Guidelines - Committees
SECTION 2
GUIDELINES AND TERMS OF REFERENCE RELATED TO COMMITTEES
With the exception of its Executive, ASSTA is not required by its constitution to set up committees – Clauses 10 – 19 inclusive of the Constitution (amended to 13th December 1995) cover this exception. That said, Clauses 21 – 33 inclusive (General Meeting) and Clauses 34 – 36 inclusive (Special Resolution) have relevance to this set of Guidelines and Terms of Reference. The Association has, from time to time, set up committees to conduct particular aspects of its business. At the time of compiling this booklet of Guidelines and Terms of Reference (1996), apart from the Executive, three (3) committees were in existence: National Spoken Language Database Committee; Speech Science and Technology Committee (SST-96), and Forensic Speaker Identification Standards Committee.
The biennial SST Conference is one of the major activities of ASSTA. As a result, Guidelines and Terms of Reference relating to the conference and its committee are presented in a separate section of this booklet (Section 3). The Terms of Reference for the Committee, however, are also included here.
This subset of Guidelines and Terms of Reference includes the following:
1. Standing Orders for Conduct of Meetings.
2. Duties of Executive Officers.
3. Terms of Reference for the National Spoken Language Database Committee.
4. Terms of Reference for the Speech Science and Technology Conference Committee.
5. Terms of Reference for the Forensic Speaker Identification Standards Committee.
1. Standing Orders for General Meetings
1. Chair:
- General Meetings will be chaired by the President of ASSTA Inc., or the Executive’s nominee.
2. Quorum:
- The quorum for a General Meeting shall be 20 members of the Association who are entitled to vote at that meeting.
3. Order of Business:
- Unless otherwise specified in the agenda, or varied by a majority vote of the meeting, the order of business will be as follows:
4. Special Resolution:
- Notice of a special resolution must be given in the notice of the General Meeting at which it is proposed.
- At least a 3/4 majority is required to pass a special resolution.
- A special resolution shall not be amended.
5. Proxy:
- A person eligible to vote at a General Meeting may vote for or against a special resolution by proxy if:
- Normally, a proxy form for each special resolution will be forwarded with the notice of the special resolution.
6. General Business:
- In order to focus discussion and facilitate decisions, general business should be raised in the form of an ordinary motion to be moved and seconded.
- Voting will be by a show of hands.
- A majority of votes will decide the motion.
- Proxy votes will only be accepted for ordinary motions if the Secretary has received a proxy notice (in the form of Appendix 2 to the Associations Incorporation Regulations, 1991 – a copy of which is attached) at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.
7. Amendments:
- Ordinary motions may be amended.
- Special resolutions may not be amended.
8. Speakers:
- Speakers will rise to address the meeting.
- Speakers will be heard alternately for and against the motion.
- A speaker may speak only once to any motion or amendment, except that the mover of a motion shall have a final right of reply.
9. Times for Speakers:
- Unless extended by a majority, maximum times for speakers may be limited to:
10. Interruptions:
- When the chairperson rises during debate, all others will sit down so that the chairperson can be heard without interruption.
- No speaker will be interrupted by a person other than the chairperson except to raise a point of order which will be heard and decided by the chairperson.
11. Dissent from the Chairperson’s Ruling:
- Any member may move “The chairperson’s ruling be dissented from”. In this case, only the mover and the chairperson may speak for and against the motion which will then be put.
Adopted at the Adjourned Annual General Meeting of ASSTA, Thursday 25th November 1993
Reviewed and Reconfirmed by Executive – 3rd September 1996
It should be noted that this set of standing orders is not a legally binding document but provides a guideline to practice for the Executive Committee.
2. Guideline Listing the Duties of Executive Officers
This guideline lists the duties of ASSTA officers that are required to satisfy the ASSTA Constitution, the A.C.T. Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (#46), and the A.C.T. Associations Incorporation Regulations 1991 (#31). The duties are grouped according to the officer(s) to whom they apply.
1. Duties of Executive Committee Members:
a) To ensure that a biennial international conference on speech science and technology is held [Constitution 2(g)].
b) To ensure that an AGM is held within 5 months of the end of the financial year (31st July) [Constitution 21, Act 69].
c) To check there is a quorum of 20 members eligible to vote at GMs of the Association [Constitution 29].
d) To carry out the election of the Executive Committee officers at each AGM or when required [Constitution 23].
e) To ensure that all business letters, statements of account, invoices, official notices, publications, cheques, etc carry the full name of the Association [Act 41].
f) To enter into contracts on behalf of the Association to help achieve its objects [Act 47].
g) To appoint a Public Officer within 14 days when required [Constitution 20, Act 57 (1), Act 64 (3)].
h) To notify the Registrar within one month of any vacancy or change in the Executive Committee [Act 62 (1)].
i) To notify the Executive Committee and the Registrar of a Committee member’s change of address [Act 62 (1,2)].
j) To disclose to the Executive Committee and to the next GM any direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a contract to which the Association is or may be a party, and abstain from any decision regarding that contract [Act 65 (1,2)].
k) To provide any records and information requested by the Auditor of the Association [Act 78].
2. Duties of the President:
a) To chair general meetings of the Association [Act Regulations 26].
b) To chair meetings of the Executive.
3. Duties of the Secretary:
a) To keep records of Executive Committee meetings for at least 7 years [Constitution 17].
b) To keep records of application, approval, and termination of membership [Constitution 8, 9]. A register of members must be available for inspection at the address of the Public Officer [Act 67 (2)].
c) To give at least 1 month’s notice to all Association members for the AGM and other GMs [Constitution 31].
d) To send minutes of GMs to all Association members within 1 month of the GM [Constitution 31].
e) To notify the Registrar within 1 month of any alteration to the Rules of the Association [Act 33 (2)].
f) To supply a copy of the Association’s Rules and Objects to Association members on request [Act 35 (2)].
g) To authenticate documents or proceedings for the Association [Act 55].
h) To complete an annual return within 6 months of the end of the financial year (31st July) and lodge it with the Registrar. The return includes (1) a statement of particulars on the approved form, (2) the audited statement of accounts, (3) the auditor’s report, (4) a statement by two Executive Committee members that the provisions of the Act have been met in relation to the preparation and auditing of accounts, and presentation to the AGM. [Act 79 (1)]
i) To keep the common seal of the Association [Constitution 18].
4. Duties of the Treasurer:
a) To prepare and keep accounting records for at least 7 years [Act 71].
b) To notify Association members and collect annual fees [Constitution 7].
c) To sign cheques (together with another Executive Committee member) [Constitution 38].
d) To prepare a statement of the Association’s accounts, including (1) income and expenditure, (2) assets and liabilities, before the AGM [Act 71 (1,2)].
e) To ensure that an auditor is appointed by the Executive [Constitution 42, Act 74 (1)]. The auditor may not be a member of the Association, and may not assist in the preparation of the accounts [Act 74 (2)]. The auditor must be a chartered accountant if assets or receipts exceed $150,000 [Act 74 (3)].
f) To ensure that an audit is completed each year at least 14 days before the AGM [Constitution 43].
g) To mail a balance sheet to each member of the Association within 6 months of the end of the financial year (31st July) [Constitution 44].
h) To present the audited accounts to the AGM together with (1) the auditor’s report, (2) a report signed by two members of the Executive Committee including the names of all Executive Committee members, the principal activities of the Association and any changes, and the net profit or loss of the Association. [Act 73].
i) Conduct an annual review of the adequacy of insurance cover on all assets and insurable risks to be completed by the end of July.
5. Duties of the Public Officer:
a) To notify the Registrar of his or her appointment or change of address within one month [Act 59].
b) To keep a register of members which must be available for inspection [Act 67].
Adopted by Executive – 22nd October 1993
Reviewed and Reconfirmed by Executive – 3rd September 1996
Item 4 i) added by Executive – 27th September 2000
It should be noted that this set of guidelines is not a legally binding document but provides a guideline to practice for the Executive Committee.
3. Terms of Reference for the National Spoken Language Database Committee
1. To coordinate the creation and maintenance of a national database of spoken language in Australia;
2. To publicise the need for structured and easily accessible spoken-language data among the research community and its potential funding bodies;
3. To encourage the participation of all speech scientists and technologists in Australia in this project;
4. To seek cooperation with related endeavours locally and overseas;
5. To coopt additional NSLD committee members subject to confirmation by the Association;
6. To use Association stationary for all official correspondence by the NSLD committee provided that a copy of all such correspondence is filed with the Secretary of the Association;
7. To request funds from the Association for the activities of the NSLD committee; and
8. To report activities of the NSLD committee to the executive of the Association on request, and to General Meetings of the Association.
Adopted by Executive – 3rd September 1996.
Modified from those established by authorised presidential letter – 16th November 1990.
4. Terms of Reference of the Forensic Speech Science Committee
- To raise the profile of forensic speech science and publicise the existence of the committee to those who need to know about forensic speech science, by maintaining a webpage, being represented on the ASSTA webpage, and taking other opportunities.
- To represent the interests of those involved in professional forensic speech science, and especially to uphold professional standards in this area.
- To liaise with, and represent the Association on, appropriate international bodies on forensic speech science.
- To be available for consultation or action on any aspect of forensic speech science as required by ASSTA, the government, the legal profession, the academic community, and other interested parties.
- To coopt additional Committee Members subject to confirmation by the Association.
- To submit a budget to the ASSTA Treasurer, covering reasonable administrative expenses of the committee. Subject to prior acceptance of the budget and the availability of funds, ASSTA will meet budgeted administrative expenses.
- To use Association stationary for all official correspondence by the Committee, provided that a copy of all such correspondence is filed with the Secretary of the Association.
- To report activities of the Committee to the executive of the Association on request, and to General Meetings of the Association.
Adopted by Executive – 18th May 2000
