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Due to the difficulties that may be posed in holding face to face meetings and executing documents in the current COVID-19 environment, both the Commonwealth and NSW State Governments have made temporary changes to relevant legislation to allow virtual meetings and electronic signatures in certain circumstances. Extensions to lodge financial reports have also been granted by ASIC and the ACNC. In summary, these changes are:

• Entities incorporated as companies under the Corporations Act 2001 can hold virtual AGMs and other meetings (eg by Zoom) without the need for a physical location. There are certain conditions that still need to be complied with such as giving all those who attend an opportunity to participate and the use of polls for voting. This legislation is intended to over-ride the provisions of a company’s constitution.  More information.
• ASIC has also stated it will allow public companies with financial year ends from 31 December 2019 to 7 July 2020 to delay their AGM, so long as this occurs within 7 months after the end of their financial year. ASIC has also extended the deadline for entities to lodge financial reports under the Corporations Act by one month for certain balance dates up to and including 7 July 2020 balance dates.  More information.
• For entities which are unincorporated associations, the NSW Office of Fair Trading  has stated that AGMs may be conducted when restrictions are lifted or entities may conduct the 2020 AGM, for the purpose of presenting the financial information to members, in conjunction with the 2021 AGM. More information.
• For entities registered with the ACNC, Annual Information Statement due dates between 12 March 2020 and 30 August 2020 now have an extension until 31 August 2020. The ACNC has also  suggested that meetings (including AGMs) could continue be conducted by video conference where face to face meetings are not possible. Where meetings are unable to occur at all, this needs to be internally documented and explained.  More information.
• Execution of documents by a company under section 127 of the Corporations Act may be done so electronically rather than with ‘wet ink’ and, where there are two signatories, on separate documents provided each of the separate documents includes the entire contents. More information.
• Video technology platforms (eg Zoom and Skype) can now be used in NSW to witness important legal documents such as wills, powers of attorney and statutory declarations. A witness must see a person signing the document in real time, using the video platform, to confirm the signature is legitimate.
• To facilitate the witnessing of NSW statutory declarations during COVID-19, the categories of people who are authorised to witness documents has been expanded in line with federal legislation – this means that teachers  employed on a permanent full‑time or part‑time basis at a school or tertiary education institution and ministers of religion can now witness these documents. More information.

These arrangements will be in place until 26 September 2020 (for the NSW unincorporated association AGMs and NSW legal document changes) and until 6 November 2020 (for the Corporations Act meetings and Corporations Act document execution changes).

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The use of animals in schools for educational purposes is governed by the Animal Research Act (1985) NSW. Catholic Schools NSW meets a requirement of this Act by issuing an Animal Research Authority to each school annually.

Accompanying this advice is the annual Animal Research Authority for the Principal and teachers who use animals to complete and retain within the school. Both pages of the Authority need to be completed. The names of teachers approved by the Principal to handle animals should be listed on the second page of the Authority, along with each teacher’s signature.

The Animal Welfare Liaison Officer, appointed by the Principal, must also be identified. The Principal is the Animal Welfare Liaison Officer in Schools for Specific Purposes, primary and infants schools. In central and secondary schools, it is generally the teacher most qualified to supervise the use of animals for teaching and research purposes. A full description of the role of the Animal Welfare Liaison Officer can be found at Animals in schools>Compliance>Responsibilities accessed at http://nswschoolanimals.com/compliance/responsibilities/.

The information on page two of the Animal Research Authority must be updated when changes in personnel occur at the school. The Animal Research Authority must be retained at the school and made available to appropriately authorised people including officers of the NSW Department of Education, inspectors from the NSW Department of Primary Industries Animal Welfare Unit and officers involved with, and members of, the Schools Animal Care and Ethics Committee.

If you require further information about the Animal Research Authority, please contact Gerard Delany, State Manager – Education Policy by email [email protected]

Further information can be obtained via the link below:

2020 Animal Research Authority Catholic Schools New South Wales v1

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