Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009

The rules of an organisation:

must provide for the election of the holder of each office in the organisation by:

a direct voting system; or

a collegiate electoral system that, in the case of a full‑time office, is a one‑tier collegiate electoral system; and

must provide for the conduct of every such election (including the acceptance or rejection of nominations) by a returning officer who is not the holder of any office in, or an employee of, the organisation or a branch, section or division of the organisation; and

must provide that, if the returning officer conducting an election finds a nomination to be defective, the returning officer must, before rejecting the nomination, notify the person concerned of the defect and, where practicable, give the person the opportunity of remedying the defect within such period as is applicable under the rules, which must, where practicable, be not less than 7 days after the person is notified; and

must make provision for:

the manner in which persons may become candidates for election; and

the duties of returning officers; and

the declaration of the result of an election; and

must provide that, where a ballot is required, it must be a secret ballot, and must make provision for:

in relation to a direct voting system ballot (including a direct voting system ballot that is a stage of an election under a collegiate electoral system)—the day on which the roll of voters for the ballot is to be closed; and

absent voting; and

the conduct of the ballot; and

the appointment, conduct and duties of scrutineers to represent the candidates at the ballot; and

must be such as to ensure, as far as practicable, that no irregularities can occur in relation to an election.

Without limiting section 142, the rules of an organisation relating to elections may provide for compulsory voting.

The day provided for in the rules of an organisation as the day on which the roll of voters is to be closed (see paragraph (1)(e)) must be a day no earlier than 30 days, and no later than 7 days, before the day on which nominations for the election open.

A reference in this section to the rules of an organisation includes a reference to the rules of a branch of the organisation.

The reference in paragraph (1)(c) to a nomination being defective does not include a reference to a nomination of a person that is defective because the person is not qualified to hold the office to which the nomination relates.

The rules providing for the day on which the roll of voters for a ballot is to be closed are not to be taken to prevent the correction of errors in the roll after that day.