The Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiring into credit and financial services targeted at people at risk of financial hardship has its next hearing in Brisbane on Tuesday 22 January 2019. There is a wide mix of views from those attending: Dr Paul Harrison, Senior …
A new priority of the Commonwealth in an insolvency?
The move generally in insolvency law, and under Australia’s Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 (ILRA), has been to give creditors greater ‘say’ in an insolvency, including by having a statutory right to request information, subject to restrictions in respect of irrelevant, vexatious or other such …
The costs of lawyer litigants – ‘Chorley’ off to the High Court
Some important cases in legal history have involved small amounts of money, in particular where the matter is pursued as one of principle. Lawyers will know of the disputed ferry fare of one penny, in Balmain New Ferry Co v Robertson,[1] involving as it did …
Opportunistic and manipulative insolvency practitioners?
Insolvency practitioners’ (IP) remuneration for the work performed in administering an insolvent estate attracts public attention, much of which is too narrowly focused to provide a fair analysis of the issues involved. A thoughtful article has just been published in the UK, by Dr John …
Professional body regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners
Having reviewed the current regulation of insolvency practitioners (IPs) by both ASIC and AFSA, ARITA is now examined, and to a limited extent CAANZ, given it and ARITA represent two of the 14 ‘industry bodies’, among others, that the legislature has designated to regulate IPs …
Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act (NZ) 2019?
A New Zealand government committee has recommended the passage of the long awaited Insolvency Practitioners Bill with some few amendments, taking into account comments in Supplementary Order Paper No 45. See this link of 20 December 2018. A new Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act The Bill …
Bankruptcy trustees’ performance 2017-2018
AFSA’s Personal Insolvency Compliance Report 2017-2018 may be rather welcome in its positive reporting of its findings in relation to its regulation of trustees in bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy Act, including the Official Trustee. The report may be read here. Some queries The AFSA Report …
More soft law – ARITA’s insolvency practice statements
ARITA has released a number of draft Practice Statements for comment. These Practice Statements are designed to give ‘technical’ guidance on best practice approaches to particular task areas. Much of their content is extracted from the existing 2014 Code, and not included in the new …
273 vexatious claims against “to name a few, her Majesty the Queen, as the [251st] cross-respondent …
A bankrupt vexatious litigant, Garrett, could not start court actions because of his vexatious status. Instead he managed to lodge 46 false registrations on the Personal Property Securities Register against 24 parties. They all applied to the Court to have the false registrations removed by …
Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency – its procedural limitations
The Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency is not quite as expansive in its assistance to foreign liquidators and trustees as it may appear. It did not assist Mr King, the US bankruptcy trustee of Zetta Jet, incorporated in Singapore, in trying to recover a luxury …