The Cobar Aboriginal Lands Council (CALC) recently went into administration with Tim Gumbleton from Restructuring & Recovery RSM Australia appointed to help sort out their problems.
Mr Gumbleton, who’s been working in the field doing administrations, examinations and investigations for the past 20 years, spoke with The Cobar Weekly to explain what his role with CALC will involve.
“About two months ago I was appointed by the Minister to help out Cobar.
“What’s really good about administrations is that they’re really specific,” Mr Gumbleton said.
“The Minister sets out the specific goals for the administration process, so what I have to do is start convening and holding regular meetings of members, and engage the members again.
Mr Gumbleton said it was really critical to get new members and new people involved in the process and he is keen to recruit new members to the Lands Council.
“I have to undertake recruitment of a new CEO but also implement a new corporate structure as well, which will include a Housing Officer and Administration Support.”
He said it might include recruiting a trainee as well.
“I have to complete all the outstanding audits and annual meetings.
“There’s two years outstanding and, as part of that, I have to reconcile the property management position because it hasn’t been reconciled for about two years either.
“I’ve also got to prepare the annual report to present to members.”
Mr Gumbleton said he will need to review the housing policies because “they haven’t been looked at for about 20 years”.
“I’ve got to bring them up to a 2023 standard,” he said.
“I’ve got to make sure the Lands Council complies with all its obligations under the financial reporting requirements under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act.”
He said the difficult part of his job is to report any allegations of misconduct and duty breaches.
“If I identify misconduct or breaches of duty, I’ve got to report that to the appropriate government agencies and go through that process.
“The auditor does their job but I do the investigation bit.”
Mr Gumbleton said the reason he had been reported was because there had been a history of dysfunction in the Lands Council.
“The Minister doesn’t just appoint an administrator off the cuff, they go through a long detailed process before it gets to that stage.
“Just to summarise my understanding of the reasons for my appointment in this case, is the general dysfunction, is what they call it, within the Lands Council over a long period of time,” Mr Gumbleton said.
“What that really means though is that there haven’t been enough board members.”
He said CALC should have seven board members, but they’ve been running with just three or four.
“They haven’t had a CEO, and they haven’t had administration support for a while,” he said.
In addition to the two years of audits that are outstanding, he said the housing receipts haven’t been reconciled for a couple of years.
“There’s incomplete financial reporting.
“And there’s been genuine disputes and a bit of in-fighting within the Lands Council membership and with the board and members as well,” Mr Gumbleton said.
“They haven’t been holding meetings and having the meetings they need to have.”
Mr Gumbleton said to get things back on track he needs to review the day to day financial reporting and bookkeeping.
“I’ve got to establish effective accounting and internal controls and also policies and procedures.”
As part of his role, he will set up a board charter that includes a code of conduct along with board policies that will help to ensure business continuity.
“And the biggest thing I need to do, outside of appointing a CEO and getting the financials and reporting updated and everything else, is to facilitate the election of a new board at the end of the administration.”
Mr Gumbleton said prior to electing a new board he plans to set up an advisory committee that will help provide support to the administration.
“We need to make sure we’re identifying the key priorities for those tasks that I need to achieve so they can make sure we have a feel for what the community is looking for as well.
“There is no point me giving the Lands Council just a set of procedures that I think will work, it needs to be guided by the community. That’s where that advisory committee is going to really help.”
Mr Gumbleton said he is looking for people with a diversity of skill sets, but above all, a positive attitude.
See advertisement on Page 6 for more information about how to get involved in the Cobar Aboriginal Lands Council.
