Gender Fairness Australia

Introduction
In order to allow for the possibility for tax deductible donations and also to portray an air of legitimacy it is intended to establish a formal organisation to support the advocacy of men's rights in Australia.

Organisation Type
Various organisation structures were considered were considered. It is possible to register an organisation federally as a corporation limited by guarantee. This structure is quite onerous in reporting requirements and generally beyond what we are capable of at this point. We may be able to convert another sort of organisation to a corporation limited by guarantee later if it is useful to do so.

Various forms of state based organisations were considered. An unincorporated association would be generally unsuitable since it provide no legal indemnity to the members or organisers, would not have the option of tax deductible donations and would not provide the legitimacy intended. A cooperative was considered but found to be an entirely unsuitable structure.

The most suitable structure was one chosen by most similar organisations in Australia - an incorporated association.

Jurisdiction
It is proposed to establish an incorporated association in the state of Victoria. Such an organisation could be established in any Australian state or territory. Victoria offers very flexible arrangements for establishing an incorporated association. The secretary can be resident anywhere in Australia and a PO Box may be listed as the official address, which may also be anywhere in Australia. Queensland and New South Wales were also considered for incorporation but they generally have more restrictive rules.

The organisation will need to register federally following incorporation in order to be able to carry on business throughout Australia.

Membership
The membership committee shall have the power to accept applications as associate members and offer associate members the status of contributing member. Unless otherwise established by the management committee the membership committee shall have the same membership as the membership committee. The membership committee will also have power to remove contributing member status or associate member status from an individual.

Associate Membership
Anyone may apply for associate membership. The membership committee would probably only reject an application for associate membership in very unusual circumstances. Associate membership is expected to require a levy of $20/year. Associate members have no voting rights in the organisation.

Contributing Membership
Contributing members will have a history of consistently contributing to the men's rights movement and continue to do so. Contributing members have voting rights within the organisation. The board of directors may offer contributing member status to any associate member. On acceptance the associate member will become a contributing member.

Contributing membership does not require a membership and is perpetual unless a person has this status removed by the membership committee.

If the number of contributing members falls below 10 then the organisation must offer contributing member status to associate members until sufficient have accepted to return the number of contributing members to 10. There is no upper limit on the number of contributing members.

The organisation should offer contributing membership status to worthy individuals without regard for the number of existing contributing members.

Projects
The organisation will act as a fiscal sponsor for a series of projects which will advocate for men's rights in Australia. Each project will be permitted to have a separate budget and donors may choose to donate to individual projects. It is expected that each project will have a coordinator, who will direct the day to day activities of the project.