The board of a leading native title body in Western Australia's Kimberley region voted on Monday to ask the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) to appoint a special administrator to manage the corporation and its enterprises.

Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation director Joe Ross told National Indigenous Times that he and senior board members hoped the appointment of a special administrator would act as a "circuit breaker" to give board members "an opportunity for respite" from a "constant battle" with some of the organisation's members.

On Monday, the BDAC Board resolved to write to ORIC to request the appointment of a special administrator for the Corporation and the two entities of which it is a sole member, Bununba Operations Aboriginal Corporation and Bunuba Aboriginal Corporation; and also for the special administrator to manage all other Bunuba entities including the Bunuba Cultural Conservation Institute, Bunuba Pty Ltd, and Bunuba Cattle Company.

In the interim the Board has asked for SW Accountants and Advisor to maintain accounts until the administrator is appointed, and voted for two officials, Kamus Green and John D'Orazio, to retain delegated financial authority for all Bunuba corporation ANZ accounts.

Mr Ross said board members had been fighting a "battle" for several months.

"We have called for ORIC to step in immediately because we are concerned about the future of the organisation," he said.

"Firstly, BDAC is solvent, it has great partnerships with Parks and Wildlife, DBCA (Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions) through ILUAs (Indigenous Land Use Agreements) around ranger programs.

"Our corporation has our properties, pastoral properties leased out over time and with a company producing wagu beef, and we have real estate in Fitzroy Crossing, and there are also the opportunities which have come out of the rebuild of the Fitzroy River bridge, which got blown away last year (during heavy flooding).

"However, as with every other PBC (prescribed body corporate) and native title body, they build up wealth and at the same time you are trying to work with members and build on the social and economic foundations. Your membership is coming from a very impoverished background and what they want - in this time of the high cost of living, and that cost going up, and welfare getting thinner and thinner for them, they start seeing the corporation starting the build up the accounts - they want to raid the bank accounts of the corporation.

"We are having these running battles, telling our members we have to have a long-term plan, but at the same time people are poor and struggling, they see the corporation as a cash cow."

Mr Ross said it was difficult to gain consensus among the membership on long-term planning when people are facing immediate crises of their own.

"We are trying to create opportunities… we try to build independence but at the same time you are struggling with people who are experiencing poverty, who have very little financial literacy, they are on our boards, and also trying to get a sense of integrity and accountability and transparency at the board level, is unachievable when people are coming in and screaming in the board meetings, making unfounded accusations, it boils down to the lateral violence that happens in our Aboriginal corporations," he said.

"Nobody gets ahead because people get envious of what anyone else is doing, and it's not just Bunuba it happens everywhere.

"There is a constant struggle and to my mind and the other directors, PBCs, they hold our native title rights but we really haven't invested in the capacity to do the healing and re-connection of people; getting our members of our corporation to understand it's a long term plan. We are trying to create opportunities."

Mr Ross said the temporary period of administration "is a circuit breaker and an opportunity for respite for senior members of our Bunuba community who also have their own lives and businesses and initiatives to go on with".

"Maybe everyone can reflect back on it and say 'if that didn't work, how does a special administrator help us re-structure a corporation that has about a million dollars in cash in the accounts? How does a special administrator help us re-structure so it's much more accommodating but also helping members' understanding of why we have a corporation and why we want to build a long-term future?'," he told National Indigenous Times.

Mr Ross said that "right across Australia" PBCs suffer from "an inability to really handle the future for people".

"Once agreements are made, they take the cash, but for members… there are no processes to help them understand we are trying to build a future, and create economic opportunities - for which PBCs are not set up, or enterprise development," he said.

"There's also the inter-generational trauma of people that constantly flows into the boardrooms, it is everywhere, whether it is their own personal one or Stolen Generations… people are coming from poverty and trauma so angry they find it hard to work with people."

A spokesperson for ORIC told National Indigenous Times while a request from a majority of directors is one ground for special administration, this does not mean the Registrar will automatically appoint a special administrator.

"ORIC will assess the request from Bunuba Dawangarri Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC to ascertain what other grounds may exist and consider other factors to determine if special administration is the most appropriate action for the corporation's circumstances," she said.

To place a corporation under special administration the Registrar must be satisfied that at least one of the grounds set out in the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (often referred to as the CATSI Act) is satisfied.