Liquidator’s registration suspended not cancelled, by agreement
In A liquidator disciplinary decision – some regulatory insights | Murrays Legal Commentary , I reported an AAT decision refusing a liquidator’s application for a
18/01/2021
New Zealand and Australian voluntary administration law
New Zealand adopted Australia’s Part 5.3A voluntary administration regime some years ago, in Part 15A of its Companies Act 1993. The NZ High Court has
14/01/2021
‘Modernising’ insolvency communications
The Australian government’s consultation paper – Modernising Business Communications – Improving the Technology Neutrality[1] of Treasury Portfolio Laws, of December 2020 – offers, as an
06/01/2021
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 one of many root and
04/01/2021
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 – from 1 January 2021
30/12/2020
Bad bankruptcy notices
A bankruptcy notice was found to have been wrongly issued by the Official Receiver because it did not attach a final judgment or order of
29/12/2020
The Law of Bankruptcy Notices and Creditors’ Petitions, by Nicholas J Simpson, 2020 – a book review
This is a very good and topical Australian text, adequately and accurately described by its title. My review of it was/is to appear in the
22/12/2020
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 what AFSA terms ‘the challenges
22/12/2020
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. My review of it was/is
21/12/2020
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 funding and the regulation of
21/12/2020
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 Gottliebsen, The Weekend Australian, 19-20
21/12/2020
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 provisions of 1 January 2021.
18/12/2020
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 with the smaller proportion of
18/12/2020
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 time that an Australian parliamentary
17/12/2020
Does small business count?
This Ombudsman’s follow up report – Small Business Counts – examines small to medium business enterprises (SMEs) from an economics and technology perspective, including as
15/12/2020
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 2020 and its passage is
08/12/2020
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 Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Bill
07/12/2020
Australian insolvency practitioner disciplinary decisions – short but to what point?
This report of two insolvency practitioner disciplinary decisions in Australia will be brief because the decisions, or their publicly released versions, comprise 12 words each.
06/12/2020
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 “the most significant reforms to
29/11/2020
SME insolvency – an alternative approach
Small business enterprises (SME) in Australia are conducted through the full range of legal entities available – sole traders, partners, corporate trusts, companies, associations and
24/11/2020
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 commence on 1 January 2021,
19/11/2020
Whistleblowing – panel debate – Bret Walker SC, Kate McClymont, and more – 19 November
The Australian Academy of Law is hosting a free on-line seminar on whistleblowing on Thursday evening 19 November 2020 from 5pm, chaired by Justice Julie
11/11/2020
Insolvency Law Bulletin – Janus-faced SME reforms; new easy ways to avoid preferences; and how to recover gifts of money, maybe
An article in the forthcoming Insolvency Law Bulletin describes the proposed corporate SME insolvency reforms as Janus-faced,[1] the title referring to a claim that the
10/11/2020
Data Availability and Transparency Bill and Australia’s SME insolvency reforms
Following on some decades of government inattention to the collection of adequate statistical data in insolvency, but with law reforms proceeding regardless, the Australian government
08/11/2020