The Registrar of Indigenous Corporations, Anthony Beven, has today placed Dubbo Koorie Housing Aboriginal Corporation under special administration.
Based in Dubbo, New South Wales, the corporation was registered in 1988 to manage a social housing program for the local Aboriginal community. It currently owns 23 properties that are managed by a local real estate agent.
The corporation is registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act). It was examined in April 2014 after several complaints were received by the Registrar.
The examination exposed a number of problems with the governance of the corporation and raised significant concerns about the ongoing viability of the corporation’s housing portfolio. The corporation has not held an annual general meeting since December 2011 nor has it lodged annual reports for the past two years. The examiners also found that two of the directors had substantial rental arrears on corporation properties.
‘Dubbo Koorie Housing has been providing affordable housing to the local Aboriginal community since its inception,’ Mr Beven said. ‘To hear that some directors are taking advantage of this and placing a greater burden on other tenants is very disappointing.’
Mr Peter Saunders from the New South Wales-based firm Kennedy Saunders has been appointed as the special administrator until 30 January 2015.
Background
Special administration is a special measure under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006. For more information see the fact sheet Special administrations: what members and directors should know available on the ORIC website, www.oric.gov.au.
Media contact
Christa de Jager
(02) 6146 4737
ORIC MR1415-04
4 August 2014
Special administrator
Peter Saunders
(02) 6645 2144
peter.saunders@kennedysaunders.com.au