Frankston South, Melbourne:
Welcome to Bunurong country, land of our ancestors, land of the Kulin.
These are the words of respected Bunurong elder, Chris West, as he welcomes visitors to Bunurong country, which takes in much of Melbourne.
Chittaway Bay, New South Wales central coast: Founded in 1994, The Glen, a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre for men run by Ngaimpe Aboriginal Corporation, is now in its third decade of saving lives and nurturing spirits. Every year, its ‘business’ strengthens. How do they do it? And is it significant that all the board members of Ngaimpe Aboriginal Corporation are women? The short answer is: perhaps. But what definitely drives the success of this corporation is the very singular purpose shared by the board, the CEO and the staff.
Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands, South Australia: In 2012, a group of Aboriginal traditional healers—ngangkaṟi—from the APY lands came together with a mission to strengthen traditional practices and medicines, and a vision for a complementary, ‘two-way’ healthcare system.
Coen, Queensland: The Lama Lama traditional owners living in Coen and Port Stewart are the driving force behind Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation. Since they established this homeland-based, not-for-profit organisation in 2009, Yintjingga has grown in significance and reputation.
‘Our aim is to improve the social, cultural, and environmental well-being of our Lama Lama community,’ says Gavin Bassani, traditional owner, Ops Manager and chair of Yintjingga Aboriginal Corporation. ‘We’re also interested in economic development.’
The Registrar of Indigenous Corporations is an independent statutory office holder who administers the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act). The Registrar’s role is to register and regulate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations registered under the CATSI Act.
Strong corporations, strong people, strong communities
The Registrar’s website implements the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s model webpage, including a freedom of information (FOI) disclosure log and the Information Publication Scheme.
Since 2007–08 requests to the Registrar under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 have increased by 6,500 per cent. As a result the Registrar has had to divert an increasing amount of resources from other programs to meet the extra work.
See ORIC yearbook 2015–16 table of contents
To help new groups starting corporations under the CATSI Act and to support existing clients, the Registrar produces a variety of helpful publications and resources.
The first stop for most clients is the Registrar’s website www.oric.gov.au. It’s the face of ORIC.
In 2015–16 ORIC:
In 2015–16 ORIC received 9040 telephone calls seeking information and advice.
ORIC’s freecall telephone service is usually the first point of contact for corporations and other clients wishing to contact the Registrar’s office.
Figure 8: Number of calls to ORIC’s freecall number from 2006–07 to 2015–16
In 2015–16 ORIC helped to resolve 34 disputes compared to 28 in the previous year which represents an increase of 21.4 per cent.
In 2015–16 charges were filed in two major criminal matters and the Registrar also concluded 16 minor regulatory prosecutions against corporations that failed to meet their reporting obligations. One civil action remained in progress and another was concluded.
The Registrar undertakes a range of criminal and civil litigation to address serious cases of poor governance and breaches of duty under the CATSI Act. A summary of outcomes, including penalties imposed by the courts, is maintained on the ORIC website.
