Membership Qualifications
a.Membership is open to individuals eighteen years of age or over, and his/her nomination is approved by the Management Committee.
b.To qualify for membership of the Society, a person must be:
i.Muslim;
ii. a resident of Australian Capital Territory (ACT), and surrounding regions;
iii. nominated by any two existing members of the Society who are up-to-date with their monthly membership dues; and
iv. willing to abide by the Society’s Constitution at all times.
c.The Executives may only refuse an application for membership if, acting reasonably and properly, they consider it to be in the best interests of the ISB to refuse the application.
d.The Executives must inform the applicant in writing of the reasons for the refusal within twenty-one days of the decision.
e.The Executives must consider any written representations the applicant may make about the decision. The Executives’ decision following any written representations must be notified to the applicant in writing and shall be final.
Category of membership
The four categories of membership are:
a.Founder members – people who attended or submitted applications to join as members at the Founders Meeting held on 3 Safar 1424 (29 January 2002 at Higgins);
b.Foundation members – people who are granted membership prior to the date of incorporation of the Society in 2005;
c.Ordinary members – people who have applied and granted membership after the date of incorporation of the Society, and
d.Honorary members – people who, at the discretion of the management, are granted honorary membership.
To be eligible for Honorary membership, a person must be:
i.Muslim; and
ii. have rendered distinguished service to the Society, Islam, or the Muslim community.
Honorary members are not eligible to vote or hold office in the Society.
Application for membership
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a.Existing members who wish to nominate an individual for membership in the Society must:
i.Complete and sign the application for membership form prescribed by the Society which is in operation at the relevant time; and
ii. Submit such application form to the Secretary of the Society together with any documents required by the Society from time to time.
Confirmation of membership
The process for confirmation of membership must be as follows:
i.When an application for membership is made in accordance with the requirements of this Constitution and received by the Secretary, it must be submitted to the Management Committee for its consideration and decision.
ii. All applications for membership of the Society must be scrutinised and processed in strict accordance with the Clauses operational at the time.
iii. The Management Committee, at its absolute discretion, may either approve or reject the application for membership of the Society.
1. In the case of the application being rejected, the Secretary must inform the individual in writing.
2. In no case, and under no circumstances will the Management Committee be required to give its reasons or any explanation for its decision.
iv. Upon an application for membership of the Society being approved by the Committee, the Secretary must, with as little delay as possible, notify the applicant of the approval of his application for membership of the Society and request payment within 28 days after receipt of the notification, the current year’s annual subscription.
v.Consideration for an application decision from the date the application is received shall not take more than two months.
c.When an application for membership of the Society is approved by the Management Committee and the subscriptions paid, the applicant’s name and address and other membership details must be entered in the membership Register.
d.The Executives must keep a register of names and addresses of the members.
e.The register of members must be kept at the principal place of administration of the Society and must be open for inspection, free of charge, by any member of the Society on request to the Management Committee.
Members’ Rights and Privileges
a.A right, privilege, or obligation of a person by reason of membership of the Society:
i.is not capable of being transferred or transmitted to another person; and
ii. terminates upon the cessation of membership whether by death or resignation or otherwise.
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Voting rights
a.All members who are financially current at the time an election is called, and where the member has been a member in the Society for a minimum of one year after confirmation, is eligible to vote.
b.No member is entitled to vote by proxy at any meeting of the Society.
Membership Fees
a.Membership application fees are the relevant amount set out by the Management Committee from time to time. This amount is non-refundable whether an application is successful or not.
b.Members’ monthly dues are the relevant amount set out by the
Management Committee from time to time, and are payable not later than the 20th of each month. Members’ dues shall be the primary source of rental payments of ISB lease holdings.
Termination of membership
Membership is terminated if:
a.a member dies or, in the case of an organisation, ceases to exist;
b.a member resigns by written notice to the ISB unless, after the resignation, there would be less than two members;
c.any sum due from the member to the ISB is not paid in full within six months of it falling due;
d.a member is removed from membership by a resolution of the Executives that it is in the best interests of the ISB that his or her membership is terminated. A resolution to remove a member from membership may only be passed if:
i.the member has been given at least twenty one days notice in writing of the meeting of the Executives at which the resolution will be proposed and the reasons why it is to be proposed; and
ii. the member or, at the option of the member, the member’s representative (who need not be a member of the ISB) has been allowed to make representations to the meeting.
Resignation and Expulsion of members
a.A member of the Society who has paid all money due and payable by the member to the Society may resign from the Society by first giving one month’s notice in writing to the Secretary of his intention to resign and
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upon the expiration of that period of notice; the member ceases to be a member of the Society.
b.Upon the expiration of the notice given under Sub-Clause (a) the Secretary must make in the Register of members an entry recording the date on which the member by whom the notice was given, ceased to be a member of the Society.
c.Subject to this Constitution, the Committee may, by resolution –
i.expel a member from the Society;
ii. suspend a member from membership of the Society for a specified period if the Management Committee is of the opinion that the member:
1. has refused or neglected to comply with this Constitution; or
2. has been guilty of want of allegiance or of conduct
unbecoming a member or prejudicial to the interests of the Society or for any other valid reason.
The decision of the Management Committee is final and no correspondence will be entered into.
d.After affording such member an opportunity of offering an explanation on his conduct either verbally or in writing as the Committee may decide, in the opinion of the Committee the conduct of the member is such as to be detrimental to the best interest of the Society provided that:
i.such expulsion shall not be effective unless it is confirmed by a simple majority (51%) of members present at a general meeting of the members convened to consider such an expulsion; and
ii. such general meeting shall be held within the period of two months from the date of the decision of the Committee to expel the member.
Effect of Expulsion and Disqualification
Any member expelled or disqualified by the Committee shall forfeit all their rights and privileges under this constitution and when a member so expelled is an Office- Bearer or a member of any board or sub-committee of the Society, their office shall be deemed to be vacated. Any member expelled or disqualified will have no rights against the funds or properties of the Society and shall be deemed to be as if the member concerned had never been a member of the Society.