Juru group risks closure Members to vote on land sale

SPECIAL administrators of an insolvent Townsville indigenous corporation have asked members to “urgently” decide if they want to sell a piece of land to cover debts or be forced into liquidation.

Members of the Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal Corporation have been asked to decide if they want to sell a parcel of freehold land to pay debts or simply give up and bring in the liquidators.

The corporation, which represents the native title interests of Juru people, was placed into special administration by the Office for the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations in October 2017 after audits found evidence of mismanagement.

Kyburra owes a total of $ 164,295 in GST, staff superannuation payments, loans, legal fees and rent, which rently unable to pay.

Last month, Kyburra lost a Federal Court case with another indigenous corporation, Juru Enterprise Limited, regarding various agreements with Adani.

If Kyburra is required to pay JEL’s legal costs, which special administrators said was “very likely” based on the court’s ruling, the corporation’s debt would increase “substantially”.

In a newsletter to Kyburra members, administrators said the corporation’s last hope was to sell land located on Richmond Rd, Bowen as part of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement with the local gun club.

“We have not yet been able to raise any funds to pay debts, despite approaching government, agencies and various other parties,” they said.

The administrators said some Juru people had argued the assets not be sold to pay Kyburra’s debts and they would rather the corporation went into liquidation. it is cur-

But lawyers who specialise in insolvency advised administrators the land would be legally available to a future liquidator so the land would be sold in either scenario.

If Kyburra is dissolved, the existing native title rights and interest of the Juru people would have to be held by another corporation.

“We are told that it would take six to nine months or maybe longer for a replacement prescribed body corporate to be set up and approved by the Federal Court,” the administrators said.

Even if Kyburra members decide to sell the parcel of land, there remains concern about whether the Queensland Government would be able to make the transfer in time.

“We were hoping that the Queensland Government would be able to transfer this land … in the next month or two,” administrators said.

“But it now seems the transfer will not happen until later in the year.”