Proposed changes to the Legal Fund constitution

April 6, 2022 Bulletins - POVB

There have been several significant issues around the Legal Fund constitution. Due to these issues we sought legal advice to get the constitution changed. The issues were:

Issue 1

Poor representation, communication, and lack of support by the Department of Public Prosecution when an Officer has laid charges against an inmate for assaulting them.

Issue 2

Criminal Charges laid against an Officer from another Officer from incidents that have taken place in the workplace.

Legal Advice

The legal advice has come back with the following changes to the constitution to address the above issues:

Issue 1

A new dot point in the Preamble to clarify that

Matters affecting Correctional Officers arising from assaults upon Correctional Officers by inmates need to be addressed.

And a new subclause (e) and (f) under objects:

(e) To provide legal and financial assistance to a Member who has been assaulted by an inmate in the course of their employment to make representations to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions where the Trustees of the Legal Fund are of the view that the sentence imposed on the inmate was manifestly inadequate.
(f) To provide legal and financial assistance to a Member who has been assaulted by an inmate in the course of their employment for the Appointed Lawyer to liaise with Police in relation to the prosecution of that inmate.

Issue 2

Under objects for where the fund shall not assist a member of the legal fund add the following to section 3 (b):

Criminal proceedings involving an allegation that a Member has committed a criminal offence against another Member, whether such proceedings or complaints arose out of or in the course of their employment with CSNSW or otherwise

There are a number of minor drafting changes throughout the agreement to reflect these changes. You can view a copy of the Constitution with the proposed changes HERE.

Voting

It has been determined that you are a financial member of the legal fund. Before these changes take place, we would like members of the fund to vote on the proposed changes. We ask you to click on the link below and vote yes or no to the changes.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/POVB_Legal_Fund_Constitution_2022

Once voting has taken place we will put out a bulletin letting you know of the result.