October 2, 2013
Two charges alleging an Aboriginal corporation at Cherbourg failed to lodge its annual returns on time were adjourned in Murgon Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The charges allege the Wunjuada Aboriginal Corporation For Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Service failed to lodge a general report and a financial report.
They have been adjourned to December 3.
The maximum penalty for a corporation is a $21,250 fine.
The prosecutions, initiated by the federal Registrar of Indigenous Corporations Mr Anthony Beven, are part of an ongoing campaign aimed at maintaining high reporting levels among indigenous corporations.
Since January 2013, 15 corporations across Australia have been convicted and fined for failing to lodge their annual returns for the 2010–11 financial year.
Fines imposed ranged from $200 to $14,000. Corporations that received fines of more than $5000 had previously been convicted of the same offence.
Since July 1, 2012, a total of 38 corporations Australia-wide have been convicted and fined more than $96,000 for the non-lodgment of financial reports following prosecutions brought by the Registrar.
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations are required to lodge reports each year, unless exempted by the Registrar.
Annual returns for the 2012–13 financial year are due by December 31, 2013.
