EQUITY CROWDFUNDING BILL FAILS

The equity crowdfunding funding bill, which start-ups said missed the mark, has lapsed before it could be passed by the Australian Senate. Its little surprise as the bill could not have been put forward at a more troublesome time, leading into the call for an early election.
The Corporations Amendment (Crowd-sourced Funding) Bill that passed the lower house, was expected to help facilitate early stage funding before the end of the 2016 year.
Given the caretaker roll for the government and yet to be defined policy amendments any clarity is likely to materialise towards the end of the year, with action by either party towards the latter part of 2017 (if not later).
We trust that the minor parties and senators will respect the bi-partisan view that ECF is overdue and of utmost importance to Australia's future.
As a leading contributor, this failure is a bitter pill to swallow, particularly for the hundreds of volunteers and interested parties who devoted thousands of pages of submissions to half a dozen government consultations.
Despite the challenges the CFIA is committed to working closely with government and the ASIC towards a balanced, sustainable and benchmarked outcome for equity crowd funding in Australia.
We trust that members and up-and-coming platforms will band together to form a joint policy position to assist the new government in presenting the Australian people new rights to equity investment in 2017.