Report a concern to ORIC

Anyone can report a concern about an Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander corporation to ORIC.

Before contacting ORIC, you should first try to resolve your concern directly with the corporation.

You might report a concern to ORIC if:

  • your concern is about a matter related to the CATSI Act or fraud
  • you raised your concern with the corporation and it gave you a poor or no response.

There are many ways for members, directors and stakeholders of corporations to resolve concerns before approaching ORIC. We will consider what action you've already taken before we assist you.

ORIC can:

  • tell you if your concern can be dealt with under the CATSI Act or the corporation's rule book; and whether the action or outcome you want is possible
  • give you information about the processes and requirements of the CATSI Act
  • consider allegations that a person or corporation has breached the CATSI Act, CATSI Regulations and/or the corporation's rule book.

Types of concerns ORIC can help with include failing to follow processes in the CATSI Act or a corporation rule book such as:

  • considering membership applications
  • electing directors
  • calling and holding meetings
  • counting quorum for a meeting
  • seeking member approval to give related party benefits.

For corporations with RNTBC functions we may be able to help resolve a concern about whether a native title certificate is filled in (but not whether the information within it is accurate).

ORIC cannot:

  • provide legal advice
  • remove or appoint members
  • remove or appoint directors
  • remove or appoint employees such as CEOs
  • resolve disputes about personal individual or family matters.

Types of concerns ORIC cannot help with include:

  • employment matters
  • quality or performance of services
  • maintenance of corporation assets
  • meeting funding agreement obligations
  • unpaid tax or superannuation
  • native title matters
  • the corporation’s business decisions.

We may be able to guide you to other places or ways to make a complaint. For example, Fair Work Commission, Australian Taxation Office, the National Native Title Tribunal, or your relevant funding body.

How to report a concern to ORIC

Call, email or write to us with information about your concern:

  • the name of the corporation and its ICN
  • the names of the people involved, if any
  • the facts about what has happened
  • copies of your supporting material, such as correspondence, minutes of meetings, and receipts
  • what part of the CATSI Act or the corporation's rule book you believe has been breached
  • details about how you have already tried to solve the problem
  • the action you would like ORIC to take.

It's useful if you also include information about you:

  • your name 
  • your relationship to the corporation 
  • your contact details. 

You can stay anonymous but if we're unable to seek further information from you it may limit our ability to respond to the concern. Even if we can work out who you are from the information provided we will treat your report to us as anonymous.

Find our contact details on the contact us page.

How we handle your information

We treat all reports of concern as protected information and will only use or disclose it if authorised by the CATSI Act.

We treat personal information about individuals according to the Privacy Act. We do not disclose the identity of anyone who reports a concern to us unless required by law. 

Response from ORIC

We’ll reply within 2 business days to let you know we have your concern.

If you are a third party to the corporation it's likely we will not contact you again about your concern unless we require further information. We will not report to you progress or outcomes of assessing the concern.

If you are a member or a director of the corporation we will let you know whether your concern is something we can look at or if it’s not in our scope. If your concern is complex and it takes us longer than 20 days to resolve, we’ll keep you informed on our progress.

Possible outcomes

For a reported concern we might:

  • contact the corporation or other people to ask for more information
  • suggest options for members or directors to resolve the problem themselves either through processes in the corporation rules, the CATSI Act or action in Court
  • refer the matter to another organisation better suited to resolving it
  • take no action.  

If the corporation has done the wrong thing, the Registrar may tell it to:

  • change its rules, policy, or procedures
  • correct any mistakes that have been made
  • reconsider its response and provide an explanation of the issue to the members in a general meeting.

The Registrar may also examine or investigate the corporation and its officers.  

  • If the Registrar finds the corporation has done nothing wrong, we’ll let you know the reasons for that decision.  
  • If it seems an underlying dispute caused the problems, the Registrar will encourage the corporation to follow its rules for resolving disputes.  

The Registrar cannot take action or investigate every matter brought to their attention. The Registrar considers a range of factors to ensure that the exercise of these powers is focused on the most appropriate matters and that the finite resources are directed appropriately.

We analyse all concerns reported to us to identify patterns or trends to guide development of our policies and regulatory approach.

Providing comments and information about concerns

Depending on the circumstances it may or may not be appropriate for the Registrar to issue a public comment about a particular corporation or the sector.

The Registrar will not usually make public comment on whether or not we have received a concern or complaint about a corporation or if we are investigating a corporation. This is to maintain the privacy of corporations and individuals, to protect their right to a proper process and procedural fairness, and to avoid compromising any investigation or other regulatory action the Registrar may take. 

The Registrar may make comment after a process has finished or in the context of reporting regulatory outcomes.

Whistleblower protection

Under the CATSI Act, certain people are ‘whistleblowers’ and may qualify for protection if they:

  • give information about a corporation
  • make a complaint about a corporation.  
Content last updated: