What’s the process for a vote of no confidence in a management committee?
In this help sheet series, Our Community’s resident agony uncle, Chris Borthwick, offers answers to frequently asked questions about issues not-for-profits are facing.
Dear Agony Uncle,
Can you advise on the grounds and process for a vote of no confidence in a management committee?
Agony Uncle's answer
Why would you want to do this? A vote of no confidence in a government is effective only because a convention exists that in such a case the government resigns. That’s not in the constitution, though, and the only enforcement mechanism would be dismissal by the governor-general. A vote of no confidence in a management committee would have no effect whatsoever. We don’t have that convention, and we don’t have any equivalent to a G-G.
If you want to change a management committee, hold a special general meeting and vote them out. For any reason you like. Assuming you have the votes. By the mechanisms existing in your constitution.
The management committee manages. The members do not. They can change the committee, if they think it’s worth it, but they can’t make the committee do what they want. That’s not the way it works.
Best wishes,
Agony Uncle.
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