An Aboriginal health service delivering care to more than 5,000 people across regional NSW and Western Sydney has been placed into special administration, with plans to split the organisation in two.
Administrators were called to the Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (WACHS) after an investigation by the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations earlier this year.
Registrar Trisha Stroud said the probe found disputes between the board’s directors had halted meetings since March and had disrupted various parts of the organisation’s operations.
“There were a lot of allegations, but ultimately it meant that the corporation wasn’t being governed effectively, or in a way that was both compliant with its rule books, or in a way in which members of a corporation could reasonably expect of their directors,” Ms Stroud said.
WACHS is responsible for providing health services to about 2,000 people in Wellington and Dubbo, as well as outreach services to another 3,000 people in Moree, the Blue Mountains, Penrith and Western Sydney.
Its services include primary health care, child and maternal health, drug and alcohol programs, social and emotional wellbeing support, and a range of other specialist programs.
The Office of the Registrar for Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) has vacated the board until February 2026.
Plans to restructure
Ms Stroud said directors had expressed a desire to split WACHS back into two separate entities — a solely Wellington member-owned and controlled health service for regional NSW, and a Greater Western Sydney Aboriginal Health Service.
The two regions were merged under a single governance structure during WACHS’s last special administration in 2021.
“That will require some business restructuring, a complete overhaul of the corporations rule book, but also close negotiations with the funding bodies that currently fund services to the Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service but fund them for services in Wellington as well as Greater Sydney,” Ms Stroud said.
While the special administration is scheduled for six months, Ms Stroud would not rule out an extension.
“Sometimes it’s not until we get an administrator into the corporation that we understand the full breadth of the issue and total scope of work,”
she said.
“So I can’t rule out an extension, but members and clients of the service can be assured our intention is to restore the corporation as quickly as we can, and return it to member control.
“We would never return a corporation back to members that still has legacy issues the new incoming board would inherit.”
She said any structural changes could affect staffing locations, but stressed the priority was “minimal disruption” to clients in both Wellington and Greater Sydney.
“Inevitably the special administrator, as any board would do, will make some business and strategic decisions,” she said.
“That may result in restructuring of positions and where staff are located.”
Second administration in four years
The ORIC is responsible for the regulation of Aboriginal body corporates across the country, including registered native title groups.
There have been previous cases of special administrations going longer than expected.
The corporation previously went into special administration in 2021 after its board identified internal financial irregularities and requested regulatory intervention.
That process lasted until May 2022 and was aimed at stabilising the organisation’s operations.
While it was the second time WACHS has been placed into administration, Ms Stroud said the two matters were unrelated.
“This special administration is a completely separate event and I don’t have concerns it’s a continuing legacy of the first special administration,”
she said.
Matthew Mullen and Tony Jonsson from Grant Thornton Australia have been appointed as the joint special administrators until February 13, 2026.
ORIC and the special administrators will hold information sessions in Dubbo and Sydney to update members on the process and answer questions.