Law reform
Deregistered companies – UK reforms and some Australian comparisons
The UK Insolvency Service is to be given powers to investigate directors of companies that have been dissolved, or in ...
Australia’s limited insolvency reforms for small business
With our international trading partners recently meeting to examine ways to handle micro to small enterprise (MSE) insolvency impacted by ...
An insolvency safe harbour based on culture and tradition?
For years Australia had no ‘safe harbour’ protection for directors from insolvent trading. In 2017, one was introduced, then three ...
World Bank insolvency principles – how does Australia compare?
The World Bank has released its updated Principles for Effective Insolvency and Creditor/Debtor Regimes (the Principles), emphasising the needs of ...
Penalties and bankruptcy
A person in breach of consumer protection laws concerning the hire of 4 wheel drive vehicles has been ordered to ...
NSW registered clubs (law) in trouble, again
What are described as the “arbitrary powers of the NSW Independent Liquor & Gaming Authority (ILGA)” are the subject of ...
The new Attorney-General and business bankruptcies
As the new Attorney-General, Senator Michaelia Cash[1] will find her portfolio encompasses the current law reform debate about whether and ...
Move bankruptcy from the Attorney-General to Treasury?
In light of the Attorney-General’s need to transfer some matters of his responsibility, a worthy area to transfer is the ...
Neither a borrower nor a lender be – at least to a friend or a relative …
A guarantee given by a mother to a friend of her son for the son’s business debts ended up in ...
Should a person be subject to restrictions after an insolvency?
The default period of restriction on a person following their personal insolvency is under consideration in Australia. It prompts the ...
A proposed change of focus of the Australian Official Trustee in Bankruptcy
The Australian Official Trustee in Bankruptcy (OT) has sought comment on a significant refocus of its legal responsibilities by way ...
Australian personal insolvency reform for COVID-19 impacted debtors
The Australian government’s proposed retention of the restrictions of bankruptcy on COVID-19 impacted business proprietors and consumers is questionable, but ...
‘Modernising’ insolvency communications
The Australian government’s consultation paper – Modernising Business Communications – Improving the Technology Neutrality[1] of Treasury Portfolio Laws, of December ...
Australian root and branch bankruptcy reform – creditors’ rights? Elizabeth (Ist) laws? SMEs? …
While COVID-19 restrictions on creditors in bankruptcy have ended, though now with an increased $10,000 threshold, the experience should prompt ...
Australia’s new liquidator registration processes, and its ‘new liquidators’
On 30 December 2020, ASIC issued guidance on the new liquidator registration processes that apply in Australia two days hence ...
Bad bankruptcy notices
A bankruptcy notice was found to have been wrongly issued by the Official Receiver because it did not attach a ...
The financial viability of personal insolvency practice in Australia
The Australian bankruptcy regulator – AFSA – has been making inquiries about the financial health of bankruptcy trustee firms during ...
Reinventing Bankruptcy Law – Virginia Torrie
This is a very good book on Canadian insolvency law, sadly with no equivalent in Australia, as I explain below. ...
Australia’s litigation funding market a ‘global hotspot for international investors … many based in tax havens and with dubious corporate histories’ with returns of ‘more than 500%’
The tone and findings of this 454 page report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services – Litigation ...
The ‘powerhouse’ of small and medium enterprises and their recovery ‘boosted’ by our new insolvency laws
Interesting to know from what [limited] bases journalists get their views … ‘Finally, a fair go for small suppliers’, R ...
Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 No 130 of 2020
This is now law, with a date of assent of 15 December 2020, and with a commencement date for most ...
Bankruptcy threshold to be increased from $5,000 to $10,000
The Australian government has not been ignoring personal insolvency reform in 2020, despite its recent small business reforms dealing only ...
NZ’s measured review of class actions and litigation funding, noting Australia’s ‘polarised’ debate
The New Zealand Law Commission has commenced a 2 year inquiry into litigation funding and class actions, right at the ...
Does small business count?
This Ombudsman’s follow up report – Small Business Counts – examines small to medium business enterprises (SMEs) from an economics ...
