A long running internal dispute in a Melbourne based church has raised an interesting question about dealing with membership applications before an annual general meeting which may change the rules about membership qualifications.[1]
The Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Australia (Victoria) Inc (Church) exists to assist people, mainly people who were born in Tonga or people who are of Tongan descent, to worship God following Christian principles.
The Church appeared to have a progressive faction of members, many of whom had been previously been rejected for membership.
The annual general meeting (AGM) of the Association was set to be held on 1 October.
The notice of the AGM included a proposed new constitution with a new elaborate membership clause that, in the view of the progressive faction, reinforced the other faction’s control.
After notice of meeting was given, 75 new member applications were then lodged but were not dealt with prior to the AGM.
One of the questions before the Court was whether the AGM should be delayed until the membership applications had been decided under the old rules.
The Court considered the correct approach was that the already made membership applications should be determined under the existing rules of the Church, although it noted this was a provisional view given the matter was interlocutory.
Unlike Victorian legislation which is silent on the matter, Queensland’s Associations Incorporation Act 1981, section 50 declares that an effective rule alteration does not affect rights, liabilities or obligations of the association or another person, or legal proceedings, existing or pending immediately before the alteration took effect.
The question in this litigation would probably not have arisen for consideration by a Queensland Court.
[1] Moala v Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga in Australia (Vic) Inc (No 7) [2022] VSC 599