DARWIN MASONIC PRECINCT INCORPORATED

____________________

As in force at 14 May 2022

Last amended 29 August 2023

__________________

dmpi regulations

Regulations under the DMPI Constitution as amended 14 May 2022

1 Citation

These Regulations may be cited as the Darwin Masonic Precinct Regulations.

2 Definitions

In these Regulations: All definitions shall be in accordance with those on the Darwin Masonic Precinct Constitution.

Where the abbreviation DMPI is used it shall be construed to mean Darwin Masonic Precinct Incorporated

3 Purpose

The purpose of these regulations is to incorporate all the various governing documents of the association as required for the legal and effective operation of the association and the building, under the DMPI Constitution, the Northern Territory Associations Act and all other acts, laws and regulations, Municipal, Territory or Federal, under one governing document.

4 Documents forming part of the Regulations

The documents listed in Schedule ‘A’ together form the DMPI Regulations. As per the DMPI Constitution, these documents may be amended, added to or deleted by the DMPI Management Committee, following due approval process as required to comply with changing legal or operational requirements.

5 Effect of Regulations

These Regulations are binding to all members of the DMPI association and the DMPI management Committee. They come into effect once approved by the management committee and remain in effect until rescinded by that Committee or a General Meeting of members of the association convened and notified as per the requirements of the DMPI Constitution.

6 Evidence of Currency

All current documents will include the date of approval by the committee and bear the signature of the chairman chairing the meeting at which they were approved or amended. 

Notes to DMPI Regulations

DMPI Regulations were introduced into the May 2022 alteration to the Darwin Masonic Precinct Incorporated Constitution, as a way to place all policy documents produced by DMPI and its predecessors under one umbrella. These policy documents have been produced to assist good governance, as required by the Northern Territory Associations Act 2003 and subsequent amendments. Many of them were developed to comply with other legislation, National and Territory, while others were developed to remove operating uncertainty and provide guidance to the committee. 

The authority to establish the regulations was by Section 18.5 of the constitution which states:

“The Committee may establish regulations, policies and/or procedures for the better management of the Association. Once approved, these will be binding on all members unless rescinded by the Committee or overturned by a General Meeting of members.”

The catalyst to establish the regulations was an inspection by an NTF&ES in November 2021 which found DMPI in breach of regulations including not having a document complying with “Planning for Emergencies in Facilities as per AS3745–2010” as we could not produce such a document for our facility. The inspection also revealed that building works performed in 1975 and 2010 had never been certified, which was another problem. Our “DMPI Emergency Response Plan” was hurriedly developed to satisfy that requirement and it was agreed that instituting a set of regulation to incorporate this document, associated documents and existing governance documents was a suitable way of managing the range of corporate governance and compliance we require.

The following notes provide further explanation of the origin, history and/or purpose of each of the document incorporated into these regulations. 

1.  DMMVMB Corporate Governance, produced in 2016, is a document that predates the regulations and the name change to DMPI. It is a comprehensive document that in many ways covers much of what is covered by the regulations. It has been revised to some degree, but requires considerable further revision. Combining so much in one document makes it difficult to manage and edit and update by volunteer committee members usually without expertise in these fields. It has been retained as a reference source until all the information contained therein is available on other documents. Subsequent documents take precedence over material in this document, unless in conflict with overriding legislation.

2. Guide for Members of the Darwin Masonic Memorial Village Incorporated Management Committee, 2016, is another existing document incorporated into the Regulations. It is very comprehensive and covers almost every aspect of administration. It requires editing and updating to reflect changes in the name, Constitution, new policies and other operating conditions, but it is unlikely it will ever be replaced. It is the “go-to” reference document regarding questions of administration of this organization.

3. Disposal / Retention Schedule 2016 is also part of the DMMVMB Corporate Governance document. It requires revision to reflect name, Constitution and possible legal changes in the interim, but provides comprehensive information regarding document retention requirements.

4. DMPI Duties of Committee Members, was first approved as a governance document in 2021 in order to clarify the roles and responsibilities of DMPI offices rather than all members, so perhaps it should be titled as Duties of Committee Officers. It is far from comprehensive and in the case of Offices listed in the Constitution it only repeats the information therein. It does give more definition to the roles and duties of those offices not listed in the Constitution, but essential to the effective operation of the hall and precinct rather than the association. Other documents provide practical advice on the operations of some of these offices but these do not form part of these Regulations. It may require revision as conditions change. 

5. DMPI Delegation Authority and Register is a register of delegations that have been enacted and those that have been authorised and not enacted. A draft document was developed in 2021, used to delegate DMPI Association members who are not Committee Members to DMPI Offices, where allowed in the Constitution. The chairman, deputy chairman, secretary, treasurer and public officer are all required to be nominated or elected Committee Members, while all other officers do not, so may be delegated non-committee members. This register does not include management committee members who are appointed to an office. 

6. DMPI Procurement Guidelines, also developed in 2021 to provide guidance for procurement processes. It will need revision to reflect changes in bank practices.

7. DMPI Covid 19 Plan (2022), prepared in January 2022 to comply with directions of the NT Chief Health Officer and updated as advice changed, they are no longer in force but have not been removed as yet. Aspects have been incorporated into the DMPI Emergency Response Plan.

8. DMPI Emergency Response Plan, developed in January 2022 in response to an NTF&ES Notice to Comply with the Australian Work Health and Safety Act 2011. and to AS3745. It covers the DMPI management of emergency systems and emergency response planning. It must be amended at any time there is a change in emergency response personnel including changes in the Management Committee. The Chairman is always the plan manager, who delegates various responsibilities to other Committee members. If no one is delegated, full responsibility remains with the Chairman.

9. Freemason Hall Emergency Warden Training, a training course document for fire and emergency response wardens. Each lodge is required to have at least one person trained and operating in this role at each meeting. It is the responsibility of the person in charge of the meeting to ensure they have suitably trained warden and to negotiate with DMPI for training to ensure compliance.

10. DMPI Emergency Response Training Register, associated with the emergency response plan, records names of officers trained as fire wardens.

11. Freemason Hall - Users Agreement, commenced in 2022 as no other document had been used for a number of years, and the need to ensure hirer compliance with Emergency Response procedures became apparent, it is the document used as a contract document between all hirers of the Freemason Hall and DMPI, who are not Constituent Lodges. It is updated whenever the Hall Hire Rate is altered or any other condition is added or amended.

12. DMPI Asset Management Plan, Commenced in February 2020 but not yet complete, it is proposed to encapsulate all the building data required to  operate, maintain and develop the Freemason Hall building. Once complete it will require updating whenever changes are made. 

13. DMPI Building Alteration Approval Process was created in mid 2022, when a number of alterations and modifications had been carried out and a number of others were being proposed. It has been introduced to ensure best practice is followed, financial and building, to insure all interested members wishes and needs are considered before alterations proceed.

14. DMPI Routine Maintenance Schedule, a schedule of maintenance required and performed on Freemason Hall originally from 2011 and updated, but requires complete revision. It will eventually be absorbed into the DMPI Asset Management plan, but retained until that is complete and operational.

15. DMPI Financial Reserves Policy, was first developed in 2022 after insurance policy excess values were significantly increased, it became apparent that to operate within the financial constraints of the NT Associations Act it would be necessary to set aside appreciable financial reserves to cover not just that contingency but others. This policy helps Committee members understand the purpose and necessity of monetary reserves.

16. Freemason Hall User Policy, is a policy document to cover user policy for all Hall users including Constituent Lodges. The purpose of this policy is to ensure the activities of one user does not negatively impact in subsequent (or previous) users, by providing clear guidelines of expected behaviour for all users. 

Disclaimer

Where these documents seek to achieve DMPI or Freemason Hall compliance with their responsibilities under any legislated Act or Regulation, wherever these documents may differ from that legislation, the legislated Act or Regulation takes precedence. 

This Revision of this Regulation and the associated documents under it, is approved by resolution of the DMPI Management Committee Meeting, Item 7.d, on 9/10/2023. and Ratified by the Annual General Meeting of 21/10/2023