Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Strong economies? They're built on trust—trust that institutions are accountable and should be accountable, trust that markets operate fairly and should operate fairly and trust that rules are applied consistently and should be applied consistently. Confidence and trust are absolutely critical for economies to function effectively. When Australians have confidence in institutions, businesses and markets, they are more willing to invest. They're more willing to innovate, to employ workers and to make long-term decisions with confidence. This is what this bill delivers.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Business Registries Stabilisation and Uplift) Bill 2026 strengthens Australia's business registries so that they are more secure, more transparent, more reliable and more useful for the Australians who rely on them every single day. It's true that business registries may not often make the headlines, but they are critical economic infrastructure. Before a supplier extends credit, a landlord enters a commercial lease, an investor undertakes due diligence or a regulator investigates suspicious conduct, decisions are being made based on the reliability of corporate information. Australia's business registries, because of that, are critical economic infrastructure. They provide trusted information about companies, directors and corporate structures that supports transparency, accountability and indeed confidence across the entire economy in this nation. Efficient markets depend on that reliable information and trusted systems. When information is accurate, accessible and reliable, businesses can invest with better confidence, markets operate more effectively and regulators are better equipped to maintain integrity across the corporate framework. That is why Australia's business registries matter and why they must evolve with the expectations of a modern economy.

Many of the systems underpinning Australia's business registries rely on ageing legacy technology that requires modernisation. The Albanese Labor government recognised that these systems required practical reform and so, following an independent review in 2023, this government made the decision to cease the former coalition government's Modernising Business Registers Program after significant cost escalation without delivering on the intended outcomes. Rather than continuing to invest in a program that was not delivering and was not working, Labor took a very practical approach—stabilising Australia's business registries, fixing what wasn't working and focusing on reforms that could be delivered.

That is why the Albanese Labor government established RegistryConnect, a measured and achievable program focused on strengthening registry integrity, modernising digital services and delivering practical improvements for business and the whole community at large. Since 2023, the Albanese Labor government has committed more than $527 million to stabilise and modernise Australia's business registries. Importantly, RegistryConnect is on time, on budget and already delivering those practical improvements. That includes a new professional register search function, a streamlined Australian Financial Services licence registration portal and a redesigned ASIC website that consolidates company and business registration information. This bill supports the continuation of that process, that progress and that work that we as a government have already done.

A major component of this bill strengthens the current director identification number regime and integrates it more effectively into Australia's business registry scheme. Director IDs are an important integrity measure within Australia's corporate regulatory framework. They provide a unique identifier that remains with an individual director over time, making it much easier to trace directorships across corporate entities, distinguish between individuals with very similar names and strengthen the reliability of information held on ASIC's business registers. The director ID regime has operated since 2021 and, since its induction, around three million directors have obtained a director ID. Accurate and reliable registry information strengthens confidence in Australia's corporate framework and supports stronger regulatory oversight. It helps regulators monitor patterns of activity, strengthens the integrity of corporate information and makes it harder for individuals to obscure their involvement across multiple entities.

However, there is an important gap in that current framework. At present, director IDs sit separately from ASIC's companies register, limiting the transparency and integrity benefits the regime was designed to support. This legislation will enable director ID information to be linked to ASIC's companies register, strengthening the quality, usability and reliability of information across Australia's business registry system. Importantly, this reform does not create a new standalone reporting regime or unnecessary red tape for business. Instead, companies will provide director ID information through existing registration and reporting processes, including annual reviews and updates to director details. That means stronger transparency and accountability delivered through systems that businesses already use in their day-to-day. Linking director IDs to company records will make it easier for regulators to trace those relationships across multiple corporate entities, improve the accuracy of that registry information that so many businesses rely on and support stronger regulatory oversight. It will also provide greater confidence in the integrity of company information—relied upon by businesses, relied upon by investors and, indeed, relied upon by the broader community to give them the confidence that this is a system that is accurate and that this is a system that they can have faith in.

These reforms will strengthen efforts to combat fraud and illegal phoenix activity. Illegal phoenix activity occurs when a company is deliberately liquidated or abandoned—in order to avoid debts, employee entitlements, tax liabilities or obligations to suppliers—before effectively continuing operations through a different corporate entity. Workers can be deprived of wages and entitlements that they have earned. Suppliers and creditors can be left carrying unpaid debts.

If you've ever seen a company phoenix itself, you'll know that it's not just its workers who lie in the wake of that kind of devastation, because families are left broken when workers' entitlements are not paid—when what workers are owed for what they have worked is not paid. And that often takes many, many years to recover from. We should not, in any way, be rewarding those unscrupulous companies who shut down and start up again at the expense of everyday working people.

Businesses doing the right thing can find themselves competing against operators willing to avoid obligations and undermine fair competition, and public revenue can be diminished through unpaid tax liabilities. Labor believes that businesses doing the right thing should not be placed at a disadvantage by those seeking to exploit loopholes, avoid obligations or obscure accountability through complex corporate structures. By strengthening the transparency and traceability of directorships, this bill supports a fairer and more accountable marketplace, strengthens regulatory oversight and reinforces confidence in the integrity of Australia's corporate system overall.

The integrity of Australia's business registries depends not only on accuracy and transparency but also on strong privacy and safety protections. Australians rightly expect that personal and sensitive information is safeguarded, particularly in an increasingly digital economy, and this bill balances that transparency with privacy protections. It strengthens ASIC's capacity to manage access to registry information, including the ability to redact or restrict sensitive information where privacy or safety risks outweigh public benefit. It allows for alternative service addresses in circumstances where personal details should remain protected. Accountability and privacy are not mutually exclusive. You can have both, and that's what this bill focuses on. The Albanese Labor government is delivering reforms that ensure registries are both transparent and safe, giving businesses, regulators and communities confidence in that system.

Another critical feature of this bill is the modernisation of how ASIC administers Australia's business registers. The existing legislative framework was designed for a completely different era. It doesn't reflect the expectations of our contemporary digital economy. And when the way in which we work changes, we have to change with it. This bill expands ASIC's ability to engage digitally and electronically with users, reducing reliance on paper based processes and improving operational efficiency. The result is a simpler, faster and more streamlined experience for businesses and individuals interacting with those registers. By removing unnecessary friction and reducing administrative complexity, the bill allows businesses to spend more time investing, growing and creating jobs, and supporting a more productive and resilient economy.

Another important function of this bill is ensuring continuity and certainty in the administration of Australia's business registries. Urgent legislative action is required before 30 June this year. Without these amendments, legacy provisions associated with the former Modernising Business Registers program would automatically commence on 1 July, transferring responsibility for registry administration away from ASIC and into a framework designed for a program that was stopped back in 2023. That outcome would create unnecessary disruption, undermine reforms that are already on the way and delay practical improvements currently being delivered through RegistryConnect. This bill prevents that disruption. It ensures responsibility for Australia's business registries remains with ASIC, maintains continuity across registry operations and supports the next phase of practical improvements already being delivered through RegistryConnect.

Businesses rely on trusted registry information to assess risk, to make investment decisions and to operate, as I've said before, with confidence. Regulators rely on stable systems to uphold integrity across the corporate framework, and Australians rightly expect those systems underpinning economic activity to operate effectively, reliably and fairly. The Albanese Labor government made a deliberate decision to stabilise and uplift Australia's business registries after the former coalition government's Modernising Business Registers program experienced that substantial cost escalation without delivering what it was supposed to in the first place. RegistryConnect is already delivering those practical outcomes, and it's working. Effective markets depend on trusted systems and reliable information, and the Albanese Labor government is continuing to invest in those practical forms that strengthen confidence, that improve productivity, that support a more transparent and overall resilient economy.

At its heart, this bill is about strengthening trust, integrity and confidence in Australia's economic infrastructure. It modernises those systems that underpin Australia's business registries and it ensures that they are more reliable, more secure and better equipped for the modern digital economy. It strengthens transparency and accountability through director ID integration. It improves privacy and safety protections. It supports action against fraud, identity misuse and illegal phoenix activity, and it modernises how ASIC administers registry services, reducing unnecessary friction and improving efficiency for businesses and for our whole community. The Albanese Labor government is delivering practical reforms that strengthen market integrity, because stronger institutions support stronger markets, and stronger markets support a stronger economy.

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