Judicial Impartiality Final Report – still under wraps
The Australian Law Reform Commission handed its Judicial Impartiality Final Report to the Attorney-General, Senator Michaelia Cash on 6 December 2021. The report is yet
19/04/2022
Bankruptcy law – no need for prior consent to service by email
Bankruptcy law has been changed to allow service by email without asking the person in advance whether they consent to being served by email. This
06/04/2022
Australia’s safe harbour protection from insolvent trading liability, continued
The report on Australia’s safe harbour protection for directors (s 588GA) from what is said to be our strict insolvent trading laws (s 588G) will
05/04/2022
Why do we have preference recoveries in insolvency? – updated
The High Court of Australia (Keane and Gleeson JJ) has granted the liquidators special leave to appeal from the Full Federal Court decision abolishing the
23/03/2022
Insolvency returns to creditors and other fictions – reissued March 2022
Insolvencies average dividend returns to unsecured creditors of under 5 cents in the dollar, in some cases, under 1 cent. For your unpaid debt of
22/03/2022
ASIC’s power to wind up abandoned companies – a drop in the ocean?
ASIC has revised its guidance on the exercise of its powers to order the winding up of an abandoned company, noting that “directors sometimes abandon
20/03/2022
Government’s law reform of schemes of arrangement a “complete waste of resources when the core problem brewing is in the SME market”
Some may agree or not with the “blunt” submission of an Australian liquidator and trustee on the government’s review of schemes of arrangement law as
14/03/2022
Diversity and inclusion in insolvency
Diversity in the qualifications, experience, knowledge and abilities of those in the insolvency industry is the subject of this article, leaving other aspects of diversity
07/03/2022
A recusal application dismissed; ALRC report on Judicial Impartiality awaited
Justice Steven Rares of the Federal Court of Australia has rejected an application to recuse himself from hearing a matter based upon claimed grounds that
03/03/2022
Small business insolvency advice via the Ombudsman
The federal government’s current focus on personal insolvency law reform coincides with Small Business Month in NSW and the Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman’s
01/03/2022
“Voluntarily becoming bankrupt” – the new bankruptcy process
A person goes voluntarily bankrupt in Australia by completing an online “Bankruptcy Form” with the Official Receiver. What is now more a loosely worded opaque
22/02/2022
Liquidators’ examinations – a sea apart; legislative drafting – “a huge amount of material to wade through before they take a single step”
The decision of the High Court of Australia in Walton v Arrium [by majority (3-2)] adopting a broad interpretation of the examination power under s
18/02/2022
Company owners and sole traders
In the government’s proposed 5 year review of the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 changes, one particular issue needing attention is indirectly prompted by the
11/02/2022
Australia’s response to money laundering and terrorist financing – a Bill for a Bill
The Australian parliament’s response to a 2016 recommendation to introduce law to counter money laundering and terrorist financing – by way of a Bill introduced
10/02/2022
Australia’s latest MSE and personal insolvency law reform – this is supposed to be a “long-term approach”?
The Australian government seems to be putting the final touches to reforms of its insolvency law regime that commenced with the onset of COVID-19. These
02/02/2022
Proof of service of a bankruptcy notice – why it is, or why is it, so important?
A woman made bankrupt by a federal court registrar exercising judicial authority of the court has had her bankruptcy set aside because she was not
24/01/2022
Proof of service of a bankruptcy notice – why it is, or why is it, so important?
A woman made bankrupt by a federal court registrar exercising judicial authority of the court has had her bankruptcy set aside because she was not
24/01/2022
Deregistered/dissolved companies – let them be?
The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, ‘deregister’) their companies to avoid
07/01/2022
Deregistered / dissolved companies – let them be?
The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, ‘deregister’) their companies to avoid
07/01/2022
Insolvent insolvency practitioners?
An Australian insolvency industry body – ARITA – has suggested that the law should be changed to allow insolvency practitioners (IPs) who themselves become insolvent,
22/12/2021
UK’s proposed single insolvency regulator – beware Australian comparisons [revised]
After some long period of deliberation, the UK government has decided to itself take a direct role in the regulation of its insolvency practitioners (IPs),
22/12/2021
Is it relevant outside Canberra whether a law is within or without Treasury’s portfolio?
With the government’s Treasury department busily introducing changes to the law to allow virtual meeting technology (VMT) for corporate liquidations, and liquidator job interviews, the
20/12/2021
Australian bankruptcy statistics 2019-2021
Numbers of Australia’s 3 year long bankruptcies were down 46.7% in 2020-2021, producing an average dividend of only 1.63c/$. The private profession, which handles about
17/12/2021
Australian MSME insolvency law reform
Australian lawyers are presently represented at an international gathering of experts to address the need for particular insolvency laws for small business in the wake
15/12/2021