The president's most visible legal obligation is procedural: presiding over every meeting of the club. These obligations come from the Model Rules (Schedule 4, Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999 (Qld)), not the Act itself. If your club has adopted its own constitution in place of the Model Rules, check your constitution — the rules may differ.
Presiding at meetings
General meetings — Model Rules r.37(3)(a)
The president must preside as chairperson at every general meeting of the club. This includes the AGM and any special general meetings.
Committee meetings — Model Rules r.23(8)
The president must preside as chairperson at every management committee meeting.
What "presiding" requires in practice:
- Opening and closing the meeting
- Keeping discussion on the agenda items
- Recognising speakers
- Calling motions and putting them to a vote
- Ruling on points of order
- Ensuring quorum is established at the start (check your constitution for the number required)
If the president is absent: The Model Rules specify fallback procedures for both types of meetings:
- Committee meetings (r.23(9)): If the president is absent, or the club has no president, within 10 minutes of the scheduled start time, the members present choose one of their number to preside.
- General meetings (r.37(3)(b)): If the president is absent or unwilling to act within 15 minutes of the scheduled start time, the members present elect one of their number to be chairperson.
There is no automatic right for the vice president to take the chair under the Model Rules. If your club wants the VP to chair in the president's absence, that must be stated in your own constitution — it does not come from the Model Rules.
Casting vote on a tied vote — Model Rules r.38(2)
At a general meeting, if a vote results in a tie, the chairperson (the president) has:
- A primary vote (like every other member present), AND
- A casting vote to break the tie
The casting vote is the president's to use at their discretion. Using it is not compulsory — if the president chooses not to exercise it, the motion fails (a tied vote that is not broken by the casting vote is a lost motion).
Important: This casting vote applies at general meetings only. At committee meetings, a tied vote is decided differently — under r.23(7), a tied committee vote is decided in the negative: the motion fails. There is no casting vote for the president at committee meetings.
Signing confirmed minutes — Model Rules rr.26(2), 41(2)
Minutes of both committee meetings and general meetings must be signed by the chairperson once confirmed. The Model Rules provide two options:
- Signed at the same meeting — by the chairperson of that meeting (the president), at the time the minutes are confirmed by vote
- Signed at the next meeting — by the chairperson of the following meeting, after the minutes have been confirmed by the committee or members
Why this matters: Signed minutes are a legal record. Unsigned minutes — or minutes with the wrong person's signature — undermine their status as evidence of what was decided. If the president changes mid-year, the incoming president signs off on future meetings. Minutes from before their election should be signed by whoever chaired those meetings.
Sources
- Associations Incorporation Regulation 1999 (Qld), Schedule 4 (Model Rules) — rr.23(7), 23(8), 23(9), 26(2), 37(3)(a), 37(3)(b), 38(2), 41(2) — legislation.qld.gov.au
Related
- ← President Legal Duties — the full overview
- Financial Obligations — signing the verification statement, lodging
- Secretary Records & Meetings — notice requirements, what minutes must contain