Law reform

Too much independence? a re-issue of my 2016 commentary

My analysis below of the law of insolvency practitioner independence, written in October 2016, is reissued in February 2020 in ...

by how much could we reduce white collar crime by imposing 30 year jail sentences? “Zero”.

The Honest Politician’s Guide to Crime Control never went into to a second edition, and it may by now be ...

The reform of the intersection of trust and insolvency law – Killarnee

Once the trustee and insolvency lawyers have explained the law about the insolvency of trading trusts in the decision in ...

A one year bankruptcy or a 5 year debt agreement – Senate recommendations

The reports of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee on the one-year bankruptcy (BAEI Bill) and the debt agreement ...

UK consultation on insolvency recovery and governance reforms

The UK government is consulting on law reform with a view to, in its words, “to improve the UK’s corporate ...

The breadth of the concept of justice – Australian Academy of Law

Consistent with its objects, the Australian Academy of Law held a series of three public debates in 2017, in Sydney, ...

Restrictions on failed entrepreneurs – 3 years, one, or none?

The current inquiries and debates about whether we should reduce our period of bankruptcy in Australia from three years to ...

Linc Energy’s insolvency disclaimer prevails over environmental demands

The success of the claims of Linc Energy’s liquidators against Queensland’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) won’t resolve the continuing legal ...

Some casual Friday comments on recent insolvency developments

This is a quick review of some on-going current issues in insolvency and related. Pending decisions The Commonwealth v Byrnes ...

The tragic personal consequences of the collapse of Banksia securities

This does no more than set out the opening paragraphs of Justice Clyde Croft’s judgment of 16 February 2018 about ...

Cleaning up the law – WA’s old diamond and other mines

The collapse of WA’s Ellendale diamond mine, and the liquidators’ prompt disclaimer of the mining site, leaving the clean up ...

The wider context of the proposed one-year period of bankruptcy

Many less than 1% of bankrupts warrant an objection to discharge from their bankruptcy, trustees leave it til the last ...

ASIC and one-year bankruptcy, AUSTRAC, a fees claim settled, and more …

The following further commentary on insolvency – submissions due, events and conferences and case law – may be of interest. ...

Ensuring employees’ super gets paid

The term ‘pussyfooting’ comes to mind when looking at the government’s proposed new ‘tough’ approach to employees’ unpaid super contributions ...

What’s up, or on, in insolvency, early in 2018?

The following commentary on submissions due, events and conferences, professional standards, international and local, hearings and case law*, all in ...

Release of draft Bankruptcy Amendment (Debt Agreement Reform) Bill 2018

The debt agreements regime under the Bankruptcy Act would be substantially changed in order to give greater confidence in a ...

Moving in together – personal and corporate insolvency law and policy

Mr Christian Porter, as the new federal Attorney-General, might like to consider transferring responsibility for personal insolvency from his law ...

Pending insolvency law and practice changes

Some of us are waiting for Santa, others are waiting on anticipated updates in insolvency law so we can send ...

The end of safe harbour?

Is there a possibility that the new ‘safe harbour’ regime for directors might be removed? It depends.   While the ...

Debt agreement reform remains under parliamentary wraps

Although listed for tabling in parliament this year, the Bankruptcy Amendment (Debt Agreement Reform) Bill 2017 did not quite make ...

Part IX debt agreement reforms also off to a Senate Committee

In ‘A one year bankruptcy or a 3 year debt agreement … what’s the catch?’ I foreshadowed reforms to Part ...

Vale CAMAC

Many will remember the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC), and its predecessor CASAC.  CAMAC produced many law reform reports ...

One year bankruptcy reform – submissions due by 31 January 2018

The government has put off its announced one year bankruptcy law until well into next year, asking for submissions by ...

An economic perspective on trends in start-ups, and -downs

The federal government’s Innovation Statement of 2015 contained some simplistic aims for the promotion of entrepreneurial activity from proposed changes ...