Law reform
Report on the Franchising Code of Conduct – and insolvent franchisors
Further to my comments of September 2023 below as to a review of the franchising code of conduct, that review ...
New corporate definitions of director, officer and asset
Following the ALRC’s work on Ch 7 of the Corporations Act, attention has already been given to legislative changes tidying ...
Corporations Act redrafting – ch 5?
Some years ago, I suggested to a Treasury officer that Ch 5 of the Corporations Act be redrafted and simplified. ...
The new Administrative Review Tribunal and law for the relief of insolvent debtors
On 7 December 2023, the government introduced legislation that would abolish the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) and establish what it ...
A winding up vs an administration – s 440A(2)
The situation where a creditor applies for a winding up of a company under the Corporations Act, and while that ...
Insolvency statistics 2023
Each of our insolvency regulators, ASIC for corporate, AFSA for personal, has issued its statistics for 2022-2023 right on the ...
Law reform – small business redundancy exemption removed
Among the many changes introduced by the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023 are those in Schedule 1 ...
The AFCA financial complaints scheme and bankruptcy – no appeal
Further to my case comment below, AFSA has, belatedly, advised that it is not appealing this decision of Justice Rares ...
“Shock horror – insolvent people don’t have many assets”
While we wait for the useful annual statistics from AFSA as to dividend returns in bankruptcies in 2022-2023,* an insolvency ...
Bankruptcy Act restructure – when statements of affairs are accepted
AFSA advises that the Bankruptcy Amendment (Discharge from Bankruptcy) Act 2023 (Cth), came into force on Thursday 23 November 2023. ...
Australia on a slide? [continued]
While I need to update my February 2022 comments below, and note for example that the government has now given ...
Slow pace of litigation and incomprehensible laws
Former Federal Court judge Steven Rares is reported in the AFR[1] as having made several comments about the justice system ...
Defining bankruptcy
The Bankruptcy Amendment (Discharge from Bankruptcy) Bill 2023 has been introduced into parliament. It has presumably been drafted by the ...
Insolvent trading in context
Insolvent trading is one of the many items for review recommended by the Parliamentary Joint Committee report on Corporate Insolvency. ...
Bankruptcy by mistake – who pays?
What started out as a minor dispute over plumbing work for $2,880 descended into the plumber obtaining a judgment for ...
Regulation of firms offering insolvency services
Further to my earlier post on insolvency practitioner (IP) regulation in the UK, and contrary to expectations,[1] the UK government ...
Insolvent Trading and Minimal Returns to Creditors in Liquidations
This is a brief response to a well-researched and thoughtful article by Associate Professor Mark Wellard – Insolvent Trading: Director ...
Some insolvency law reform ideas from Scotland and New Zealand
“ … the state is, effectively, paying insolvency practitioners to end the life of small companies … a sub-optimal solution ...
The cross-border regulation of insolvency practitioners – insights from INSOL Tokyo
I was invited to present at the INSOL International Academic Colloquium on 12 September 2023 in Tokyo on the panel ...
Public interest supports time extension for insolvency recovery action
Litigation claims brought by insolvency practitioners (IPs) are not like the usual commercial claims on behalf of a commercial, or ...
ASIC v Jones [GD Pork] – insolvency practitioner independence and pre-insolvency advice
A court decision concerning insolvency practitioner independence and pre-insolvency advice usefully raises issues recommended for law reform review by the ...
The government halts its Modernising Business Registers Program after an independent review
The federal government has announced it will stop its Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program following independent review findings that the ...
NZ Supreme Court confirms Mainzeal directors’ liabilities for over NZ$39 million
The Supreme Court of New Zealand has dismissed directors’ appeals from a finding that they must pay over NZ$6 million ...
PJC Recommendation – Pre-Insolvency Advisers – Part 1: summary
The full article on this topic of 1800 words, for those interested, looks that the PJC Report recommendations about “untrustworthy ...
