Inquiries conferences and reports
Association of Independent Insolvency Practitioners – annual conference 2026
I was pleased to have been invited to contribute at two sessions at the AIIP annual conference in Canberra on ...
Firm regulation of insolvency practitioners
Insolvency practitioners (IPs) are regulated as individuals, not through their firm. In fact, the practitioner’s independence within the firm is ...
“Bankruptcy on a Budget” – what’s going on in the Netherlands is relevant here
An interesting article on Dutch bankruptcy law by respected insolvency academic Dr Jessie Pool[1] at Leiden University, and what she ...
Legislative evidence of a barrier to business dynamism – s 588GAAC?
There must be some irony in the government asking the Productivity Commission, on the one hand, to inquire into “barriers ...
Australian Productivity
Interesting comments from our Productivity Commission chair Danielle Wood are going the rounds about our low economic productivity, with Australians’ ...
Insolvency aspects of the Productivity Commission’s Business Dynamism Inquiry
In its inquiry into barriers to business dynamism, the Productivity Commission has now called for submissions on a range of ...
Royal Commission into Antisemitism
The Royal Commission has yet to explain the why of antisemitism, the reasons for it, “infantile” as they might be, ...
A productivity focused insolvency inquiry
The government has referred a productivity inquiry to the Productivity Commission – Regulatory barriers to business dynamism, one factor to ...
ASIC’s [one] reviewing liquidator guidance
ASIC is seeking feedback on a proposal to simply release a new information sheet on its discretionary power to appoint ...
UNCITRAL Working Group V – Insolvency, New York, 13-17 April 2026
I am pleased to be again attending a meeting of Working Group V – Insolvency of UNCITRAL, in New York ...
Rethinking economic foundations in an AI world – Dr Andrew Leigh
I was pleased to attend the presentation by Assistant Treasurer Dr Andrew Leigh[1] of the Ted Evans[2] Public Policy Lecture ...
“Who’s making us bankrupt?” or “what are debtors doing about it?”
Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) has called for “urgent” reforms to Australia’s bankruptcy laws after releasing its report, “Who’s Making Australians Bankrupt? ...
Who owns, and owes, what in a typical incorporated small business?
The regular insolvency statistics have been released by ASIC (corporate) and AFSA (personal), but with a current focus on insolvency ...
Bankruptcy’s ‘minimal asset procedure’ – mmmmm
In light of the eminent group usefully being convened in Melbourne tomorrow, 12 December 2025, to discuss what is proposed ...
New criteria for corporate restructuring?
I was pleased to have presented some ideas on ‘filtering mechanisms’ for corporate restructuring at the annual insolvency academics network ...
A government perspective on insolvency law reform
Dr Andrew Leigh is probably the first minister to oversee both personal and corporate insolvency, following the transfer of personal ...
How were moneys stolen by a liquidator and a trustee?
Back in 2010 the criminal misconduct of a liquidator led to a Senate inquiry and a recommendation for a new ...
World Bank’s 2026 B-Ready review of Australian business insolvency and other laws
Next year, 2026, Australia will be the subject of a review by the World Bank under its new B-Ready assessment ...
Arbitration and insolvency – an arbitration week seminar
I was pleased to attend a panel session at Norton Rose Fulbright on 15 October 2025 – Breaking bread: slicing ...
Maybe we should just repeal s 588G – insolvent trading?
The law of insolvent trading under s 588G of the Corporations Act seems eternally unsatisfactory and always open to review. ...
Means to accelerate our ability to share and use data productively
Having myself nearly said enough over the years about the lack of data on the operation of the insolvency system, ...
Have corporate rescue laws gone too far? Sydney Law School seminar review
This reports on a review by Dr Arthur Emmett, former Federal Court Judge, of a Sydney Law School seminar questioning ...
The interaction of insolvency law and competition policy
My recent article in the Insolvency Law Bulletin concerns what has been described as the clash between market competition policy ...
Small business – Qué?
Many small businesses seem to operate with the owners oblivious to the legal structure through which they conduct their business. ...