Crowdfund laws frozen in time
Much-anticipated reforms extending equity crowdfunding to private companies have yet to move through the Parliament, nearly six months after the bills were first introduced.
The Corporations Amendment (Crowd-sourced Funding for Proprietary Companies) Bill 2017 would let private companies undertake an equity crowdfunding round without first converting into an unlisted public company.
The bill was introduced to the House last September last year and the first and second readings were quickly completed. But it has not been raised again, with no debate or third reading in the six months since.
Adding the six month assent period after the bill is passed, equity crowdfunding won’t be available to local startups until September at the earliest, more than 18 months since it was first announced.
The bill was left languishing in the lower house over the summer break, and was not been moved by the government in the first two sitting weeks of 2018. The bill was listed for debate as the last item on last Thursday – the final sitting day for a fortnight – but was delayed.
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