KYBURRA AVOIDS AXE
A TOWNSVILLE indigenous corporation has narrowly avoided liquidation.
Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal Corporation has been in special administration since October last year, after more than 70 potential financial breaches were identified.
Kyburra had a Friday deadline to pay creditors, but a last minute extension means they have until June 29 to settle their debts.
AN EMBATTLED Townsville indigenous corporation on the verge of liquidation has limped into its third extended period of special administration as it struggles to find the funds to pay off creditors.
Special administration of the Kyburra Munda Yalga Aboriginal Corporation was due to expire at midnight on Friday but the Office for the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations ( ORIC) granted a last- minute extension for debts to be settled by June 29.
Kyburra, which represents the native title interests of the Juru people, first went into special administration in October last year after ORIC found more than 70 potential financial breaches.
This included a failure to properly declare almost $ 2 million in income.
The Bulletin revealed the then directors of Kyburra potentially breached the Corporations ( Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act by making unauthorised payments and loans, and failing to notify members about financial dealings.
Special administrators appointed by ORIC have attempted to recoup funds to pay a $ 168,254 shortfall in debt, but in a May newsletter to Kyburra members, they conceded the news was “not good”.
About half of Kyburra’s debt is for unpaid GST and PAYG taxes and the remainder is for unpaid superannuation, staff wages, rent, legal and accounting fees. In the newsletter the special administrators said they had been working “very hard” to try and get money to pay the outstanding debts.
“We have spoken to numerous people and organisations, but none of them are able to provide us with any money to pay the debts,” the administrators wrote.
They said the most likely solution to raise the needed funds would be to sell a parcel of freehold land at Richmond Rd, Bowen.
However, in order to sell the land the title must be transferred from the State Government to Kyburra, which was not due to occur until at least November this year.
“If this happens, we need to know if members and Juru people would agree for this land to be sold and the sale moneys used to pay the debts.”
Kyburra’s debt situation could be further complicated later this week when a Federal Court matter against the corporation for an unrelated issue is expected to be handed down.
If Kyburra is ordered to pay money related to the case, the profits from the sale of the freehold land at Bowen may be insufficient to get the corporation’s books back into the black.
A source told the Bulletin some members of Kyburra hoped the corporation would go into liquidation as they saw it as the only way to start over with a “clean slate”.
But if Kyburra does have to shut down, it could leave the management of land agreements related to the Juru people’s Native Title holdings in limbo for an extended period of time.