Trustee granted Court Orders to make the Noongar Boodja Trust Deed workable
On the 15th of June 2022, the Supreme Court of Western Australia granted orders following an application by Perpetual Trustee Company Limited (Perpetual), in its capacity as the first Trustee for the Noongar Boodja Trust.
Perpetual had determined that some sections of the Noongar Boodja Trust Deed had become unworkable and filed proceedings in the Western Australian Supreme Court today, 1 June 2022, seeking orders under s.89 (or alternatively s.92) of the Trustees Act 1962 (WA) for relief to make the implementation of the Deed workable in the best interests of the Noongar People, whose Central Services Corporation and Regional Corporations are the sole beneficiaries of the Trust.
A summary of the orders granted by the Court include:
Direction as to Investment Committee
Perpetual, as Trustee for the NBT, is empowered to:
(a) itself nominate the 2 persons (having at least 5 years investment or property development expertise or experience) who would have otherwise been nominated by the Noongar Corporations Committee on the recommendation of the Noongar Nominations Committee; and
(b) itself appoint those persons to the Investment Committee if, at the time of such nomination and appointment, no Noongar Corporations Committee has been established.
Direction as to Nominations Committee
Perpetual, as Trustee for the NBT, is empowered to:
(a) itself nominate the 1 person who would have otherwise been nominated by the Noongar Relationship Committee; and
(b) itself appoint that person to the Nominations Committee if, at the time of such nomination and appointment, no Noongar Relationship Committee has been established.
Direction as to Noongar Relationship Committee
Perpetual, as Trustee for the NBT, is empowered to:
(a) to establish the Noongar Relationship Committee as a committee comprised of 3 directors of the Noongar Advisory Company nominated by the Noongar Advisory Company consisting of 1 director nominated by the Trustee (Pamela Kaye); 1 independent director (Tony Evans); and (iii) 1 director being an expert representative of the Noongar Community (Glen Kelly) if no Noongar Corporations Committee has been established; and
(b) upon the Noongar Corporations Committee being established, the members of the Noongar Corporations Committee are also appointed to the Noongar Relationship Committee.