The Good Governance Guide

The Commission learns good governance tips from reading about what organisations are doing in this space.

If your organisation has a great idea that helps you support your officers and their officer duties, email it to us.

The Commission is focused on promoting good governance in registered organisations. Instilling a culture of good governance empowers members of organisations, their officers, and the wider community, to have confidence in how organisations are managed.

Frequently, discussions about good governance are about ideas and concepts. They are often conversations about good intentions but are sometimes difficult to translate into concrete policy. This guide has been designed to give you valuable and actionable steps to inform your internal discussions, inspire your own process changes and bring you closer to best practice.

The Commission encourages behaviours in registered organisations that focus on acting in the best interests of their members, ensuring members’ money is spent in a way that is transparent, properly authorised and which complies with their obligations under the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 (the RO Act).

The RO Act outlines various standards that need to be met by organisations and branches, their officers and their staff. Good governance is about the best practices, systems and processes that ensure compliance with the technical requirements of the Act.

The Commission regularly sees non-compliance that could have been avoided if organisations had adopted an internal culture of good governance. Governance and culture are strongly linked and can either drive or discourage misconduct within an organisation.

This guide is a series of helpful chapters, broken down by topic and focused on Good Governance. We recommend that you proceed through each chapter in order and then revise them individually as needed.

This guide is an additional resource from the Commission on this topic.

It is not intended to be a comprehensive list of requirements, obligations and responsibilities. In fact, many of these chapters do not include specific legislative requirements at all – the aim is to discuss the good governance practices that surround those requirements. Organisations should ensure they review the RO Act, materials on this website and their organisation’s rules and policies.

Our podcast also includes episodes about practical good governance steps.

Email questions to regorgs@fwc.gov.au or call 1300 341 665.