Anglican Church of Australia Constitution Act 1973

is at the commencement of this Act constituted in accordance with the provisions set forth in Schedule 4.

The Synod may, subject to the Constitution, make ordinances for or with respect to – amending, rescinding, or replacing the provisions set forth in Schedule 4; the presidency of the Synod; the number and qualifications of clerks in holy orders to be members of the Synod; the number, mode of election, and qualifications of synodsmen; the declarations to be made by synodsmen and their electors; the manner of taking votes in the Synod; the division of the Diocese into parishes, cures, or congregations and into other areas of jurisdiction, administration, or operation; the summoning, adjournment, prorogation, and dissolution of Synods; the appointment, resignation, and retirement of the Bishop; the administration of the affairs of the Diocese while the see is vacant or while the Bishop is incapable of acting and has no vicar-general or none capable of acting; the appointment and licensing of clerks in holy orders to benefices, cures, charges, and offices and the creation, exercise, and abolition of rights of patronage; the appointment, resignation, and removal of churchwardens and other church officers; the tenure of any office in the Church and retirement or removal therefrom; the management of the property of the Church in the Diocese; the appointment and removal of members of the corporate trustees; the application of property vested in the corporate trustees but only so far as the trusts under which the property is held so permit; empowering the Bishop or the Diocesan Council to make regulations in respect of matters in respect of which the Synod may make an ordinance; and without any limitation that might be inferred from any preceding paragraph of this subsection, the management, direction, and regulation of the affairs of the Church in the Diocese.

Until it is otherwise provided by ordinance, the rules set forth in Schedule 5 apply to the election of synodsmen.

The Synod may by resolution – regulate its own procedure; deal with such matters as an ordinance permits or requires to be so dealt with; and deal with any matter at all, but not so as to bind any person in law.

The powers of the Synod are not affected by – any informality in – the nomination of a candidate for the office of synodsman; the election of a synodsman; or the notification of such an election; any failure to elect a synodsman; the absence of a member of the Synod; or the failure to summon a member to a meeting of the Synod.