Accountants’ insolvency code updated
A new standard for insolvency practitioners – APES 330 – has just been issued written in APESB’s unique style and offering guidance on issues in
02/09/2019
Democracy, Human Rights and the Judiciary: the common law and the wider world
The Australian Academy of Law is hosting a presentation by Sir Nicholas Blake on this Wednesday 4 September 2019, in Melbourne. Sir Nicholas is a
02/09/2019
ASIC’s Corporate Plan 2019-2023 – Insolvency Practitioners
ASIC’s corporate plan 2019-2023 contains much detail about the various sectors it regulates and what regulatory approaches it is taking. This is a list of
29/08/2019
Winding up a company for $2,000?
A court has suggested that the minimum debt amount for which a creditor can proceed to apply to wind up a debtor before the court
27/08/2019
Insolvency practitioner offence reporting – a need for reform
If liquidators in Australia are investigating and reporting to ASIC “thousands” of breaches of the law by those involved in insolvent companies each year, most
26/08/2019
ARITA’s 8 (plus?) point plan for insolvency law reform
One of the main insolvency professional bodies in Australia – ARITA[1] – has released what it calls its “8 point plan” to comprehensively review and
24/08/2019
A policy question with insolvency preferences
Is the essence of a preference payment in insolvency that the pool of the debtor’s assets are lessened by the debtor’s payment to the preferred
24/08/2019
Flying low – an airline’s ‘extraordinary’ response to a $19m penalty
A major international airline turned up to court to seek a stay of a A$19m penalty with evidence so inadequate that the Judge described it
20/08/2019
International insolvency law and Australia’s UNCCA
A newly qualified Australian lawyer who was sponsored through UNCCA and LAWASIA to attend Insolvency Working Group V in Vienna in December 2018, is pursuing
18/08/2019
Views of former High Court judges, on reasoned [sic] government decision making
Here are two rather politically telling comments of former Australian High Court judges from which we may each make our own assessment about how this
07/08/2019
NSW Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Conference 2019
I am presenting to senior lawyers at the NSW Law Society’s Specialist Accreditation Conference 2019 on 9-10 August, in the Business Law component. The topic
05/08/2019
Choosing courts in cross-border insolvency applications
As a federation, Australia has a mix of state and territory and federal courts, each with their own jurisdictions. Jurisdiction is however shared between courts
29/07/2019
Cafés and restaurants – at a tipping point, in 2018, and now?
In light of current (July 2019) reports about restaurants’ tax [non] compliance, my article of a year ago, 15 July 2018, is re-issued. The
22/07/2019
Australian insolvency law – current reforms
As in many countries, general elections put law changes and reform on hold pending the new government’s decisions on pending law. The government was returned
22/07/2019
“Shortcomings of the Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency (just some)”
Professor Martin Davies of Tulane Maritime Law Center recently offered a critique of the Model Law on Cross Border Insolvency at a presentation at Sydney
21/07/2019
NZ’s 2019 Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act and its cross-Tasman impact
NZ’s Insolvency Practitioners Regulation Act is due to commence over the next year introducing a licensing and regulatory regime for insolvency practitioners (IPs) under a
06/07/2019
How to become an insolvency practitioner in Australia
The ‘new’ process of selecting by interview who should be an insolvency practitioner (IP) was the subject of a presentation by ASIC at the recent
05/07/2019
Bankrupt trustees coming before the High Court
While the focus of the High Court’s trust law decision in Carter Holt[1] is in the context of corporate insolvency, many of the principles applied
04/07/2019
Delayed payment of a receiver’s bill – by 400 days?
Delayed payment of bills is said to be a significant problem facing small to medium enterprises in particular, with ‘cash flow’ remaining as an essential
01/07/2019
Some views on ASIC v Wily & Hurst
The views of Justice Brereton of the NSW Supreme Court have not prevailed following the decision by the High Court in the Carter Holt Harvey
30/06/2019
‘Your place or mine, and for how long?’ – a lack of judicial independence
We might have noticed that courts in Australia and indeed in most comparable countries are usually housed in their own buildings, one reason being the
28/06/2019
Insolvency of trading trusts – Keay comments
Our 10th edition of Keay’s Insolvency was published in 2018 just after the Victorian Court of Appeal decision in Amerind, and that decision was included
25/06/2019
Revised insolvency standard for practitioners. As to their professional bodies …
The Accounting Ethical and Professional Standards Board (APESB) has approved a new and revised APES 330 – Insolvency Services, the first revision since 2014. This
25/06/2019
AFCA’s interaction with insolvency law
The authority of the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) and its impact on finance debts owing should be understood, including by those in the
19/06/2019
