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Qld pulls
out of
new ASC
BRISBANE: The Queensland
Government has pulled out of an
agreement with the Federal Gov
ernment to set up a new corporate
watchdog, the Australian Securities
Commission.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Pre
mier, Wayne Goss, and the Queensland
Minister for Justice, Glen Milliner, said
Queensland would not proceed with the
state-federal agreement signed by the pre
vious National Party administration.
Instead, the state would push for a
"workable, compromise proposal" agreed
to by most other states and the Northern
Territory.
The Federal Government-controlled
ASC is intended to replace the current
cooperative system which involves coor
dination of state Corporate Affairs Com
missions through a federal-state
ministerial commission.
Mr Goss said the agreement had sold
out Queensland's interests. "The agree
ment gave away too many state rights for
not enough compensation.
"It also failed to address the many
genuine concerns expressed by Queens
land businesses and professionals about
the Federal Government's attempts to
centralise the regulation of companies
and securities legislation."
Though the Queensland Government
and many businesses and professionals
supported improvement of the current
system, the administrative structure of
the ASC disadvantaged the states by re
moving discretionary powers at the local
level, MrGosssaid.
Mr Milliner said there were also a
number of difficult constitutional and le
gal issues still facing the Federal Govern
ment's proposed Corporations Act.
Legal advice was that the Common
wealth did not have the full constitutional
power for the Act, he said.
Provisions which required incorporat
ed companies to register with the Com
monwealth before conducting business
could be challenged in the High Court.
Other provisions in the Act which
dealt with internal matters relating to
companies, such as directors, sharehold
ers, accounts and audit, were likely to be
found invalid if challenged, Mr Milliner
said.
"The likely outcome of all this is that
the Commonwealth will run into major
difficulties in its push to regulate compa
nies," he said.
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