SGLBA reregistered

The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Business Association has written to members to advise them that the organisation has been successfully reregistered with the NSW Office of Fair Trading.

Fair Trading deregistered the organisation earlier this year after it became aware that SGLBA had failed to comply with requirements in the Associations Incorporated Act relating to the submission of annual statements and registration fees since 1996.

The 2008 SGLBA board had sought to resolve the issue but did not supply all the required documents. The 2009 board began a search for the necessary records but did not complete the process.

Fair Trading tried contacting SGLBA in February to advise them they had been deregistered. However, the correspondence was sent to the last SGLBA public officer listed in Fair Trading’s records from 1998.

Fair Trading eventually made contact with the recently elected SGLBA secretary and the current board set about resolving the issue. SGLBA had to suspend the processing of membership subscriptions and financial transactions and cancel September’s Lemons With A Twist event while the matter was resolved.

The board supplied the necessary paperwork and registration fees to Fair Trading on September 6 and the organisation was reregistered on September 10.

SGLBA president Paul Lee-Maynard told Sydney Star Observer the board was taking steps to ensure this does not happen again.

“It’s common with community organisations — when you have changes of people on a committee or board, that knowledge of important practices, particularly around compliance, is not documented or passed on and that knowledge simply gets lost,” Lee-Maynard said.

“This is a perfect example. We didn’t have the appropriate procedures in place … so when transitioning from one board to another we haven’t had that information shared in the handovers.

“We’re making sure for future boards that the information is handed over but also that it is captured in such a way that it can be easily picked up and understood.”