Core to the development of the CRC is the development of the legal agreements. There are two key agreements associated with a CRC the Commonwealth Funding agreement and the Participant’s Agreement.
The Commonwealth Funding Agreement (CA) is an agreement signed by the Commonwealth Government and the CRC Company. It sets out the conditions of the grant of the CRC program Funds.
The Participant’s Agreement (PA) is an agreement signed by all the participants in the CRC and outlines how the CRC will function. It is not signed by the Commonwealth as a granting agency, but is signed by those commonwealth departments which are partners. It also contains a number of clauses which are taken directly from the CA.
Other important documents for the CRC include the Constitution and the Charter.
The Constitution is a legal document relating to the operation of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Ltd. It specifies how the company is governed. It also specifies how members can elect the board and how Board meetings and General meetings are conducted.
The Charter is an internal Board document that adds to the constitution and covers off other elements of the operation of the company.
Substantial progress has been made in the development of all these key documents. The Constitution and charter have both been completed. The CA has been signed, but there will need to be a major variation in December to incorporate the full research program. The PA is still in negotiation, and a revised version will be issued in the next week.
Commonwealth Agreement
The Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC (BNHCRC) has signed the Commonwealth Funding Agreement (27 June 2013). This signified the start of the CRC and triggered the Commonwealth payments to the Centre.
The milestones in the Agreement relate to the establishment phase, reporting requirements and the route to the major contract variation due in December 2013.
Participants’ Agreement
This is the joint venture agreement between the BNHCRC Ltd and the Participants. A version of the draft Agreement was developed based upon the Bushfire CRC’s agreement and circulated to the partners. The BNHCRC received a number of comments and suggested changes. These have been examined by our lawyers and a new version was created. This was sent to the Commonwealth to check against its requirements and they suggested a number of changes to align the agreement with changes to the Commonwealth funding agreement.
Following discussions with the Commonwealth they have agreed to waive the requirement for the Participants’ Agreement to be signed before the quarterly payment can be made. The BNHCRC is now aiming for a signing of this Agreement by the end of September.