New South Wales Consolidated Acts

WORKERS COMPENSATION ACT 1987 - SECT 175O

175O Primary groups of commonly controlled businesses

(1) If a person or set of persons has a controlling interest in each of 2 businesses, the persons who carry on those businesses constitute a primary group.

Note : Section 175E allows the Nominal Insurer to exclude persons from a group constituted under this section in certain circumstances.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a person or set of persons has a controlling interest in a business if--

(a) in the case of 1 person--the person is the sole owner (whether or not as trustee) of the business, or

(b) in the case of a set of persons--the persons are together the exclusive owners (whether or not as trustees) of the business, or

(c) in the case of a business carried on by a corporation--

(i) the person or each of the set of persons is a director of the corporation and the person or set of persons is entitled to exercise more than 50% of the voting power at meetings of the directors of the corporation, or

(ii) a director or set of directors of the corporation that is entitled to exercise more than 50% of the voting power at meetings of the corporation is under an obligation, whether formal or informal, to act in accordance with the direction, instructions or wishes of that person or set of persons, or

(d) in the case of a business carried on by a corporation that has a share capital--that person or set of persons can, directly or indirectly, exercise, control the exercise of, or substantially influence the exercise of, more than 50% of the voting power attached to the voting shares issued by the corporation, or

(e) in the case of a business carried on by a partnership--that person or set of persons--

(i) own (whether beneficially or not) more than 50% of the capital of the partnership, or

(ii) is entitled (whether beneficially or not) to more than 50% of the profits of the partnership, or

(f) in the case of a business carried on under a trust--the person or set of persons (whether or not as a trustee or trustees of another trust) is the beneficiary in respect of more than 50% of the value of the interests in the first-mentioned trust.

(3) If--

(a) 2 corporations are related to each other within the meaning of the Corporations Act 2001 of the Commonwealth, and

(b) 1 of the corporations has a controlling interest in a business,

the other corporation has a controlling interest in the business.

(4) If--

(a) a person or set of persons has a controlling interest in a business, and

(b) a person or set of persons who carry on the business has a controlling interest in another business,

the person or set of persons referred to in paragraph (a) has a controlling interest in that other business.

(5) If--

(a) a person or set of persons is the beneficiary of a trust in respect of more than 50% of the value of the interests in the trust, and

(b) the trustee of the trust (whether alone or together with another trustee or trustees) has a controlling interest in a business of the trust,

the person or set of persons has a controlling interest in the business.

(6) A person who may benefit from a discretionary trust as a result of the trustee or another person, or the trustee and another person, exercising or failing to exercise a power or discretion, is taken, for the purposes of subsection (5), to be a beneficiary in respect of more than 50% of the value of the interests in the trust.

(7) If--

(a) a person or set of persons has a controlling interest in the business of a trust, and

(b) the trustee of the trust (whether alone or together with another trustee or trustees) has a controlling interest in the business of a corporation,

the person or set of persons is taken to have a controlling interest in the business of the corporation.

(8) If--

(a) a person or set of persons has a controlling interest in the business of a trust, and

(b) the trustee of the trust (whether alone or together with another trustee or trustees) has a controlling interest in the business of a partnership,

the person or set of persons is taken to have a controlling interest in the business of the partnership.

(9) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to a person or set of persons that has a controlling interest in 2 businesses if--

(a) in the case of 1 person--the businesses are wholly owned by the person, whether as trustee or otherwise, or

(b) in the case of a set of persons--the businesses are wholly owned by the persons as trustees.

(10) A statutory State owned corporation (within the meaning of the State Owned Corporations Act 1989 ) is not a member of the same group as another statutory State owned corporation because of this section.