Election of a Local Aboriginal
Land Council Board
Elections for Board members of a Local Aboriginal Land
Council are held every four years. They hold offices for
four years or until the election of the next Board.
Before the Election
The CEO of the LALC must ensure that the LALC membership roll is
current and provide the Returning Officer for the election with a
copy of the membership roll at least 48 hours before the Annual
Meeting.
The CEO must also before the election, create a 'List of eligible voters' that clearly states each member of the LALC who is entitled to vote in the election.
The Meeting
The Chairperson will ensure that a quorum is present before the
meeting is opened. A quorum is 10% of the total number of voting
members of the LALC.
The Chairperson will guide the meeting through the receipt of the Annual Report and audited financial statements. At the conclusion of this business the Chairperson will invite a motion to appoint the returning officer to conduct the election of Board members.
The Election
Before commencing the election process the Returning Officer must
be satisfied that a quorum is present at the meeting.
The ALRA prescribes that a LALC with more than 100 voting members shall have a Board of between seven to 10 members. It also prescribes that a LALC with 100 or less voting members shall have a Board of between five and seven members.
The returning officer calls for nominations.
Voting
A voting member of a Local Aboriginal Land Council is not entitled
to vote in elections for Board members if:
- The member has not attended at least 2 meetings of the Council in the preceding 12 months as a voting member, or
- The member is suspended from membership of the Council or Board.
Eligible voters will then be called by the Returning officer to receive a ballot paper.
The voter will cast a vote, place the ballot in the ballot box and return to their seat.
Counting the votes
When all votes are cast, the Returning Officer must retire to a
private location to count the votes. Each accepted ballot paper is
then placed in a pile under each of the candidates names. If there
are seven vacancies then the seven candidates with the highest
number of votes are elected.
The Returning Officer returns to the meeting and declares who has been elected.
After the election
At the close of the meeting the LALC Board is elected.
It is the responsibility of the CEO of the LALC to give notice of the first meeting of the LALC Board. At the first meeting of the LALC Board the Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson will be elected from amongst the Board members.
The returning officer for the election is the CEO.