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.
In 2015–16 ORIC completed 39 examinations.
The Registrar has the authority under the CATSI Act (section 453-1) to examine a corporation’s books and records at any time. The purpose of an examination is to assess a corporation’s financial health and corporate governance standards. For example, an examination checks that a corporation is:
The Registrar increased reporting compliance from 52.0 per cent in 2006–07 to 97.1 per cent in 2015–16 by providing targeted assistance to corporations and through ORIC’s prosecution programs.
Improved compliance has significantly increased the accuracy and reliability of the free public Register of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations.
