Treasurer Josh Frydenberg (source: Twitter)
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission has had its budget reduced by over seven per cent and will be asked to shed a corresponding ten per cent of its staff as a raft of changes to its job suite begin to shift the regulator’s purview.
While the money flowed as part of a budget aimed at securing Australia’s recovery, ASIC’s budget will drop from $772 million to $717 million in 2021-22, while its staff will drop from 2,096 to 1,878.
Ostensibly, the cutbacks are a natural follow-on from the government’s 2020 Budget Digital Business Plan, which will see ASIC’s business registration function transferred to the new Australian Business Registry Services (ABRS) under the Australian Tax Office.