Inquiries conferences and reports

New Zealand insolvency – accrediting the professional bodies

Public consultation in New Zealand is now open on a discussion paper on the minimum standards and standard conditions for ...

Small businesses and their financial difficulties – the Ombudsman’s inquiry

A discussion paper[1] issued on 20 December from the Insolvency Practices Inquiry of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise ...

MYEFO 2019-20 – ASIC, phoenixing and ‘journalists’

The government’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook 2019-20 has these interesting items about access to ASIC’s registers, unlawful phoenixing and ...

Halifax – a cross-border insolvency

A joint hearing of Australian and New Zealand courts is one way to deal with an intermingled cross-Tasman insolvency, through ...

Review of the CATSI Act 2006

The government has announced a review of the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) which is ...

Anti-competitive conduct in the insolvency industry?

A new code of conduct for insolvency practitioners in Australia now proscribes illegal anti-competitive conduct, unusual for an industry code ...

Liquidator’s fees were too low

Adverse findings have been made against a liquidator by a disciplinary committee, one being that he accepted fees that were ...

Insolvency Law Bulletin – penalties, phoenix & preferences, franchises & offence reports

The latest issue of the Insolvency Law Bulletin (2019) 20(4&5) covers some very topical issues. The Halifax Investment Services matter ...

Cross-border insolvency – the Canberra session

I was pleased to have been involved with others in giving a presentation on UN Day 24 October 2019 to ...

Insolvency developments in the 2018-19 annual reports – ASIC, AFSA, AGD and ATO

Annual reports nowadays are more marketing publications as to various achievements of the relevant agencies and their compliance with statutory ...

Small business insolvency – the Ombudsman inquiry

The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has established an inquiry into “the insolvency system” to report by February ...

The evolution of bankruptcy and insolvency laws and the case of the deed of company arrangement

This is a thoughtful and instructive article on the process of the historical development of the bankruptcy and insolvency laws ...

‘A good idea’ – assignment of a liquidator’s recovery rights

A liquidator has transferred, with court approval, potential recovery claims to the ATO, as the major and only creditor in ...

ASIC’s deterrence message – “no point just communicating this into the Fin Review”.

ASIC gave some useful insights before the recent Senate oversight hearing[1] on 13 September as to the reality of the ...

Use of referees in insolvency litigation

Justice Michael Lee of the Federal Court of Australia has called for a more proactive response from liquidators and trustees ...

ASIC’s period of external scrutiny

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission is properly subject to parliamentary oversight, apart from the on-going scrutiny it receives from ...

Climate change and the law

Here are details of two recent events on climate change and the law, followed by details of a range of ...

Regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners – UK and NZ compared

I am pleased to be soon presenting to various groups on the regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners, with some comparisons ...

International Association of Insolvency Regulators’ Conference – 2019

Australia is attending and presenting at the annual insolvency regulators’ conference, along with regulators from the UK, the US, New ...

Democracy, Human Rights and the Judiciary: the common law and the wider world

The Australian Academy of Law is hosting a presentation by Sir Nicholas Blake on this Wednesday 4 September 2019, in ...

Insolvency practitioner offence reporting – a need for reform

If liquidators in Australia are investigating and reporting to ASIC “thousands” of breaches of the law by those involved in ...

ARITA’s 8 (plus?) point plan for insolvency law reform

One of the main insolvency professional bodies in Australia – ARITA[1] – has released what it calls its “8 point ...

NSW Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Conference 2019

I am presenting to senior lawyers at the NSW Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Conference 2019 on 9-10 August, in the ...

Australian insolvency law – current reforms

As in many countries, general elections put law changes and reform on hold pending the new government’s decisions on pending ...