imposed on the eligible producer for the immediately preceding year that is:

 (a) the Corporation’s component of wine grapes levy; or

 (b) a wine export charge.

9 Tellers

 (1) This regulation applies if:

 (a) the Corporation intends to move a motion at a meeting; or

 (b) the Corporation has been given notice in accordance with subregulation 5 (2) that an eligible producer intends to move a motion at a meeting.

 (2) The Corporation must, at least 21 days before the meeting, advise the Secretary in writing that the motion is to be moved at the meeting.

 (3) The Secretary must, before the meeting, nominate in writing 1 or more persons to act as tellers for the meeting.

 (4) The Chairperson of the Corporation must appoint 1 or more of the persons nominated by the Secretary to act as tellers at the meeting.

 (5) The Secretary must, before the meeting, advise at least 1 teller of the amount of levy and charge mentioned in subregulation 8 (3) for each eligible producer.

 (6) A teller must not disclose any information about the amount of levy or charge imposed on, the voting rights of, or the number of votes cast by, an eligible producer, except to a person (including a court) who is required by these Regulations, or proceedings relating to these Regulations, to determine the number of votes cast for a motion.

10 Rights of members of the Corporation

 (1) A member of the Corporation may move a motion at a meeting on behalf of the Corporation.

Note   A motion can only be voted on if notice of the motion has been given — see regulations 4, 5 and 6.

 (2) A member of the Corporation has the same right as an eligible producer to speak at a meeting.

11 Who is to preside at meetings

 (1) The Chairperson of the Corporation is to preside at a meeting.

 (2) If the Chairperson of the Corporation is absent, the Deputy Chairperson of the Corporation is to preside.

 (3) If both the Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson of the Corporation are absent, the members of the Corporation who are present at the meeting must choose one of their number to preside at the meeting.

Notes to the Wine Australia Corporation (Annual General Meeting of the Industry) Regulations 1999

Note 1

The Wine Australia Corporation (Annual General Meeting of the Industry) Regulations 1999 (in force under the Wine Australia Corporation Act 1980) as shown in this compilation comprise Statutory Rules 1999 No. 294 amended as indicated in the Tables below.

Table of Instruments

Table of Amendments