Today the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in an appeal about the appointment of an administrator, brought by a member of the Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation. The decision will result in the removal of the administrator from the corporation in the near future, once the court orders are settled. Once the orders are finalised, the governing committee which was in place immediately before the appointment of the administrator, will again govern the corporation.
While the administrator was in place the following progress was made:
The costs of the administrator were paid for by Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations (ORAC).
The validity of the appointment of the administrator to this corporation was initially heard before the Federal Court of Australia at Sydney in November 2006, at which time the court found in favour of the appointment of an administrator. With this latest Federal Court decision, this earlier decision is overturned and the administrator will leave in the near future.
Laura Beacroft, the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations and an independent officer who is responsible for appointing the administrator, said, ‘Subject to any appeal that might be lodged, ORAC and the administrator’s priority is to make sure there is an orderly hand over of the corporation back to the governing committee.
‘Also there needs to be a full report back to members about the progress that the administrator has made and also the status of the corporation at the time the administrator leaves.’
She also said, ‘I would like to reassure the Mutitjulu community that ORAC will still provide its usual range of support services as required, including a toll-free hotline for corporate governance problems and continue to roll out important corporate governance training through that region over the coming year’.
On 19 July 2006 the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations appointed Mr Brian McMaster of KordaMentha to conduct the affairs of Mutitjulu Community Aboriginal Corporation (MCAC) under s. 71 of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act. Mr McMaster was chosen from the panel of administrators that ORAC established consistent with the Commonwealth procurement guidelines.
The decision to appoint an administrator was made on the grounds that it was in the interests of the members and creditors of MCAC and in the public interest to ensure that the corporation could continue to provide its services uninterrupted.
On 20 July 2006 a member of MCAC, Mr Mario Guiseppe, began an action in the Federal Court against the Registrar and Mr McMaster as administrator of MCAC. Mr Guiseppe sought to restrain Mr McMaster as administrator of MCAC and also to review the decision to appoint him.
On 18 December the Federal Court dismissed the case brought by Mr Guiseppe finding, among other things, that the grounds existed for the appointment of an administrator to the corporation under section 71(2) of the ACA Act; and that there was no procedural unfairness in the decision making process.
This decision has been successfully appealed by Mr Guiseppe, largely due to the court finding that in the circumstances of this case, 24 hours was too short for the governing committee to respond to the Notice regarding the appointment of an administrator.
The corporation receives funding to provide a wide range of services to the residents of the Mutitjulu community, including municipal services program funding, funds for community housing, childcare, after school hours care for children and Centrelink services.
Related document: Federal Court of Australia judgment [PDF, 24 pages, 820Kb]
Janet Millar 0427 259 789
15 June 2007
ORAC MR0607-09