ASIC strikes Sea World Research and Rescue Foundation off the national register

ASIC has struck Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation Inc. off the register of registered Australian bodies under subsection 601CC(4) of the Corporations Act 2001. The decision is recorded in a notice dated 23 October 2026 and published in ASIC Gazette No. A43/26 of Tuesday 27 October 2026, at page 23, in the Company/scheme deregistrations section.

The notice and its legal basis

The notice is one of a run of deregistration entries carried in the same issue of the Commonwealth of Australia Gazette, published by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Its operative wording is bare: ASIC “has struck the registered Australian bodies listed below off the register”. The instrument is dated the twenty-third day of October 2026, four days before the gazette appeared.

Subsection 601CC(4) is the provision used once a striking-off has taken effect. It sits alongside the earlier-stage mechanism deployed on the facing page of the same issue: under section 601CC(3), ASIC gives notice that it “will strike the companies listed below off the register three months after the publication of this notice, unless given acceptable reason not to proceed”. The foundation’s entry shows no such qualifying period — it is published as an accomplished deregistration, not a warning.

The single entry

Only one body appears under the subsection 601CC(4) heading:

• Sea World Research & Rescue Foundation Inc. — ARBN 053 146 491.

The rest of the deregistration section of ASIC Gazette No. A43/26 concerns different entities and different provisions:

• The Dyslexia Association Inc. (ARBN 147 223 201), warned under section 601CC(3) that it will be struck off three months after publication unless acceptable reason is given.
• The Stables Property Fund (ARSN 167 742 672), a managed investment scheme that ASIC may deregister two months after publication under subsection 601PB(2).
• Cyderes Inc. (ARBN 611 941 827) and Soltech New Zealand Limited (ARBN 114 333 416), foreign companies to be struck off three months after publication under section 601CL(4).
• Busy Bee Ventures Limited (ARBN 621 858 302), a foreign company already struck off under section 601CL(5).

A separate block on the final page, under subsection 164(3), lists seven companies changing type, among them Enzed Energy Pty Ltd, Hawke’s Brewing Co Pty Ltd and Proteus Maritime Pty Ltd.

What the gazette does and does not record

The notice confines itself to the fact of deregistration and the identification of the body by name and Australian Registered Body Number. It states no ground for the decision, records no prior warning published against the foundation, and makes no reference to the disposal of assets, the position of members, creditors or donors, or the conduct of any winding up. None of those particulars appears anywhere in the 26 pages of the issue.

The gazette does, however, carry a standing advice to those affected. A notice on its opening page states that persons affected by certain decisions made by ASIC under the Corporations Act 2001 and other legislation it administers “may have rights of review”, and points to Regulatory Guide 57, Notification of rights of review, and Information Sheet INFO 9, ASIC decisions – your rights.

Why it matters

Striking off removes a body from the register on which its legal identity as a registered Australian body depends, and the gazette entry is the public record of that step. For an organisation carrying a name associated with marine research and rescue, the practical consequence is that donors, grant-makers and counterparties have no registered entity left to deal with under that name and number, and that any interest in its remaining affairs must be pursued through the avenues the gazette itself flags rather than through the register.

Source: ASIC Gazette, No. A43/26, 27 October 2026, Company/scheme deregistrations, p. 23 (official reference: subsection 601CC(4), Corporations Act 2001; ARBN 053 146 491).