Law reform
An insolvency law reform inquiry? first things first….
The prospect of an inquiry into insolvency law was raised in a recent speech by the chair of the Australian ...
Proposed New Zealand law restricting investigating accountants taking insolvency appointments
A bill introduced into the New Zealand parliament would mean that if ABC Insolvency Firm took a role as investigating ...
Rethinking insolvency law – a follow up
We are pleased to see some further responses to our early ideas on reform of the structure of the insolvency ...
Sole traders and insolvency
A report on the financial business health of Australian small business takes the novel approach of looking at sole traders. ...
Trust law and insolvency – views of the NSW Chief Justice; law reform prospects
A paper given by the NSW Chief Justice, Tom Bathurst – ‘Commercial trusts and the liability of beneficiaries: are commercial ...
Electronic delivery of documents in bankruptcy and liquidation – continued
In my earlier comments trying to work out why we now have unharmonized drafting approaches and rules for electronic service ...
Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles
The government is consulting on a Bill in line with what it says is its commitment “to establishing a commercially viable ...
Reinventing the Australian Insolvency System
At a seminar on 4 August 2021, Jason Harris and I presented our ideas on reform of the insolvency system ...
Australian personal insolvency and small business reform in the wake of Covid
An overseas publisher has asked me to give an update on the latest in small business bankruptcy law in Australia, ...
Judicial impartiality report awaits the High Court decision in Charisteas – more dancing on pinheads
Following a recent Australian Law Reform Commission seminar – Impartiality from both sides of the Bench | ALRC – held ...
Australia’s review of its insolvency safe harbour – more than a few issues to consider, but in the end, about not much
The terms of reference and what is called a ‘discussion paper’[1] for this review under s 588HA have been released, ...
Objections to a bankrupt’s 3 year discharge in Australia – mixed messages and unfair law
Apart from Australian law imposing a long period for a person to be subject to the restrictions and stigma of ...
You call that a lockdown? Australia’s bankruptcy laws
If those in small business think the lockdowns are tough, for weeks or even months at a time, the government ...
Review of Australia’s safe harbour protection from insolvent trading – remember s 588HA [updated]
The federal government has finally made arrangements to have Australia’s “safe harbour” from insolvent trading law reviewed – s 588GA, ...
What do creditors get from ‘successful’ recovery actions by insolvency practitioners?
A Judge has ordered that Trustees in bankruptcy file “evidence that identifies the benefits the creditors of the bankrupt estate ...
Employees’ redundancy rights on the insolvency of their employer
There are now a number of decisions from the Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewing decisions of the Fair Entitlements Guarantee where ...
Australian small business insolvency law – a review
Several stars aligning at the end of 2020-2021 prompt this review of where Australia is at in the area of ...
Why do we have preference recoveries in insolvency?
In finding that the ‘peak indebtedness rule’ did not in fact exist, the Full Federal Court[1] in Badenoch v Bryant ...
Electronic delivery of documents in insolvency law
Some belated concern has been raised about the potential for new corporate insolvency law allowing a winding up demand to ...
Licensing of insolvency practitioners – decision making principles from New Zealand [updated post 13 June 2021]
Mr Damien Grant, the New Zealand insolvency practitioner who successfully challenged RITANZ’s decision to deny him the right to practice ...
Why has the Australian government not yet decided on any further insolvency law changes for small business?
Australia MSE insolvency reform process seems to have halted, perhaps because of a poor reception to its January 2021 small ...
Employees’ loss of FEG redundancy payments through their misguided “acts of decency and loyalty” to assist
The AAT has described its decision confirming a lack of government assistance under fair entitlements guarantee (FEG) for “two dedicated, ...
Service of insolvency documents by email
With law well into the process of change to accommodate electronic communications and dealings, following COVID-19 in particular, we should ...
Peak indebtedness and other insolvency law views from New Zealand
The decision of the Full Federal Court in Badenoch Integrated Logging v Bryant[1] agreeing with New Zealand’s view about the ...
