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 see whether the codes are…
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 context of the impact of…
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 consider some root and branch…
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 Paper in late 2019. One…
An insolvency safe harbour in New Zealand?
As Australia is about the review the first two years of operation of its 2017 safe harbour reforms,[1] New Zealand is looking at introducing the…
Why didn’t someone do something? the obligation to whistleblow
There is a current focus on whistleblowing as being one means whereby unlawfulness can be controlled. But what can be a voluntary and sometimes difficult…
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 the accreditation of professional bodies[1]…
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 Ombudsman examines the financial difficulties…
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 director identity numbers. Phoenixing The…
Insolvency – some root and branch ideas
Does the government shirk its responsibilities in ensuring the proper operation of our insolvency regime by unloading the costs of investigation, reporting and prosecuting as…
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 the law that provides for…
The Future of Australian Law Reform – the five top priorites?
The Australian Law Reform Commission released its report The Future of Law Reform: A Suggested Program of Work 2020-25 on 2 December 2019. The report…
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 but no doubt included for…
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 “significantly below the actual cost”…
Australia’s Official Receiver (in corporate insolvency)
Australia adopted much of English corporate law at the beginning of the 20th century but one thing it did not take on was the English…
Breaking a bankruptcy monopoly in New Zealand
There are moves in NZ to break the monopoly of the Official Assignee in personal insolvency by allowing private insolvency practitioners to administer bankruptcies under…
New Zealand – corporate insolvency practitioner regulation
The New Zealand government has called for submissions on the proposed minimum standards and conditions for the licensing of insolvency practitioners under the Insolvency Practitioners…
Small business insolvency – the Ombudsman inquiry
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has established an inquiry into “the insolvency system” to report by February 2020, focusing on practitioners, lawyers,…