About AMAT

Auckland Medical Aid Trust

AMAT was registered in 1974 as a Charitable Trust. Under the terms of the trust deed, all monies received by the Trust must be applied for the purposes specified in the objects.

Trustees are responsible in law for the operation of the Trust although an executive officer manages the day-to-day affairs.

Given the highly unsatisfactory state of affairs in the field of abortion prior to the Trust’s establishment, an outpatient abortion service was a high priority for the Trust.

Its first clinic in Great South Road was forced to close in 1975 with the passing of the Hospitals Amendment Bill, so the Trust moved its service to a private hospital in Ranfurly Road, Epsom. AMAT pioneered abortion counselling and the training of abortion counsellors and made abortion available in New Zealand to all those entitled to it.

The Trust now provides an abortion service in Dominion Road, where pregnancy counselling and termination is provided by the Auckland Medical Aid Centre Ltd., a charitable company wholly owned by AMAT.

Prior to 1997, AMAT distributed surplus funds as charitable grants to various individuals and organisations to support their projects. Later, AMAT supported the establishment of a new Trust to manage an adoption resource centre to provide counselling information and resources for people affected by adoption, and a research institute focusing on the publication and dissemination of educational literature in the field of human reproduction.

The Trust is now active in promoting and sponsoring research and has since 1995 offered doctoral scholarships, originally through the University of Auckland, but now through the Universities New Zealand Te Pokai Tara. The scholarships are to support the development of new knowledge in the field of human reproduction.

Our Objectives

The Objectives of the Trust are:

To establish and maintain a comprehensive health and welfare service related to the human reproductive process and its control (whether by means of contraception, sterilization, abortion or otherwise) and to that end to establish, provide and maintain hospitals and clinics and surgical, medical, pharmaceutical, counselling and welfare services.

To arrange and conduct lectures meetings and classes and to publish and disseminate literature and to do all other things to educate the public in the factsof human reproduction and the human reproductive process and of all matters concerning reproductive health and well-being physical and social.

Legislation

The activities of the Auckland Medical Aid Trust are governed by legislation – various statutes, statutory regulations, and public and private acts available free via the Internet at http://www.legislation.govt.nz.

The Charities Act (2005) introduced the Charities Commission (a body for the registration and monitoring of charities in New Zealand), although subsequent amendments disestablished the Commission and provided for a Ministerial appointed Board with functions, duties, and powers relating to the registration and deregistration of charitable entities. 

The Act is now administered by Charities Services as part of The Department of Internal Affairs.

The following are some of the main Acts of Parliament that establish the parameters for the activities of the Trust and its subsidiaries.

amat auckland medical aid trust about our legislation 2

Trustees and Charitable Trusts

  • Charitable Trusts Act 1957
  • Charitable Trusts Amendment Act 1993
  • Trustee Act 1956
  • Trustee Amendment Act (No. 2) 1988
  • Trustee Amendment Act 1986
  • Trustee Amendment Act 1988
  • Charities Act 2005
  • Statutes Amendment Act (No.2) 2011

Education

  • Education Act 1989
  • Education Amendment Act (various 1989-2000)
  • Education (Tertiary Reform) Amendment Act 2002

Adoption

  • Adoption Act 1955
  • Adoption Amendment Act 1987
  • Adoption Amendment Act 1995
  • Adult Adoption Information Act 1985
  • Adult Adoption Information Amendment Act 1991

Abortion

  • Abortion Legislation Act 2020

Privacy

  • Privacy Act 1993
amat auckland medical aid trust about our legislation 1

AMAT Trust Deed Application to High Court 26th Feb 2024

In order to update the AMAT Trust Deed to comply with current legislation, the following is a summary of the application made to the High Court 26th February 2024 under the Trust Act 2019 and the Charitable Trusts Act 1957, to vary the Auckland Medical Aid Centre Trust under s 130 of the Trusts Act 2019. Anyone reading this who is interested in the proceedings and wishes to become involved can obtain from the applicant a copy of the Court documentation itself.
Within 21 days of being provided with the material any party wishing to be involved in the proceedings may then make an application to the Court.

Appendix 1 – Additions to Auckland Medical Aid Trust Deed
Insert new clause [4]:
THE Trustees shall not be bound or required to actively monitor or interfere in the management or conduct of the affairs or business of any company in which
the Trust Fund may be invested (and whether or not the Trustees have the control of such company) and so long as no Trustee of this Deed has notice of
any wilful negligence, wilful default, or fraud or dishonesty on the part of the directors having the management of such company they may leave the same
(including payment or non-payment of dividends) wholly to such directors.

Insert new clause [5]:
(a) Each and every one of the duties defined by the Trusts Act 2019 or any statutory re-enactment, amendment or replacement of that Act, as a “default
duty” of trustees, is expressly excluded, negated and inapplicable.
(b) Notwithstanding clause 5(a), the Trustees shall remain subject to the following duties:
(i) the duty to consider exercise of power in section 32;
(ii) the duty not to bind or commit trustees to future exercise of discretion in section 33;
(iii) the duty to act unanimously in section 38;
(iv) while the Trustees shall not be under a duty to avoid conflicts of interest under section 34, where a Trustee does in fact become subject to a conflict of interest in respect of any aspect of trust administration, that Trustee shall be under a duty to declare his or her conflict of interest and, having made such declaration, that Trustee may not act on the matter giving rise to the conflict of interest (and in such cases, the duty to act unanimously will be modified to account for the recusal of the conflicted Trustee);
and
(v) the Trustees shall remain subject to the duties not to profit or take reward under sections 36-37, though any Trustees engaged in a profession or business shall be entitled to charge and be paid all usual or professional charges for business or work undertaken in connection with the administration of the
trust.

Insert new clause 10:
THE Trustees shall have the power exercisable by deed to extend, amend or extinguish the provisions of this deed and the discretionary and other powers
conferred on the Trustees by this deed.