Reporters warn their ability to investigate illicit and unethical behaviour would be impeded if corporate registry sold

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Some of Australia’s most respected investigative journalists have signed an open letter to the Turnbull government urging it not to privatise the corporate registry held by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic).

They have urged the government to make access to the database free, as it is in New Zealand and the UK.

Eighty-four journalists, including Adele Ferguson, Chris Vedelago and Nick McKenzie from Fairfax Media, independent reporters Michael West, Paddy Manning and Jess Hill, and the Australian’s Anthony Klan, warned the government their ability to investigate illicit and unethical behaviour would be impeded if Asic’s corporate registry were privatised.

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Their open letter said the charges to access the records in the database – already among the highest in the world – were “a significant barrier to proper corporate accountability”.

“Privatisation will see this barrier entrenched and new barriers may be erected.”

It called on the government to reduce barriers to access, in the interests of corporate transparency, rather than erecting new ones.

Final bids for the privatisation of Asic’s corporate database closed two weeks ago.

But the government has said it may not end up selling the registry into private hands. And it said, if the sale did go ahead, it would retain ownership of the database and the revenue generated from search fees.

The open letter was facilitated by the leftwing activist group GetUp, which has been campaigning heavily against privatisation.

West, who has long been warning about the consequences of the registry sale, said it would will help multinational companies hide from their creditors and conceal their tax affairs.

“I’ve broken many stories on corporate misconduct, including tax evasion from Google, eBay and Glencore. I couldn’t have done this work without access to the Asic database,” West said.

“If the government sells the register, it’s going to become harder to conduct investigations into corporate financial affairs. It would create a monopoly over public information.”

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Natalie O’Brien, the economics campaigns director at GetUp, said the campaign to stop the sale was gaining momentum.

“The general public is not about to stand by and let the government pawn off this important piece of corporate transparency infrastructure to some multinational corporation,” she said.

The Abbott government announced plans in its 2015-16 budget to tender for Asic’s registry business, believing it would be better run in private hands.