Who owns that company? Find out in 2028 for just $207m
If you had loved ones in a nursing home owned by men convicted of torturing more than a million chickens, you’d definitely want to know.
A Victorian case where exactly this happened has been cited by the federal government as the impetus for the establishment of a new business register.
The register will increase transparency by revealing previously secret ownership of many Australian businesses and trusts.
After years of policy design, consultation and millions of dollars, Deputy Treasury Secretary Andrew Leigh chose to move forward with a public record deadline by 2028.
That’s a change from 2024, when the government plans to have a broker registration system open only to a small coterie of regulators, academics, law enforcement and journalists.
Tax transparency campaigner Jason Ward said Australia was lagging behind many other countries in uncovering “beneficial” owners, meaning who benefits from the owners.
“Everyone, including business, law enforcement and civil society, needs to know who they are really dealing with when dealing with a company incorporation,” a Tax Justice Network Australia spokesperson told AAP.
“We are far behind in terms of usufruct registration, which has become widespread around the world in the last few years.”
Funded by a $207 million boost to regulator Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) over two years, the reform doesn’t come cheap.
Mr Ward said the lengthy and costly exercise had reduced ASIC to the status of a “weak regulator” who was “trying to layer new information on top of a highly dysfunctional system”.
He cited the 2015 case of Gerry and Chris Apostolatos as a prime example of why reform is needed.
When the brothers could not afford to feed their birds, they stopped doing so after being found guilty of animal cruelty; This led to mass deaths and starvation-related problems.
The duo, who were banned from running a livestock company for 17 years, founded an elderly care company.
It would also leave them bankrupt due to debts to creditors, requiring dozens of elderly Melburnians to find new homes.
According to Nine Newspapers, “the duo used aliases, fake directors and a family trust to conceal their ownership.”
“There are examples in other sectors of people convicted of quite serious crimes being licensed to operate aged care,” Mr Ward said.
Tax Justice Network Australia spokesman Mark Zirnsak said “hidden property allows criminals to harm ordinary people and get away with it.”
“The ability for people to hide company ownership can facilitate all kinds of criminal activity, including tax evasion, money laundering and fraud,” Dr Zirnsak said.
“The register should ensure penalties are imposed on individuals who act as fronts to conceal the ownership of others and fail to disclose on whose behalf they act.”
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