Government
Dear Parliamentary Counsel
The Commonwealth Integrity Commission Bill 2020 is important in many respects and some would see the following aspect of it ...
Extension of the COVID-19 insolvency protections – what’s the real problem?
The Australian government has extended the monetary threshold of A$20,000 for the commencement by creditors of bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings ...
New Zealand insolvency practitioner regulation – possible delay
The new corporate insolvency practitioner licensing regime in New Zealand, due to start in July 2020, may be put off ...
Lost in my translation – correction to bankruptcy trustee remuneration statistics
AFSA has properly drawn to my attention that figures I have given about the remuneration of bankruptcy trustees have not ...
How to best handle a major airline collapse
When a government sets up an inquiry into how to deal with the insolvency of a certain industry, the industry ...
A regulator’s report on insolvency practitioner remuneration
Australia’s bankruptcy trustees receive an average of $4,800 in administering each estate, with 63% of estates paying no remuneration at ...
The proposed reinvigoration of the UK’s business rescue culture through ‘recalibration of the balance of power’ – some steps too far for Australia?
A recent academic article from the UK has reviewed proposed restructuring reforms announced by the government in August 2018, although ...
What has happened to the proposed beneficial ownership of shares register?
A review of the ASIC Annual Report 2018 by a parliamentary committee was tabled only in February 2020. The report ...
The new law’s limitations in controlling phoenix misconduct
The new anti-phoenix laws, so welcomed in certain quarters, will come up against some business and personal behaviours that are ...
Three year ‘imprisonment’ for bankruptcy debt
Australia has historically been seen as severe in its approach to unpaid debt and opposition to changing the 3 year ...
Don’t be too harsh on non-compliant directors of failed companies?
The laws regulating the conduct of directors of companies in liquidation and laws regulating persons who go bankrupt exist in ...
Review of Australia’s insolvency safe harbour – s 588GA
Australia’s ‘safe harbour’ regime under s 588GA is due for review, since September 2019, as to whether it offers the ...
ARITA’s response to the Ombudsman’s small business insolvency inquiry
ARITA has offered a 60-page submission to the Ombudsman’s inquiry, which, given the quality of the inquiry, may be rather ...
A liquidator disciplinary decision – some regulatory insights
A decision of a tribunal in Australia gives some insight into the insolvency practitioner discipline processes introduced in 2017, which ...
The 2020 insolvency practitioner codes
New insolvency practitioner codes have issued in Australia, with the UK and NZ perhaps not far behind. It remains to ...
Ombudsman’s insolvency inquiry and the nature of small business debt
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has written a newspaper article about the ‘Insolvency Practices Inquiry’ in the ...
Insolvency R&B law reform ideas
While the ASBFE Ombudsman, ARITA and others are looking at insolvency law reform, including for SMEs, they will no doubt ...
Insolvency data sharing and access?
A number of academics, including myself, made a submission to the Data Commissioner’s Data Sharing and Release Legislative Reforms Discussion ...
New Zealand insolvency – accrediting the professional bodies
Public consultation in New Zealand is now open on a discussion paper on the minimum standards and standard conditions for ...
Small businesses and their financial difficulties – the Ombudsman’s inquiry
A discussion paper[1] issued on 20 December from the Insolvency Practices Inquiry of the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise ...
MYEFO 2019-20 – ASIC, phoenixing and ‘journalists’
The government’s mid-year economic and fiscal outlook 2019-20 has these interesting items about access to ASIC’s registers, unlawful phoenixing and ...
Review of the CATSI Act 2006
The government has announced a review of the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) which is ...
Anti-competitive conduct in the insolvency industry?
A new code of conduct for insolvency practitioners in Australia now proscribes illegal anti-competitive conduct, unusual for an industry code ...
Liquidator’s fees were too low
Adverse findings have been made against a liquidator by a disciplinary committee, one being that he accepted fees that were ...
