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…
“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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Insolvency returns to creditors and other fictions
Insolvencies average dividend returns to unsecured creditors of under 5 cents in the dollar, in some cases, under 1 cent. For your unpaid debt of…
Unclaimed bankruptcy moneys – new law
Easier processes to recover unclaimed moneys in bankruptcy commence at the end of June 2019. The Official Receiver in Bankruptcy will be able to decide…
Insolvency and climate change and environmental liabilities
INSOL Academics in Singapore on 1-2 April 2019 and the following day’s meeting of academics at the National University of Singapore provided a number of…
Report on targeting of people in financial hardship
The Economics References Committee has issued its report, on time, following its inquiry into ‘Credit and hardship: report of the Senate inquiry into credit and…
Bills subject to scrutiny
That a bill is introduced into parliament after an extensive period of community consultation does not necessarily mean that it will proceed into law without…
Director identity number bill now before parliament
A number of bills broadly concerning the registers of information held by the Commonwealth have been referred to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics for…
Litigation ‘for the benefit of creditors’ – really?
How much do unsecured creditors receive out of a liquidation or bankruptcy from any ‘successful’ judgment obtained by the liquidator or trustee under their vast…
Hayne Report – banks and receivers and agricultural enterprises
The Hayne Royal Commission declined to examine the conduct of receivers appointed by banks, in particular over agricultural enterprises. Nevertheless, comments and recommendations in the…
Bad timing? or will Euclid save the day?
Calculation of time limits in law should be straightforward but judges have taken us to the mathematics of Euclid and beyond in deciding whether a…
Trends in personal insolvency given to Senate committee
Representatives of the personal insolvency law administrator - AFSA - appeared on 24 January 2019 before the Economics References Committee examining credit and financial services…
Inquiry into debt services for those in financial hardship – 22 January hearing
The Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiring into credit and financial services targeted at people at risk of financial hardship has its next hearing in…