Although listed for tabling in parliament this year, the Bankruptcy Amendment (Debt Agreement Reform) Bill 2017 did not quite make it; some laws about marriage got in the way.
The Bill has been referred to a Senate Committee, for report in March 2018, but because it has not yet been presented to the House of Representatives or the Senate, the Committee itself does not yet have access to the text of the Bill.
We understand that the Bill’s text will likely be available in the new year, when the bill is officially presented to Parliament. Parliament does not resume til February.
The difficulty is that this debt agreement Bill necessarily complements the one year bankruptcy Bill. Those wishing to make submissions will want to have both Bills before them. Submissions on the one year bankruptcy are due by 31 January 2018, before the debt agreement Bill will be available.
The end result seems to be delay all round.
