ORIC contributes to law reform and reviews that are relevant to Indigenous organisations. ORIC has made submissions to a number of other reviews including the ATSIC Review.
From 1 May 2008 we are known as the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC). Please note that this site contains information and publications which predate this change, they were published under our previous names, ORAC and ORATSIC.
The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection (DoCEP) of Western
Australia invited the (then) Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal Corporations
(ORAC) to make submissions on the draft Associations Incorporation Bill 2006
(the Green Bill). ORAC focused particularly on matters relating to: ORAC's only recommendation was to prescribe the Corporations (Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (the CATSI Act) in the Bill's
regulations, ensuring that organisations who would become incorporated under the
Green Bill could transfer to the CATSI Act if they were eligible. ORIC (or ORAC as it was then) made a preliminary submission to the government-initiated review of
ATSIC and, following the release of the review’s public discussion paper in June
2003, made a further submission. The final report of the review panel,
In the hands
of the regions – a new ATSIC, was released in November 2003. Among the
recommendations of the review, four concerned the work of ORIC. ORIC’s response
to the review can be found at
ORIC
Response to the Review of ATSIC. The Registrar was invited to comment on the Queensland Community Governance
Green Paper. The paper raised a number of key governance issues relevant to the
principles of effective governance in Indigenous communities and councils; in
particular Deed of Grant in Trust (DOGIT) communities in Queensland. Many groups
incorporated under the
Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act (CATSI Act) operate in DOGIT areas. The governance under review in the Green Paper is community governance, which
should not be confused with corporate governance: the laws and practices are
different in many respects. However, ORIC (ORAC, as it was known at the time) noted that there are and always will
be important interactions between councils operating in Queensland and
corporations incorporated under the ACA Act (repealed in 2006 and replaced with
the CATSI Act). In our response, we emphasised that private corporations such as those under
the ACA Act would be a feature of the Indigenous corporate landscape and would
need to be considered in any reform work. Off-loading council responsibilities
onto other corporations that also lack capacity to manage them is not a
solution. We stressed that any improvement in governance would call for
commitment and cooperation between Board members, community members, creditors,
auditors, funding agencies, regulators and governments. A review of the New South Wales Associations Incorporation Act 1984 focused
on whether that Act could be improved to better respond to the needs of
organisations incorporated under the legislation. ORIC (ORAC, as it was known
at the time) presented comments on how
to respond to the needs of corporations that are not-for-profit, largely
volunteer-managed and either publicly funded or not funded at all. In summary, despite the lack of resources of not-for-profit corporations,
their standards of corporate governance are in principle the same as for profit
corporations. There is a public interest in ensuring that this essential sector
of the Australian corporate environment thrives. Not-for-profit corporations
require additional support, especially at critical stages of their development,
such as at their establishment or when they are growing.
WA Associations Incorporation Bill 2006—May 2007
The ATSIC Review
ATSIC Review Submission papers
http://atsicreview.gov.au/pdf/Orac.pdfATSIC Review Responses
http://atsicreview.gov.au/stage2/ORAC%20submission%20030903.doc
ORIC (previously ORAC) has had the
opportunity to review the recommendations of the independent Review of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) that was presented to
the government in November 2003. ORIC’s response is below.
ORIC
Response to the Review of ATSICThe Queensland Community Governance Green Paper
Review of New South Wales Incorporation Legislation
Board of Taxation on the Charities Bill 2003
House of Representatives Standing Committee Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander Affairs – on Capacity Building submission
Senate Select Committee on the Administration of Indigenous
Affairs