Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

One of the responsibilities that comes with government is inheriting the consequences of decisions you didn't make. Sometimes that means fixing what was broken before you arrived, and that is what this bill is seeking to do. It is the result of this government choosing to get on with the job of identifying areas that need fixing and then moving forward with reforms that make them better. That is what the Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 represents, and I'm proud to make a contribution to this debate.

To appreciate why we are making these changes, I think it's worth understanding what came before. In 2020, the former coalition government launched what it called the Modernising Business Registers Program. The ambition to consolidate 30 of Australia's business registers into one was, in principle, a sensible idea. However, the execution was anything but. Year after year, the costs ballooned while deadlines were consistently missed. In what has become a defining legacy of the former coalition government, promises were made to businesses and regulators that amounted to nothing.

By the time the independent Rees review examined the program in 2023, the findings were damning. The costs had escalated so dramatically that they would far outweigh the benefits that any program might deliver. In the end, the review recommended cessation. The program was a complete failure. In August 2023, this government made the difficult but responsible decision to pull the plug. We cancelled the Modernising Business Registers Program and committed to a new, pragmatic and better managed approach, one led by ASIC and focused on delivering actual outcomes for Australian businesses. I make this point because it explains the reasoning for what we are talking about today.

The former government did not just waste money; it left a legislative time bomb. Unless this parliament acts before 30 June 2026, provisions from that failed program will automatically commence on 1 July 2026. Those provisions would transfer legal responsibility for Australia's business registers away from ASIC and hand it to a different body entirely: a registrar established for a program that no longer exists. That would be a bureaucratic and operational disaster, and this bill prevents that from happening.

Before working through what this bill does, it is worth also stepping back and understanding why we need these registers. Australian business registers are, in many respects, critical to our commercial economy. When Australians look up a company to check whether it's legitimate, they're using a business register. When a bank assesses a loan application or when a regulator investigates misconduct or even when a small business checks whether its supplier actually exists, they are using a business register. They are established under statute, administered by independent regulators and, unlike many other data sources, carry legal weight. They are an authoritative source of truth and generate around $1.2 billion in annual revenue for the Commonwealth, underpinning our business tax collection system. These registers are critical national economic infrastructure, and, for too long, they have been running on technology that is decades out of date and increasingly at risk. That is why our government is fixing that.

Since December 2023, we have committed $527.2 million to stabilise and uplift the registers under ASIC's leadership. That program, known as RegistryConnect, is on time and on budget. In fact, it's already delivering results, but, to keep it on track, we need this legislation.

The bill has three schedules. Schedule 3 is the most urgent. It repeals provisions left over from the failed Modernising Business Registers program that are set to automatically commence on 1 July 2026. As I mentioned earlier, without this repeal, those provisions would make Australian Business Registry Services, a body created for a cancelled program, responsible for registers. ASIC would lose the authority it needs to continue the important work it has been doing. The RegistryConnect program would be thrown into disarray, causing costs to blow out and key deliverables to be delayed. Schedule 3 simply ensures that that doesn't happen. It confirms what the government decided in 2023: ASIC is responsible for these registers and ASIC will continue to administer and uplift them.

Schedule 2 is the part of the bill that gives ASIC the powers it needs to do its job properly in the modern era. First, it allows directors to use an alternative address for service rather than their home addresses when their details are listed on the register. This is a privacy and safety measure. Right now, the home addresses of company directors are publicly visible on the register. For most directors, this is probably a minor inconvenience, but, for some, including those facing domestic violence situations, those who've received threats and those in sensitive professions, it is a genuine safety risk. This change gives those individuals meaningful protection without reducing the transparency and accountability that the register provides.

Second, the bill expands ASIC's capacity to interact with businesses and individuals electronically. In 2026 there is no reason why routine interactions with a government regulator should require paper forms and postal mail. These changes will make it simpler and more efficient for companies and individuals to deal with ASIC, again reducing red tape in a way that actually brings about meaningful change.

Third, the bill gives ASIC appropriate powers to correct errors on registers, disclose information in the public interest and, in limited but important circumstances, deregister companies where false or misleading information has been provided. In an environment where fraud and misuse of corporate structures is a genuine growing concern, that last power is particularly significant.

But schedule 1 is perhaps the most significant part of the bill. It is the part that I think will deliver the greatest long-term benefit for businesses, for consumers and for the integrity of our corporate system. Since November 2021, directors of Australian companies have been required to hold a director ID. That is a unique, lifelong identifier used by Australian Business Registry Services and administered by the tax office. Three million directors now hold one. The director ID regime was designed to address a specific and serious problem: the ability of bad actors to use false identities to set up companies, strip assets and disappear. But a director ID only works if it is visible. Right now, the information sits with the tax office and is not linked to the ASIC companies register. Despite this being the register that businesses and the public actually use when they want to check who is running a company, the two systems do not talk to each other, and that gap is where fraudsters hide.

Schedule 1 closes that gap. It requires companies to report director ID information to ASIC for all of their directors at the point of registration, through the annual review process and whenever director details change. That information will then be linked to and published on the company's register so that anyone, whether that be a prospective business partner, a consumer, a journalist or a regulator, can verify who is actually behind a company and trace their connections across corporate entities. This is a genuine structural reform to how corporate transparency works in Australia. Next time a business is considering a major contract with a new supplier, they'll be able to check whether the directors of that supplier have a history of failed companies. If the consumer is worried about whether a company is legitimate, they will have more information to make that judgement. In the situation where ASIC is investigating potential misconduct, they will have better tools to follow the money and identify the people responsible.

This bill also includes integrity measures to ensure that directors are aware of and consented to their appointment at the point of linking. This directly addresses a real problem. There are too many instances where individuals have found themselves listed as directors of companies without their knowledge. This is a gateway to identity theft and fraud. These measures slam shut that loophole.

As a responsible government, this bill did not emerge from nothing. The Treasury conducted public consultation on the draft legislation from December 2025 through to February this year. The feedback was overwhelmingly supportive. Stakeholders across business, the legal profession and civil society recognised the value of what this legislation does. There was particular and strong support for the director ID-linking provisions, as many submissions highlighted the importance of these changes for cybersecurity and antifraud efforts. That broad support reflects that fact that, unlike the failed program it replaces, this legislation has been developed through genuine engagement with the people it affects.

This bill sits alongside a broader set of reforms that the Albanese Labor government has made since coming into office, and it is the foundation on which the next phase of work will be built. With this legislation in place, ASIC will deliver new company search services later this year. In 2027, new company registration services will launch, and the director ID regime will be formally linked to the company's register by 1 July 2027. Looking further ahead, the stabilised register will also be the platform on which this government delivers beneficial ownership reforms that will shine a light on who truly owns and controls Australian companies, rather than just who appears to on the paperwork. That work can only proceed once the registers are stabilised and modernised. This bill makes it possible.

This is a bill about getting the basics right. It is about making sure Australia's core economic infrastructure is fit for purpose and reflects the modern society it operates in. This bill also makes sure the systems that businesses and consumers rely on to verify who they're dealing with are accurate, secure, modern and, above all else, trustworthy. It fixes a legislative hangover from a failed expensive program that the former coalition government left behind. It gives ASIC the tools it needs to do its job, while delivering meaningful reform that makes it harder for bad-faith actors to defraud and exploit honest businesses and working people. That is worthy thing for this parliament to do, and I'm proud that this government is getting on and doing it. I commend the bill to the House.

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