phoenix activity

Productivity inquiry into phoenix activity

The Productivity Commission (PC) has issued its National Competition Policy: modelling proposed reforms. Among proposed inquiries into electric vehicle charging ...

The government halts its Modernising Business Registers Program after an independent review

The federal government has announced it will stop its Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program following independent review findings that the ...

ASIC’s power to wind up abandoned companies – a drop in the ocean?

ASIC has revised its guidance on the exercise of its powers to order the winding up of an abandoned company, ...

Deregistered / dissolved companies – let them be?

The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, ...

Deregistered/dissolved companies – let them be?

The UK Insolvency Service has been granted new investigative and disqualification powers to regulate directors who ‘dissolve’ (in Australian terms, ...

Costs against ASIC in its [“illegal phoenix activity”] claim against a liquidator

ASIC has been unsuccessful in resisting a costs order against it in its “illegal phoenix activity” proceedings against a liquidator ...

Deregistered companies – UK reforms and some Australian comparisons

The UK Insolvency Service is to be given powers to investigate directors of companies that have been dissolved, or in ...

Corporate Criminal Responsibility – final ALRC report

The Australian Law Reform Commission report, Corporate Criminal Responsibility (ALRC 136), was tabled in Parliament on 31 August 2020. The ...

Australian SME insolvencies – the ATO as the solution?

While the government is no doubt considering a range of options to allow the insolvency system to cope with what ...

ASIC’s initial claim of illegal phoenix activity by a liquidator now the subject of a 160 page statement of claim

This post is further updated on 26 February 2021 to reflect that ASIC filed its statement of claim against Mr ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Insolvency Law Bulletin – penalties, phoenix & preferences, franchises & offence reports

The latest issue of the Insolvency Law Bulletin (2019) 20(4&5) covers some very topical issues. The Halifax Investment Services matter ...

Corporate phoenixing – a crime?

The Australian Law Reform Commission has released a Discussion Paper addressing a number of aspects of its reference on corporate ...

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 ...

England’s approach to ‘phoenixism’ – joint and several liability

English law’s latest proposed reforms in relation to abuse of its tax laws through insolvency, including through ‘phoenixism’, seem to ...

Competing with phoenix operators, rather than combatting – a goverment liquidator

The World Bank has come out with reports[1] that support the Australian government’s attempts to control unlawful phoenix activity, by ...

Offence reporting in insolvency

In reporting breaches of the law to ASIC, and triggering action by ASIC, liquidators are not required to express any ...

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 ...

Professional ethics – Academy of Law Debates for 2017

A series of public debates on ethical conduct in the law, accounting and business was a significant contribution to this ...

QUT Law Review – a special issue on personal insolvency

Australia’s current major bankruptcy law reforms are necessarily informed by a range of academic and professional input, from here and ...

Guerilla tactics needed against phoenix misconduct

While the government is considering the various submissions on phoenix reforms, these quick thoughts came to mind, involving both government ...

Why does the Federal Circuit Court not have corporate insolvency jurisdiction?

This is not a plug for the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, which sits below the Federal Court, but it ...