The Turnbull Government has today opened a request for information (RFI) to explore solutions for a potential whole-of-government business registry platform.
In December 2016 the Government announced it would not proceed with the commercialisation of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) registry functions.
The Government is committed to modernisation of its business registers, including the Companies and Business Name registers, administered by ASIC, and the Australian Business Register administered by the Australian Taxation Office. The Commonwealth will retain ownership of the registers and data, and registry operations in Traralgon, Victoria, will continue.
Modernising the registers is part of the National Business Simplification Initiative to make it easier for businesses to interact with Government.
The Government has worked with the community to identify current challenges and future opportunities over the past few months. All non-confidential submissions to the public consultation on Modernising Business Registers conducted in August 2017 are now available on the Treasury website. In general, these submissions indicated support for modernising and combining business registers.
The Government will work closely with business, community and government representatives, including state and territory governments, and end users of registry services as this work progresses.
Responses to the RFI are welcome from a broad range of businesses and are due by midday, Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT), 15 January 2018.
Further information on how to submit a response to the RFI, or access the submissions to the public consultation is available on the Treasury website or www.tenders.gov.au.