Today the Australian Senate published a report on the Corporation Amendment or Crowd-Sourced Funding Bill – the legislation designed to improve the investment crowdfunding sector in Australia. The provisions of the bill were referred to the Economics Legislation Committee. The committee recommended that the bill be passed, with the government to monitor the implementation of the legislation and undertake a review of the legislation two years after its enactment.
The legislation is viewed as boosting economic productivity by assisting SMEs in raising growth capital. The bill, if enacted, would create a scaled disclosure and reporting environment for smaller issuers. As worded now, the bill allows for issuers to raise up to A$ 5 million (USD $ 3.8 million).
While both Labor is generally supportive of the Turnbull government legislation, they did publish a dissenting statement;
“While Labor Senators remain open to working constructively with the Turnbull Government to advance the development of a viable equity crowdfunding framework, the changes to the proposed equity crowdfunding bill are either simply cosmetic or present a watering down of retail investor protections. Labor Senators also note remarks made in the second reading speech to the Bill that indicate the Turnbull Government is proposing to introduce a new equity crowdfunding regime in the near future that would make the framework proposed include privately held companies in addition to publically held companies.”
Australia will soon have an updated regime for raising capital online that should improve the environment for early and mid stage companies seeking growth funding.
The Senate Report to the Economics Legislation Committee is embedded below.
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