This rather painful transcript of Senate estimates hearing on 27 October 2020 illustrates many things but in particular how small business insolvency law reform is
The Singapore parliament passed the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill 2020 on 3 November 2020. It will amend the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act
The Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill 2020 is important in many respects and some would see the following aspect of it as not. But I’ll press
The numbers upon which the government is relying for the proposed SME reforms[1] don’t seem to add up. Apart from the fact that the reforms
The 2 year review of Australia’s safe harbour protection for directors, due from the government over a year ago, never took place. Q: The Treasurer
On 26 October 2020 the Economics Legislation Committee inquired of various Treasury officers about personal and corporate insolvency law reform, in particular about the proposed
A judge has cautioned against “reasoning backwards” to assume that insolvency practitioners’ failed or injudicious legal proceedings either should not reasonably have been commenced or
The Australian government’s 2015 proposal to reduce the 3 year period for the imposition of the restrictions of bankruptcy to 1 year remains on foot;
A recent article Getting the priorities right: ATO garnishee notices in times of corporate distress by Sylvia Villios and David Brown[1] has highlighted what is
According to a report from Stuff in New Zealand, a long-established liquidator has been denied permission to continue to practise based upon his convictions for
The Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016 introduced some, let’s say, novel provisions in relation to the registration and discipline of Australian insolvency practitioners which I
The term ‘ordinary course of business’ in law is meant to describe a transaction that was within the normal operations of a particular business, it
The Australian government is presently finalising its draft SME insolvency law reform proposals. Apart from getting the law right, as significant a task is deciding
Australia proposes to follow England’s lead in giving insolvency practitioners the initial role in new debtor in possession insolvency reforms, but in rather different ways.[1]
Australia’s draft legislation to implement its announced MSME corporate insolvency reforms may have drawn more on international than local thinking, in particular in relation to
It is interesting to now see the clear limitations the government has placed on the protections offered by the COVID-19 ‘safe harbour’ reforms, in the
Soft law in Australia takes a rather strict approach in assessing the independence of insolvency practitioners, more so than, for example, the UK: for a
The NZ Supreme Court has given a significant decision on the duties of directors in the face of their company’s financial difficulties. Comparison is made
The federal Treasurer has announced a new restructuring regime for struggling small to medium enterprises (SMEs)[1] which adopts a ‘debtor-in-possession’ model for companies owing less
New Zealand has a new insolvency practitioner regulation regime which commenced on 1 September 2020. The regime has processes allowing Australian registered liquidators to be
Commentary following issued in April 2020 is reissued in September 2020 in light of the reports that a significant proportion – close to 55%* –
The Corporations and Bankruptcy Legislation Amendment (Extending Temporary Relief for Financially Distressed Businesses and Individuals) Regulations 2020 serve to extend the existing insolvency protections to
In What has happened to the proposed beneficial ownership of shares register? in February 2020, I asked what has happened to the Australian government’s ”First
In May 2012 a national Australian transportation company was put into liquidation and on 2 July, a meeting of creditors was held which purported to
