13 April:  Protecting your website, training material, logo & name 

How can not-for-profit organisations protect their websites, publications, program names, logos and other material? How does an organisation know if and when it has to take steps to protect their intellectual property rights? This seminar will provide an invaluable overview on the basics of intellectual property law in a not-for-profit context, including: 

• Intellectual property issues raised by websites and other internet uses;
• Copyright, trade marks, and confidential information;
• How to protect your intellectual property and ensure that you own it;
• Remedies if your intellectual property is being infringed by others;
• Licensing agreements and releases for the use of information;
• Issues with hiring outside consultants and advertising agencies.

This seminar will be generously hosted by Minter Ellison Lawyers.

Date:                   Tuesday 13 April 2025
Time:                   9.30am to 12.30pm
Presenter:            Nicole Reid & Eliza Bartlett, Lawyers
Venue:                 Minter Ellison: Level 23, 525 Collins St, Melbourne
Cost:                   $40 (incl. GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:      Light refreshments will be provided

To register for this event, please visit:

13 May:  Changing the rules of your incorporated association
Are you on the committee of an incorporated association with out-of-date Rules? Do your Rules reflect the way your association operates, or would like to operate? Have you been meaning to change your Rules, but cringe at the prospect of proposing and voting on amendments?

This seminar will look at the current legal requirements for your Rules, the procedure for amending Rules and tips for reviewing the content of your Rules. Come along and feel prepared for the next time you consider changing your association's governing documents!

This seminar will be generously hosted by Freehills Lawyers.

Date:                    Thursday 13 May 2024
Time:                    9.30am to 12.30pm
Presenters:            Alice Macdougall (Special Counsel), Anna Lyons (Lawyer) and
                            Sarah Shnider (Lawyer)
Venue:                  Freehills: Level 42, 101 Collins St, Melbourne
Cost:                    $40 (incl. GST) administration fee per person
Refreshments:       Light refreshments will be provided

To register for this event, please visit:

In 2010 PilchConnect and the VCOSS Clearinghouse are working together to bring not-for-profit governance training to regional Victoria, running a program entitled ‘Board Members: Roles, Responsibilities, Liabilities and Protections.’ 

7 May 2010:  Ballarat
On  7 May 2010 PilchConnect will be travelling to Ballarat to deliver 'back to basics' training suitable for new not-for-profit Board / Committee of Management members or existing boards or committees that want a refresher.  The training will cover the role and legal responsibilities that come with running an effective community organisation in Victoria.

Date:                      Friday 7 May 2024
Time:                      11am to 2.30pm
Presenter:               PilchConnect Staff
Cost:                      To be confirmed (see link below)

Further information about the Ballarat governance training, and details of other regional training will be undertaking throughout 2010 will soon be posted on the VCOSS Clearinghouse website below:

Proposed reforms impacting on Victorian incorporated associations 
The Victorian Government is seeking to introduce further changes the Associations Incorporation Act 1981, the legislation that regulates the way incorporated associations operate in Victoria.  

You may recall that in 2009, there were a number of changes to this Act – these latest proposals represent stage two of this reform program, and introduce some significant amendments for Victorian incorporated associations.  In an Explanatory Statement which accompanies the proposed reforms, the Victorian Government lists the following objects of the amendments:

• to clarify the duties on officers and improve member control of incorporated associations;
• to improve grievance and dispute resolution procedures;
• to revise annual reporting requirements and audit thresholds; and
• to repeal the limitations on trading by an incorporated association.

Public consultations on the exposure draft of the Associations Incorporation Amendment Bill 2010 (Vic) close on 31 March 2010, with the Bill expected to be introduced into Parliament in the first half of this year.  PilchConnect will be making a detailed submission to the exposure draft of the Bill, which will be posted on the Submissions section of our website soon.

For further information, including links to the text of the Bill and the accompanying Explanatory Statement, see the following link to the Consumer Affairs Victoria website below:

Proposed changes to Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act 
Our January e-bulletin reported that the Victorian Government was proposing to extend Victoria's equal opportunity laws to cover all volunteers and unpaid workers. Under that original proposal, any ‘volunteer-involving' organisation were to be prohibited from discriminating against a volunteer or prospective volunteer on the basis of a protected attribute (eg. race, sex, age, parental or carer status, physical features or any other attribute as listed in the Act).

The Equal Opportunity Bill 2010 (Vic) has now been drafted and is currently being considered by Parliament, however recent developments have seen the Bill change significantly since its original introduction. 

While the original proposal sought to include all volunteers and unpaid workers under the definition of 'employees' for the purposes of the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 (Vic), a recent amendment to the Bill has altered this proposal to the extent that volunteers should only be treated as employees for those provisions of the Act relating to sexual harassment.

PilchConnect will continue keep an eye on the passage of these reforms, and will ensure that the sector remains informed through our monthly e-bulletins and our web portal, so please watch this space!

Test case for community workers 
The Australian Services Union (ASU) is currently involved in a major industrial relations test case that will examine the equal remuneration provisions under the new Fair Work Act 2009, and how these provisions should apply to the community sector.  

The ASU test case will focus on the Fair Work Act’s recognition that men and women should receive equal pay for work of comparative value, and will apply this principle to the social and community sector – which remains a female-dominated industry – in an attempt to gain fairer pay rates for workers. 

The outcome of this case has implications for the rates of pay under the Modern SACS Award, which is the Award that covers the majority of workers in the social, community, home care and disability services.  The rates of pay under this Award have been suspended until the test case has been determined. 

The test case is currently before Fair Work Australia and has been initiated by the ASU with assistance from the ACTU and the Federal Government.  PilchConnect will monitor the progress of the test case and will keep you up-to-date on developments as they arise.   

In the meantime, for further information follow the link to the ASU's campaign website below:

Signing of the National Compact 
The National Compact between the not-for-profit sector and the Federal Government was officially signed on 17 March 2025 at a ceremony in Canberra.  The Compact outlines how the Government and not-for-profit organisations will work together in the future, and flags best practice principles that are ‘based on partnership and respect’ between Government and the community sector.

As it is a ‘high level’ agreement, the Compact does not seek to lock-in any parties to specific commitments. However it is an important step in acknowledging the unique relationship that exists between Government and the extremely valuable community sector, which is increasingly being asked to deliver services that were traditionally considered to be the responsibility of government.

To learn more about this initiative, or to register your organisation’s support for the National Compact, please follow the link to the National Compact's website below:

In response to a number of queries from not-for-profits regarding the laws on background checks for volunteers and employees in Victoria, PilchConnect is in the process of producing a comprehensive guide for community organisations on how to address these issues (which, once completed, will be freely available on our web portal).

In the meantime, the Department of Justice is in the process of conducting free information sessions on the Working with Children Check (WCC) requirements, and will be running these sessions throughout April and May in both metropolitan and regional locations.  The Department’s information sessions will address upcoming changes to WCC requirements, including details on the types of occupational fields that require WCCs, how to apply for the checks, and the deadlines for applications.

Seats are limited at these information sessions, so bookings are essential.  For further details, or to register your attendance at an information session, follow the below link to the Department of Justice website:

Sue Woodward and others from the PilchConnect team will be teaching a Masters subject called ‘Not-for-profit organisations: current regulatory and governance issues' at Melbourne University's Law School in early June 2010. A similar subject was delivered in 2008 and the feedback from participants was extremely positive.

The subject will examine recent inquiries and law reform developments in the not-for-profit sector, as well as drawing on the practical legal issues that arise for not-for-profits. The course will be full fee paying, and is suitable for both lawyers and non-lawyers with relevant experience, including those with a strong not-for-profit background.

For more information you can contact us at connect@pilch.org.au, or see the University's website below:

Handling internal disputes and disciplinary action

PilchConnect is regularly asked for advice on how to manage internal disputes within community organisations. This is an extremely difficult area that is often highly emotional for all involved, and while there is no single solution, there are certain steps that must be observed when attempting to resolve these issues.

For example, the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 (Vic) requires Victorian incorporated associations to include procedures for internal disputes in their rules. Therefore, if your organisation is facing an internal dispute, the first step is to examine your rules for the appropriate procedures. If your organisation is a Victorian association and is governed by the Model Rules, a procedure for mediating disputes and taking disciplinary action can be found in Rules 7 and 8.

Mediation is certainly the preferred way to resolve internal issues, however if attempts at mediating a dispute have not been successful then the best legal tip we can suggest is that you must be certain that your rules have been complied with throughout the dispute resolution process before taking any formal disciplinary action as a Committee.  A failure to follow the procedure exactly as it is set out in your governing documents will often draw criticism from Courts, who have long recognised that when an organisation exercises a power to discipline a member, it has very serious consequences for that person.

There are also other fundamental rules relating to procedural fairness that must be observed before any disciplinary action can be considered. Individuals that have been subjected to allegations that could lead to disciplinary action from the organisation must always be afforded natural justice, which means that they have a right to put their case forward, and ensure that any decision-making process is fair and reasonable.

In the end, it is in nobody's interest to end up in the Courts, and there are numerous examples of Judges and Magistrates that have held the view that internal disputes within community organisations are not appropriately dealt with by the Courts.

For more information about resolving disputes through mediation, follow the below link to the website of the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria:  

PilchConnect is currently piloting a telephone legal advice service for Victorian, not-for-profit community organisations.

This free telephone service is available for once-off legal advice on a limited range of legal issues. Further details about eligibility criteria for the advice service are available at
  Telephone Advice Service.

For more information about the telephone advice service, or to make a legal inquiry on behalf of your organisation, please call us on 8636 4444 or 1800 706 220. Our legal volunteers will answer your initial inquiry and, if eligible, a PilchConnect lawyer will call you back.

The telephone advice service complements existing legal support services already provided by PilchConnect, including:

• PilchConnect's legal information web portal (see  www.pilch.org.au/legal_info)
• PilchConnect's legal referral service (see  www.pilch.org.au/pcguidelines)
• PilchConnect's ongoing training program (see  www.pilch.org.au/nfpseminars)
• PilchConnect's law reform and advocacy work (see  www.pilch.org.au/)

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which has been set up to provide legal help to Victorian, not-for-profit community organisations.

The service provides free and low cost legal information, training, advice and legal referrals for Victorian not-for-profit community organisations. We also undertake law reform and advocacy work about the wide range of legal issues that affect the not-for-profit sector.

If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this e-bulletin please email  connect@pilch.org.au.

If you would like to contribute to, or provide feedback about this e-bulletin, please email
  connect@pilch.org.au.

To find out more about the legal services we provide, see: