Junked business registry overhaul blew out by $2.3b

Tom McIlroyCanberra Bureau Chief

Updated Aug 28, 2023 – 10.15am, first published at Aug 27, 2023 – 10.30pm

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Labor will scrap a signature Morrison government program to consolidate and modernise the nation’s business registries, after a review found the plan was on track to cost as much as $2.8 billion and run five years late.

Originally budgeted for about $480 million, the Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program was designed to consolidate 30 Australian Securities and Investments Commission registers, including records of 2.6 million registered companies, with the Australian Business Register, which tracks about 7.9 million active ABNs.

Tom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent.