The remaining five Commonwealth Bills in the legislative package designed to resolve uncertainty surrounding Australias system of corporate law were introduced into the Parliament today.
The package will help to overcome the constitutional problems with the current Corporations Law scheme identified last year by the High Court. It gives effect to a reference from the States to the Commonwealth Parliament of the Corporations Law and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act, and the power to amend those acts.
New South Wales and Victoria have already passed their necessary referral provisions. All other States have agreed in principle to the referral and have indicated that their referral legislation is imminent. We urge them to complete the necessary legislative processes required to meet the 1 July target date.
The Parliamentary Joint Statutory Committee on Corporations and Securities last week unanimously recommended that the Corporations Bill 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Bill 2001 be passed without amendment as soon as possible. Those Bills form the basis of the new regulatory framework for corporations. Today the complementary Corporations (Repeals, Consequentials and Transitionals) Bill 2001 and four Bills relating to fees, which preserve the existing corporations fee regime, were introduced.
The Joint Committee recognised the detrimental effect of High Court decisions on the current national legislative scheme and concluded that urgent action is necessary to remedy the situation. The Committee noted that a constitutional amendment would be the most effective and permanent way to deal with the issues, but it accepted that such amendment was not possible in the short term.
The Government thanks the Committee for its timely report and welcomes its recommendation.