Where we work
Aboriginal corporations in New South Wales
NSW has the third-largest concentration of corporations registered under the CATSI Act in the country, and the newest: more than four in ten were registered from 2020 onwards. We do ORIC reporting, grant acquittals and CFO support for corporations right across the state.
We are not in New South Wales
We are in Adelaide. Firms based in Sydney, Dubbo or Coffs Harbour can sit in your board room in a way we cannot, and for some boards that is worth more than anything else on this page. If it is, engage one of them.
What we bring instead is depth in this specific kind of work: CATSI Act reporting, grant conditions and acquittals, and governance recovery. Almost all of it is done well remotely now, and distance is not what makes this work hard.
The thing that trips people up: two separate systems
NSW is the one state where “Aboriginal organisation” routinely means two completely different legal things, under two different Acts, answering to two different regulators.
Local Aboriginal Land Councils
Established under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, a state Act. They answer to the NSW Registrar under that Act. ORIC has no role, and the CATSI Act does not apply to them.
CATSI Act corporations
Registered under the Commonwealth CATSI Act and regulated by ORIC. These are the corporations that lodge a general report, and a financial report and audit report depending on size and income.
Some communities have both, doing different things, sometimes sharing directors and premises. That is where the confusion starts, and where advice aimed at one system gets applied to the other. If you are not certain which one your organisation is, that is the first thing to settle, because every deadline and every obligation follows from it.
We work with the CATSI Act side. If your organisation turns out to be a Land Council, we will tell you so and point you to the NSW Registrar rather than take the engagement.
Checked against Office of the Registrar, Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983 (NSW), .
NSW has the newest corporations in the country
Of the 710 corporations on ORIC's register with a NSW main place of business, more than four in ten were registered from 2020 onwards, a younger profile than any other large state. Most are small: around 507 small, 151 medium and 51 large.
That matters more than it sounds. A corporation in its second or third reporting round is doing everything for the first time: working out its registered size, discovering that grant money it has not spent may still be income, finding out an audit is required. None of that is a failure and all of it is normal, but it is a lot to absorb alongside actually running the programmes.
Checked against ORIC — Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander corporations dataset (10 August 2026 edition), .
What we do here
- Annual ORIC reporting — general, financial and directors’ reports.
- Grant acquittals and grant conditions — our strongest area, and the one NSW corporations most often ask about.
- CFO and board support, including for boards in their first years.
- Finding an auditor — we never audit, but we will introduce you to someone who can and run the process.
- Getting back on top of overdue reports, which is common and fixable.
Spread out, with no centre
There is no NSW hub. Corporations are spread across Armidale, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Taree, Nowra, Moree, Wagga Wagga, Lismore and inner Sydney, with no single town holding more than a small share. For a board outside a capital city, being a long way from your accountant is the normal condition in this state, and it is exactly how we work anyway.
Frequently asked questions
Are you based in NSW?
No. We are in Adelaide and we work with NSW corporations remotely — cloud accounting, video meetings, and phone. If having someone able to sit in the room every month matters to your board, a firm on the ground in NSW has an advantage we do not, and we would rather say that now than after you have engaged us.
Our organisation is a Local Aboriginal Land Council. Do we report to ORIC?
No. Local Aboriginal Land Councils are established under the NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, a state Act, and answer to the NSW Registrar under that Act — not to ORIC and not under the CATSI Act. They are two separate systems with separate regulators. Some Aboriginal organisations in NSW are LALCs, some are CATSI corporations registered with ORIC, and some communities have both. Working out which one you are is the first question, because everything else follows from it.
Our corporation was only registered a couple of years ago. Is that unusual in NSW?
The opposite — it is the norm. More than four in ten NSW corporations on the register were registered from 2020 onwards, the youngest profile of any large state. If this is your first or second reporting round and it feels like everyone else already knows how it works, they mostly do not either.
We are also registered as a charity with the ACNC. Do we lodge twice?
No. If your corporation is registered with ORIC and is also an ACNC charity, you lodge with ORIC only and ORIC passes the information on. Around four in ten NSW corporations on the register are ACNC-registered too, so this comes up a lot. See our guide on ORIC and the ACNC.
We are a long way from Sydney. Does that make this harder?
Not for us. NSW corporations are spread right across the state — Armidale, Dubbo, Coffs Harbour, Taree, Nowra, Moree, Wagga, Lismore, and inner Sydney — with no single hub. We work the same way with all of them, which is remotely. Being outside a capital city is the normal case here, not the exception.