Taking care of country

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.’

Introduction

About the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations

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.

ORIC vision

Strong corporations, strong people, strong communities

Accountability

Freedom of information

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.

Support services

Call centre

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

Dispute management

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.

Investigations and prosecutions

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.

Regulation

Examinations

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: