Law reform
“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 ...
A corporate rescue regime should reflect some alignment with economic efficiency?
In order to stir comments on a forthcoming talk that I was giving on the law and economics of insolvency ...
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 ...
Acronymic insolvency reform options – PJC not CAMAC
Those lawyers wanting a restoration of CAMAC to sort out the complexity of the Corporations Act can leave Chapter 5 ...
A controversial bankruptcy, from the archives – Alan Bond
The bankruptcy of Alan Bond in the 1990s generated outraged sentiment and language which we may not feel and use ...
Confidential settlement of an insolvent trading claim – why?
It would be an act of both supererogation and superfluity to superimpose observations on this synthesis. The Federal Court has ...
The use of data – when we can get it – in shaping law reform
Treasury Minister Dr Andrew Leigh has spoken of the merits and the need for data to assist in shaping government ...
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. ...
Bankruptcy law prevails …
Some time ago, in what may have been a marketing or plain English push, the bankruptcy regulator, AFSA, determined that, ...
The benefits of behavioural economics in law reform
In his address at the launch of the Canberra Behavioural Lab, on 28 August 2025, Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, ...
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, ...
Dealing with assetless estates
An interesting article appears in (2025) International Insolvency Review 1 of INSOL International concerning how different jurisdictions deal with assetless ...
The ATO as the real Pt 5.3B ‘small business restructure’ regulator?
Some years ago, I wrote an article entitled The ATO as an insolvency regulator,[1] suggesting that with the various insolvency ...
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 ...
Court approval of agreements over 3 months?!
Any productivity review of the insolvency system in Australia would find many opportunities to reduce time and costs, in particular ...
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 ...
Legislating in the dark – continued – IMF Report
The 2023 Parliamentary Joint Committee Report on Corporate Insolvency called for the collection and analysis of data in advance of ...
Treasury’s role in insolvency law reform
With Treasury now comprising Ministers well qualified in economics,[1] and with a government focused on competition, economic dynamism and productivity, ...
The economics of insolvency – the pain of liquidation is one way to get economic growth
Pre INSOL post I am pleased to have had my topic accepted for presentation at the INSOL Academics Colloquium in ...
Where’s bankruptcy nowadays?
It is a positive sign that the administration of the Bankruptcy Act has moved from Attorney-General’s to Treasury, sitting with ...
A future where “tax just happens”
A Capability Review of the Australian Taxation Office has been conducted which foreshadows a future where tax obligations are paid ...
Insolvency law – has corporate rescue gone too far? 30 April, Sydney Law School
The Ross Parsons Centre for Commercial, Corporate and Taxation Law of Sydney University Law School is hosting a debate on ...