The Registrar of Indigenous Corporations, Anthony Beven, has placed the Yamatji Media Aboriginal Corporation under special administration.
The corporation was registered on 2 September 1994 and managed and operated the radio stations in Carnarvon for many years. The corporation sold its AM and FM broadcasting licences in 2007 but still holds a community broadcasting licence.
On 16 August 2010, 11 members of the corporation wrote to the Registrar to make an urgent request for a special administrator to be appointed to the corporation.
Mr Beven said, ‘In their letter the members told me they were concerned that the corporation was no longer operating, that the corporation had not had an AGM for more than five years and that a residential property owned by the corporation was being used as rent-free lodgings for non-Aboriginal persons’.
‘After considering the request from the members I have placed the corporation under special administration. The assets of the corporation were acquired with Australian Government funding to benefit the Carnarvon Aboriginal community. The community and I are concerned that this is no longer occurring and the corporation is largely defunct’, Mr Beven added.
Mr Barry Jameson from the New South Wales based firm of TNR Financial Services Pty Ltd has been appointed as the special administrator.
Mr Beven also said, ‘Mr Jameson is already working with a number of corporations in Carnarvon and he will be able to take action to quickly secure the corporation’s assets. He will work with the members of the corporation to look at ways to best use the corporation’s assets for the benefit of the community.’
The special administrator can be contacted on (02) 6626 3000 or 0427 257 192.
Special administration is a special measure under the CATSI Act. For more information see ORIC’s fact sheet: Special administrations: what members and directors should know. xxx
6 September 2010
Contact: Sayuri Piper
Tel: (02) 6219 7658
Ref: ORIC MR1011-10