Law reform
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 ...
Australia’s corporate SME insolvency law may soon become law – and then….
The Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Bill 2020 progressed through a third reading in the Australian parliament on 8 December ...
Corporate insolvency reforms 2020 – referred to a committee?
Report No 11 of 2020 of the Senate’s selection of bills committee of 3 December 2020 has considered the Corporations ...
Bankruptcy seems to be the hardest word
The government has not said anything about insolvency law reform for financially struggling individual small business operators among its claimed ...
SME insolvency – an alternative approach
Small business enterprises (SME) in Australia are conducted through the full range of legal entities available – sole traders, partners, ...
Australia’s small business restructuring practitioners
Australia is proposing a sub-group of liquidator accountants to assist in administering its new corporate SME insolvency laws, set to ...
Where’s personal insolvency nowadays? Australian parliamentary confusion
This rather painful transcript of Senate estimates hearing on 27 October 2020 illustrates many things but in particular how small ...
Singapore’s new small business restructuring and liquidation regime – a “move away from earlier efforts to ‘hold the line'”
The Singapore parliament passed the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill 2020 on 3 November 2020. It will amend the ...
Do the Australian small to medium business insolvency reforms add up?
The numbers upon which the government is relying for the proposed SME reforms[1] don’t seem to add up. Apart from ...
ATO’s right to garnishee – a “privileged position … likely to result in failed corporate rescue attempts”?
A recent article Getting the priorities right: ATO garnishee notices in times of corporate distress by Sylvia Villios and David ...
Transparency in the selection process of liquidators and trustees
The Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 introduced some, let’s say, novel provisions in relation to the registration and discipline of ...
‘In the ordinary course of business’ in insolvency – why are we following wrong thinking New Zealanders?
The term ‘ordinary course of business’ in law is meant to describe a transaction that was within the normal operations ...
Choosing practitioners to administer Australian MSME insolvencies
The Australian government is presently finalising its draft SME insolvency law reform proposals. Apart from getting the law right, as ...
Who wants to be an SME insolvency practitioner? Australia’s proposed reforms
Australia proposes to follow England’s lead in giving insolvency practitioners the initial role in new debtor in possession insolvency reforms, ...
Australia’s proposed MSME insolvency reforms – an international perspective
Australia’s draft legislation to implement its announced MSME corporate insolvency reforms may have drawn more on international than local thinking, ...
Fightback! SMEs get a new restructuring tool
The federal Treasurer has announced a new restructuring regime for struggling small to medium enterprises (SMEs)[1] which adopts a ‘debtor-in-possession’ ...
Insolvency protections extension to 31 December 2020
The Corporations and Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment (Extending Temporary Relief for Financially Distressed Businesses and Individuals) Regulations 2020 serve to extend ...
UK gearing up for major corporate liquidations in ‘unpredictable times for the insolvency sector …’
In what appears to be ominous but necessary preparation for the continued economic consequences of COVID-19, the UK Insolvency Service ...
Insolvency and debtor in possession – hospital or home care?
If Joe thought he might have a serious medical condition, but did not want to go to hospital for a ...
Bankrupt for life?
An Australian personal bankruptcy lasts for a minimum of 3 years in Australia – whether it is an overly committed ...
Can a debtor resist a bankruptcy arising from COVID-19?
So far the courts in Australia have not had to deal with many creditors’ bankruptcy petitions against debtors in the ...
Australian SME insolvencies – the ATO as the solution?
While the government is no doubt considering a range of options to allow the insolvency system to cope with what ...
