Commons Management Act 1989

The statute builds around a small set of recurring legal objects and procedural concepts.

• Trust. A statutory corporation constituted by notice when land is set aside as a common (s 4(1)-(2)). The trust is the legal owner of the common and holds it for the commoners according to the original instrument of dedication (s 8(1)(b); s 13).

• Common. A parcel of land set aside under historical instruments or later notice published by the Governor or Minister, defined in s 3 and excluding parcels where the setting aside has been revoked.

• Commoners’ roll. The register of persons entitled to exercise commoner rights, to be kept by the trust and managed under regulatory prescription (s 10). Only persons on the roll may exercise commoner rights (s 12(1)) and enrolment rejection can be appealed to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal (s 11).

• Trust board. An elected administrative body (3-7 members absent Ministerial variation) that manages trust affairs unless a local authority or administrator is appointed (s 6(1), (6)). Election cycles are prescribed,general elections at every third annual general meeting (s 32).

• Local authority. A council may be appointed by the Minister to manage a trust, with limitations (consent required and geography,except in Western Division,s 7(1)-(3)). When appointed, the council functions in the capacity of the trust and may use either its own seal or the trust’s (s 7(7)).

• Administrator. A Ministerially appointed manager who fills gaps during establishment, failed elections, or mismanagement (s 5; s 48). Administrators take custody of trust property and may terminate existing service contracts in limited circumstances (s 48(3)(e), sch 1).

• Management plan. A ministerially adopted plan that, when operative, binds use and operations on the common and precludes activities inconsistent with the plan (ss 25-27). Adoption requires consultation steps for many plans (s 26); plans inconsistent with historic uses require supermajority commoner approval at special meetings (s 27(2)).

• By-law. Made by the trust for local regulation over many specified matters including fees, parking, camping, fauna and flora protection, and recovery of charges as debts (s 9(1), (9)). By‑laws require Governor approval and a by-law may create offences (s 9(3), (11)).

• Ministerial control and consent. Central throughout: establishment, naming, consent to land transactions, adoption/cancellation of management plans, appointing administrators or local authorities, investigation powers, directions on disposal of proceeds and financial requirements (multiple sections: s 4, s 16, s 27, s 48, s 21, s 24).

• Financial and audit obligations. Trusts must keep accounting records, hold annual general meetings, prepare accounts and balance sheets, appoint auditors (qualified under regulations), attach auditor’s reports, and have accounts audited before annual meetings (ss 31, 41-46).

• Oversight and sanctions. The Act empowers inspection (s 54), appointment of inspectors with wide powers (s 55), offences for obstruction and false statements (s 57), and criminal penalties for obstructing auditors (s 47). The Minister’s determinations on complaints are final and binding (s 53(3)).

These concepts combine to create an institutional model: local property rights and customary uses are collected under a statutory trust; local governance is achieved through elected boards constrained by statutory and Ministerial controls; financial transparency is enforced by audits and reports; and the Minister retains significant intervention and land-transaction controls.

This Act identifies and imposes duties and powers on distinct groups. The following statements describe who pays, who decides, and who is regulated.

• Commoners. Persons whose names are entered on a commoners’ roll have the rights to use the common and to vote at general meetings and elections (ss 10-12; s 34(3)). They pay prescribed annual fees and charges set by by-laws when required (s 9(1)(m)-(n)). Commoners have statutory entitlements to inspect trust accounting and other records at reasonable times without charge (s 30(2)) and a right to complain to the Minister about improper management (s 50).

• Trust boards and their members. Members are elected by commoners and manage day-to-day affairs subject to the Act, management plans and Ministerial directions (s 6(6); s 8(1); s 53(2)). Board members face specific duties: keep records and accounts (ss 30, 41), present accounts at annual meetings (s 31(6)), appoint or hold elections for auditors (s 43), maintain minutes (s 39), and follow pecuniary interest disclosure and tendering rules (Sch 2 cl 6-7). Failure to comply exposes members to penalties and possible removal (Sch 2 cl 3; s 59).

• Local authorities (councils). They may be appointed by the Minister to manage a trust’s affairs with the council’s consent (s 7(1)-(2)). Appointment can be for up to three years and, when managing a trust, certain Local Government Act provisions apply as prescribed (s 7(4), (11)). Local authorities managing trusts share liability with the trust where applicable (Sch 2 cl 5(2)).

• Administrators and inspectors. Administrators are appointed by the Minister to manage trusts during establishment or when the trust’s governance fails; they receive remuneration directed by the Minister and may be paid by the trust (s 5; sch 1 cl 6). Inspectors are appointed by the Minister to investigate trust affairs and have statutory powers to inspect, copy documents, require statements, and question persons (s 55).

• Minister and delegated officials. The Minister decides establishment, naming, approvals of transactions, granting of general authorities and conditions, adoption or cancellation of management plans, appointment and removal of administrators and local authority appointments, and final determinations on complaints (ss 4, 16, 27, 48, 7, 53). The Minister may delegate functions (s 58), and can require trusts to set aside funds for debt servicing (s 21).

• Third parties dealing with trust land. Purchasers, lessees, mortgagees and licensees dealing in good faith with an authorised person are protected by s 19(2)-(4). However, unconsented transactions are void (s 16(2)), and trusts must not enter into certain categories of transactions without Ministerial consent (s 16(4)-(5), (10)-(13)).

• Auditors and qualified professionals. Auditors must be qualified persons as prescribed by regulations (s 43(10)), and have extensive reporting duties and rights of access (s 46). Trusts must pay reasonable auditor fees (s 45).

• The Crown. The Minister may treat trust real property as Crown land on dissolution or part revocation (s 24(3); s 61A(3)). The Crown is explicitly not liable for losses incurred by a trust during administration unless otherwise provided (sch 1 cl 7(2)).

• Courts and tribunals. The Local Court deals with summary proceedings for offences under this Act (s 60). The Civil and Administrative Tribunal hears external appeals limited to enrolment disputes under s 11(1).

These allocations of rights and duties create a network of stakeholders: commoners exercise use rights and democratic controls, trust boards administer subject to Ministerial oversight, local authorities or administrators can be appointed to step in, and third parties are protected in good-faith dealings with authorised officers but bear transactional risk if consent requirements are not satisfied.

The Act sets out specific legal duties for trusts, boards, commoners and the Minister. This section organises the principal obligations and entitlements that structure behaviour.

Trusts’ duties and rights:

• Care, control and management. Trusts are responsible for the care, control and management of the common and must hold the land for the commoners according to the original dedication instrument and the Act (s 8(1)(a)-(b)).
• Property ownership. A trust has a fee simple estate in the common by virtue of s 14(1), subject to revocation of setting aside (s 14(2)).
• By-laws. Trusts may make by-laws for many enumerated matters subject to Governor approval (s 9(1), (3), (6)). Charges fixed by by-law are recoverable as debts (s 9(9)).
• Management plans. Trusts must prepare and implement management plans as directed (ss 25, 27(4)(a)). Once operative, no person may act inconsistently with the plan (s 27(4)(b)).
• Financial administration. Trusts must keep accounting records, prepare annual accounts and balance sheets, retain records for 7 years, appoint auditors and present audited accounts at annual general meetings (ss 41-43; s 31(6); s 42).
• Records and access. Trusts must keep records at the principal place of administration (s 30(1)). Commoners have rights to inspect accounts and other records without charge (s 30(2)). Minutes must be kept and signed and copies provided on request (s 39).
• Temporary licences and leases. Trusts may grant temporary licences subject to prescribed conditions (s 22). Leases or licences are cancelled if the common’s setting aside is revoked or terminated (s 23(1)).

Trust boards’ duties:

• Elections and meetings. Boards must ensure elections occur according to the Act and regulations (ss 32-34), hold meetings per Sch 3, keep minutes (s 39), and comply with disclosure rules for pecuniary interests (Sch 2 cl 6).
• Tendering and conflicts. Where a member has a pecuniary interest, the board must invite tenders with published notices and must not enter into contracts unless tender outcomes show no advantage in the conflicted proposed contract (Sch 2 cl 7).
• Compliance and reporting. Members are individually liable for failures to comply with record-keeping and accounting duties and face penalties (s 41(4); s 42(6)). Members in default may be treated as persons in default under s 59.

Commoners’ rights and duties:

• Enrolment and voting. To exercise rights you must be on the commoners’ roll (s 12(1)) and be over 18 and not legally disabled to vote (s 34(3)). Enrolment refusals trigger appeal rights to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal within 28 days (s 11).
• Access to information. Commoners are entitled to inspect the trust’s accounting and other records (s 30(2)), inspect disclosure books on payments (Sch 2 cl 6(3)), and receive statutory notices about meetings (s 36(1)).
• Meeting participation and requisition. Commoners can requisition special general meetings if they are at least 20 per cent of the roll (s 35(2)(a)), participate in public meetings about draft management plans (s 26), and vote in elections (s 34).

Ministerial powers and duties:

• Establishment and naming. The Minister must establish a trust when land is set aside and assign its corporate name (s 4(1)-(2)).
• Consent, control and direction. The Minister must consent to land transactions (s 16(4)-(9)), may impose conditions, issue general authorities (s 16(10)), require trusts to set aside funds for debt repayment (s 21), appoint or terminate local authorities (s 7), appoint administrators (ss 5, 48), adopt or cancel management plans after prescribed consultation (ss 25-28), and give binding directions following complaints (s 53).
• Investigatory and enforcement. The Minister can delegate functions (s 58), appoint inspectors (s 55), and take determinations that are final and binding (s 53(3)).

Auditor duties:

• Qualification and appointment. Auditors must hold qualifications prescribed by regulation (s 43(10)); initial appointment by administrator and later election by commoners (s 43(1)-(4)).
• Reporting obligations. Auditors must report on accounts, record-keeping and rolls, state defects and inform the Minister if statutory meeting or disclosure requirements are unmet (s 46(1)-(10)).
• Rights. Auditors have rights of access to records, to attend and be heard at general meetings and to be supplied with notices (s 46(6)-(8)).

Sanctions and offences:

• By-law offences up to 5 penalty units (s 9(11)).
• Contravention of operative management plan: maximum 10 penalty units (s 27(5)).
• Failure to keep records or obstruct inspection: maximum penalties specified in ss 30, 41, 42, 47 and 57. Obstructing an auditor can attract up to 20 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment or both (s 47).
• Liability for members in default extends to members who are knowingly concerned in contraventions (s 59).

These rights and duties structure incentives. Trusts can raise revenue through by-law charges (s 9(1)(m)-(n)), but alienation and encumbrance of trust land is tightly constrained by Ministerial oversight (s 16). Auditing and record obligations increase compliance costs but provide transparency to commoners and the Minister. The Minister’s broad powers create central control points that can direct trustees’ financial priorities (s 21) and resolve disputes with binding determinations (s 53).

The Act sets a mix of civil, criminal and administrative enforcement mechanisms. Penalties are specified in particular provisions and the Act also embeds administrative remedies.

Criminal sanctions and statutory fines:

• By-law offences. A by‑law may create an offence with maximum penalty not exceeding 5 penalty units (s 9(11)). Penalties imposed by the court are payable to the trust (s 9(12)).
• Management-plan breach. Carrying out activity inconsistent with an operative management plan is an offence with maximum penalty 10 penalty units (s 27(5)).
• Record-keeping and inspection offences. Obstructing a commoner’s inspection right (s 30(3)) attracts maximum 10 penalty units. Failure to keep proper accounting records is an offence with 10 penalty units (s 41(4)). Failure to prepare or lay accounts properly can incur maximum 20 penalty units (s 42(6)).
• Obstruction and false statements. Hindering or obstructing the Minister, inspector or authorised person, or failing to comply with inspector requirements, or making false answers or statements, is an offence with maximum 10 penalty units (s 57(1)). However, obstruction of an auditor under s 47 carries a stiffer penalty: maximum 20 penalty units or 12 months imprisonment, or both.
• Members in default. Where a contravention provisions specify a member in default is guilty of an offence, s 59 extends culpability to any member knowingly concerned or party to the contravention, including former members.

Enforcement procedures and remedies:

• Local Court jurisdiction. Proceedings for an offence under the Act or a by-law are to be dealt with summarily before the Local Court (s 60). This indicates low-tier criminal enforcement and faster procedures.
• Recovery of charges. Charges properly imposed under by-laws that are unpaid are recoverable as a debt (s 9(9)). Administrator expenses and certified remuneration can be recoverable as debts due to the Crown (sch 1 cl 6(4)(b)).
• Voidness of unauthorised transactions. A trust’s purported land transaction beyond its powers is void (s 16(2)). This creates a legal protection for public title but also transactional risk for parties who fail to obtain or verify Ministerial consent.
• Ministerial directions and binding determinations. The Minister’s determinations following complaints are final and binding on both complainant and the trust (s 53(3)). The Minister may require a trust to carry out a requirement, give directions on how affairs must be managed, or quash trust decisions (s 53(2)(a)-(d)). Failure to comply with such Ministerial requirements attracts a penalty for board members in default (s 53(5)).
• Inspector powers. Inspectors may require production of records, take copies, require English-language decipherable statements and question persons under s 55. Refusal or failure to comply is an offence (s 57). Inspectors may enter trust premises but not residential parts without occupier consent (s 54(2); s 55(4)).

Administrative remedies:

• Appointment of administrators. The Minister may appoint administrators where elections fail, contraventions continue, or an inquiry recommends intervention (s 48). On appointment, the administrator takes custody of trust property and may, within limited timeframes, terminate contracts (s 48(3)(a)-(e)). Administrators are protected from liability for losses not attributable to intentional misconduct, gross negligence or statutory non‑compliance (sch 1 cl 7(1)).
• Removal of members. The Minister may remove members for incapacity, incompetence or misbehaviour (Sch 2 cl 3(2)). The process includes rights to be heard (Sch 2 cl 3(4)).
• Auditors’ reporting to Minister. Auditors who detect statutory non-compliance must notify the Minister and provide accounts and reports (s 46(9)). Auditors also have rights to be heard at general meetings and to attend meetings (s 46(8)).

Implementation levers and discretion:

• Governor’s approval required for by-laws (s 9(3)), creating an additional executive check.
• Ministerial consent and conditions for land transactions are broad, including power to require notice of proposed sales and to impose additional terms (s 16(6)-(11), (14)).
• The Minister’s powers to appoint local authorities or administrators, to delegate functions (s 58), and to issue directions on financial arrangements (s 21) concentrate enforcement and corrective authority in the executive.

The enforcement regime therefore combines statutory penalties aimed at individuals and bodies with non-criminal remedies such as voidness, debt recovery, Ministerial directions and removal or appointment of administrators. The Act concentrates final decision-making on management and remedial action in the Minister while preserving access to tribunal review for specific enrolment disputes (s 11).

The Act explicitly links and preserves interactions with multiple other statutory regimes. The following are the main intersections and specified precedence.

• Crown Land Acts and Crown Land regime. The Act references the Crown Land Acts and gives the Minister power to treat certain trust land as Crown land on disposition or revocation (s 24(3); s 61A(3)). The definition of land district is tied to historical land-district administrative divisions under repealed Crown Lands Act 1989 and Western Lands Act 1901; the Minister may specify land districts by Gazette order (s 3A).

• Real Property Act 1900. Section 14(3) states that s 14’s vesting of fee simple has effect despite anything in s 42 of the Real Property Act 1900. That is an express non‑derogation clause giving this Act primacy as to the trust’s fee simple estate where established by the Act.

• Local Government Act 1993. The term local authority is defined to mean a council under the Local Government Act (s 3). When a council is appointed to manage trust affairs, prescribed provisions of the Local Government Act apply to the council in that capacity, with prescribed modifications (s 7(11)). This cross‑application subjects councils to their own Act’s administrative rules when acting as trust managers, as prescribed.

• Interpretation Act 1987. Section 4(7) (s 4(7) in the Act) applies s 50 of the Interpretation Act 1987 to trusts, subject to Division 4, governing application of corporate powers and signatory rules.

• Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013. Appeals from enrolment refusals under s 11 are external appeals to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal (s 11(1) note), hence keeping enrolment disputes within the administrative tribunal framework.

• Forestry Act 2012. Section 61 expressly preserves the operation of s 38 of the Forestry Act 2012 as regards Crown‑timber lands inside a common, noting the Forestry Act’s separate regime for Crown‑timber lands.

• Government Sector Employment Act 2013. The Schedule 1 proviso (sch 1 cl 4(1)) expressly excludes the Government Sector Employment Act from applying to administrators; administrators are not subject to that Act for appointments.

• Other instruments and regulations. The Act provides for the Governor to make regulations on many matters (s 62). Regulations may prescribe commoner qualifications, election procedures, auditor qualifications, preparation and adoption of management plans, custody of seals, and dissolution provisions. These regulations will determine much of the operational detail and interface with administrative law norms.

• Savings and transitional operation with the former Act. Schedule 5 contains transitional provisions taking over bodies and rolls from the former Commons Regulation Act 1898 and preserving prior licences and practical rights (Sch 5 cl 2-9). The Act repeals the former Act and its regulations (s 64).

Legal effect and precedence:

• The Act contains express non‑derogation language (s 13(1) and s 14(3)) showing that Division 4 is intended to operate alongside other enactments relevant to particular trusts or grant instruments (s 13(1)). Ministerial powers to treat dissolved trust property as Crown land (s 24(3)) and to specify land-districts (s 3A) are points of statutory interaction where the Crown Land regime or other Acts will apply.

• The Act’s provisions that make transactions void without Ministerial consent (s 16(2)) mean that contracts and conveyancing must be tested against this Act in addition to general property law and the Real Property Act. Section 19 provides that instruments executed by persons authorised in writing by the Minister have the same effect as if executed under seal by the trust (s 19(3)), facilitating dealings in Torrens‑title lands and evidentiary consistency with the Real Property Act.

Overall, the Act is designed to sit as a specialised overlay atop property, corporate and local government law consistent with existing Crown and land statutes, while delegating detailed procedural and qualification standards to regulations.

The text includes editorial amendment notes appended to many provisions. The Act as provided reflects a sequence of legislative amendments across several years. The internal marginal notes indicate amendments,for example, s 3 lists amendments in 1995, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2017. Specific insertion and amendment events within the text include:

• Insertion of the "land district" definition in s 3A was made by an amendment in 2017 (s 3A: Ins 2017 No 17, Sch 4.15 [5]).

• Section 14, vesting a fee simple estate, was amended in 2009 (s 14: Am 2009 No 17, Sch 3.3).

• Section 16 has a 2018 amendment cited (s 16: Am 2018 No 25, Sch 2.4 [1] [2]) that includes changes to notice publication and other transactional provisions,these appear to have modernised notice requirements (for example, s 16(6A) allows publication in a newspaper or "a manner approved in writing by the Minister").

• Section 26 includes a 2018 amendment reference (s 26: Am 2018 No 25, Sch 2.4 [3]) affecting referral and consultation processes for draft management plans.

• Schedule and other provisions have periodic amendments across 1990s, 2000s and 2010s, for example sch 1 and sch 2 carry multiple amendment notes (sch 1: Am 1999 No 94; 2009 No 49; 2015 No 58; sch 2: Am 1990 No 46; 1992 No 34; 1999 No 94; 2009 No 49; 2013 No 95; 2015 No 58; 2018 No 25).

• Transitional and savings sections refer to the repeal of the Commons Regulation Act 1898 and continuance of certain licences and notifications under the former Act (Sch 5 and s 64).

The amendment annotations identify the statute year and schedule clauses but the Act text provides no explanatory memorandum here. The presence of repeated amendments to governance, transaction notice requirements and consultation processes suggests legislative attention to administrative procedure, public notice modalities and the Minister’s consent regime over time. For precise amendment language and dates, consult parliamentary amendment texts and Gazette notices referenced in the marginal notes.

The provided statute text contains no reported judicial decisions or litigation summaries. The only tribunal remedy expressly preserved is an external appeal to the Civil and Administrative Tribunal in relation to refusal of enrolment on a commoners’ roll (s 11(1)). The Act does not provide a general right of appeal from Ministerial determinations under ss 50-53; s 53(3) expressly declares the Minister’s determination to be final and binding on the complainant and the trust.

Because the statutory text supplied does not include case law citations, there are no named judicial authorities within the source document to reference. The Act cross-references tribunal and court jurisdictions,Local Court for summary proceedings (s 60) and the Civil and Administrative Tribunal for enrolment appeals (s 11). Any wider litigation history would lie outside this text and must be sourced from judgments and litigation databases.

The Act contains multiple technical points that create practical risks and compliance traps for trusts, commoners, purchasers and advisers. These are concrete mechanics that merit attention in transactions, governance and dispute situations.

• Void transactions without consent (s 16(2)). If a trust enters into a land transaction beyond its statutory power, the transaction is void. Advisers must confirm either Ministerial consent under s 16(4)(a), a general authority under s 16(10), or that the transaction falls within permitted temporary licences (s 16(15)). The statutory voidness operates independently of any apparent corporate authority.

• Western Division alienation prohibition (s 16(3)). Trusts in the Western Division are not empowered to alienate land. Mortgages with power of sale are also excluded for Western Division land (s 17 exempts Western Division only). This geographical carve‑out requires title and land‑district checks.

• Minister’s open-ended discretion and finality. The Minister may impose conditions, require notices, refuse consent, revoke authorities, appoint administrators and make final binding determinations on complaints (s 16(9)-(14); s 48; s 53). The Act gives the Minister broad remedial tools and many decisions are final and not subject to internal appeal as per the Act (s 53(3)). This concentrates significant discretionary authority in the executive.

• Transaction notice and consultation timings. For sales in Eastern and Central Divisions, trusts must publish notice in a newspaper or a Minister‑approved manner not less than 14 days before applying for consent (s 16(6)-(7), (6A)). Failure to follow these publication steps can compromise an application and expose trustees to liability.

• By-laws require Governor approval (s 9(3)). A trust may pass a by‑law but it has no effect until approved by the Governor. Trusts and commoners should not treat draft by‑laws as operative until compliance with s 9(3) occurs.

• Management plan constraints and high threshold for changing historic uses. Where a draft management plan would change the lawful uses that existed before s 4 commenced, adoption requires a 75 per cent resolution at a special general meeting of commoners (s 27(2)). Trusts proposing changes face a heightened approval hurdle for long‑standing usages.

• Auditor obligations and severe penalties for obstruction. Auditors have extensive reporting duties and must notify the Minister if statutory meeting or disclosure requirements are unmet (s 46(9)). Obstructing an auditor carries up to 12 months’ imprisonment (s 47). Trustees must ensure access and cooperation with auditors.

• Ministerial authority over proceeds and debts. Proceeds of sale must be applied in accordance with Ministerial directions and then, subject to those directions, for trust functions (s 20(1)). The Minister may also direct setting aside funds for debt payment (s 21). This limits trustees’ residual discretion over proceeds.

• Conflict of interest and tendering obligations. Pecuniary-interest disclosures and mandatory tendering apply when members may have an interest; the tender notice must meet publication requirements (Sch 2 cl 6-7). Non‑compliance does not necessarily invalidate decisions (Sch 2 cl 6(6) states contraventions do not invalidate board decisions), but it can lead to member removal for misbehaviour (Sch 2 cl 3).

• Records language and format requirements. Inspectors may require statements in English and decipherable on sight where records are otherwise not in writing or not in English (s 55(2)(c)). Trusts holding records in other languages or electronic formats must have conversion capacity.

• Treatment on revocation or dissolution. On revocation of the setting aside, the trust dissolves and the Minister may dispose of property and treat the land as Crown land subject to the Crown Land Acts (s 24(1)-(3); s 61A). Third parties dealing with trust land should consider the risk of revocation and the ministerial power to dispose.

• Ministerial notice publication alternatives. Several notice requirements allow the Minister to approve alternative publication methods in writing (for example s 16(6A); s 26(3)(b)(ii)). Where alternative methods are used, they depend on Ministerial approval and are not default options.

• Penalties aggregate via "persons in default" rules. Section 59 effectively extends culpability to any member knowingly concerned or party to a contravention, including persons no longer on the board. That creates extended exposure for current and former members.

These technical features create a compliance matrix involving statutory powers, notice and consultation timing, Ministerial consent, audit access, and heightened risks in particular geographic divisions. Advisors should verify land district status, check whether a trust holds a general authority for transactions, and confirm procedural compliance before acting on or completing land transactions.

This section sets out practical compliance actions derived directly from statutory obligations in the Act. The list is procedural and source‑grounded.

1. Confirm legal status and trust instruments.

   • Verify that the land was properly set aside as a common and note the trust’s corporate name assigned by Gazette notice (s 4(1)-(2); Sch 5 cl 2).
   • Check whether the trust holds any existing Ministerial general authority for transactions or whether Ministerial consent is required under s 16.

2. Maintain and publish a compliant commoners’ roll.

   • Ensure the trust keeps a commoners’ roll and publishes, maintains and deals with it as prescribed by regulations (s 10). Prepare for appeals by applicants under s 11 by keeping written reasons for refusals and sending notice of refusal immediately (s 10(4)).

3. Follow prescribed procedures for meetings and elections.

   • Send notices for general meetings and elections at least 14 days in advance and include required materials for annual meetings (s 36(1); s 31(6)). Conduct elections according to procedures prescribed by regulations (s 34(1)), ensure voting eligibility (s 34(3)), and notify the Minister of election results within 14 days (s 34(4)).

4. Record‑keeping, accounts and audits.

   • Keep accounting records that correctly record transactions, retain them for seven years, and keep records at the principal place of administration unless the Minister approves otherwise (ss 30(1), 41(2), (3)). Prepare income and expenditure account and balance sheet at least 14 days before the annual meeting (s 42(1)). Arrange timely audits by qualified auditors under regulations and attach the auditor’s report to accounts (ss 42(2)-(3); s 43(10)).

5. By-laws and management plans.

   • Before enforcing a by-law, confirm Governor approval is recorded and the by-law is in force (s 9(3)). When preparing or adopting management plans, follow the procedural steps set out in ss 25-27, including public display, representations, public meetings (s 26), and where applicable seek the required 75 per cent special-general-meeting ratification for changes to historic uses (s 27(2)).

6. Transaction safety checks.

   • Before entering into any land transaction, confirm compliance with s 16: obtain Ministerial consent or written general authority, meet Ministerial conditions, and if required publish the notice of intent to sell not less than 14 days prior to the application (s 16(4)-(7), (6A)). For Western Division commons, do not attempt alienation (s 16(3)).

7. Tender and conflict procedures.

   • If a member has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a proposed contract, ensure the board publishes a tender notice meeting the requirements in Sch 2 cl 7(2) and invites tenders at least 21 days after publication, or document the emergency exception (Sch 2 cl 7(3)).

8. Communications and notices.

   • Use the modes of publication specified by the Act and, where an alternative mode is desired, seek the Minister’s written approval for that mode (s 16(6A); s 26(3)(b)(ii)).

9. Respond to Ministerial inquiries and inspectors.

   • Comply promptly with inspector and Ministerial directions under ss 54-55 and provide records, translations and explanations as required. Note that failure to comply or obstruction is an offence with significant penalties (ss 55(2); 57; 47). Implement internal procedures to ensure staff and board members know how to respond to inspector requests.

10. Prepare for and manage complaints.

    • Implement complaint-handling processes so the trust can respond to commoners’ complaints that may be referred to the Secretary or considered by the Minister under ss 50-53. Be ready to comply with Ministerial determinations, which are final and binding (s 53(3)).

11. Financial prudence and Ministerial directions.

    • Be prepared to set aside funds in compliance with Ministerial directions for debt servicing (s 21) and apply sale proceeds in accordance with any directions (s 20). Keep detailed accounts of transaction costs, proceeds and applications to ensure compliance with s 20(2) and s 24(5) if dissolution occurs.

12. Administrative and legal governance.

    • Keep minutes signed by the presiding person and maintain a minute book, allowing commoners to obtain copies on request within the statutory timeframes (s 39). Ensure members disclose pecuniary interests at meetings and record such disclosures in the book provided for that purpose (Sch 2 cl 6(1), (3)).

13. Engage qualified auditors and advisers.

    • Appoint qualified auditors as required (s 43) and ensure auditors have full access to records and are able to fulfil their reporting duties, including notifying the Minister if statutory obligations in ss 31 and 36 are not met (s 46(9)).

14. Administrative contingency planning.

    • Plan for the possibility of Ministerial appointment of an administrator in cases of failed elections or persistent contraventions (s 48). Understand administrator powers, remuneration arrangements and the trust’s liability for the administrator’s expenses (sch 1 cl 6).

Advisers should build checklists to verify Ministerial consents, Gazette notices, by-law approvals, auditor qualifications, and records retention. Given the Act’s concentration of executive powers and the severe penalties for obstructing auditors and inspectors, compliance regimes that prioritise transparency, timely reporting and procedural correctness will materially lower regulatory and legal risk.