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…
New Zealand insolvency reform – half a gift card
The New Zealand government has decided to give consumers with unclaimed gift cards issued by a failed business a priority in the winding up of…
Cross-border insolvency – the Canberra session
I was pleased to have been involved with others in giving a presentation on UN Day 24 October 2019 to commemorate 25 years of cross-border…
Halifax – a cross-border insolvency
A joint hearing of Australian and New Zealand courts is one way to deal with an intermingled cross-Tasman insolvency, through a letter of request process,…
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,…
The evolution of bankruptcy and insolvency laws and the case of the deed of company arrangement
This is a thoughtful and instructive article on the process of the historical development of the bankruptcy and insolvency laws in the United Kingdom, the…
NZ insolvency practitioner costs recovery fees
The New Zealand government has released a discussion paper on proposed regulations concerning fees and other arrangements in preparation for the commencement of the co-regulatory…
‘A good idea’ – assignment of a liquidator’s recovery rights
A liquidator has transferred, with court approval, potential recovery claims to the ATO, as the major and only creditor in a liquidation. The law concerning…
Climate change and the law
Here are details of two recent events on climate change and the law, followed by details of a range of other issues covered by Murrays…
Regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners – UK and NZ compared
I am pleased to be soon presenting to various groups on the regulation of Australian insolvency practitioners, with some comparisons with England and New Zealand.…
International Association of Insolvency Regulators’ Conference – 2019
Australia is attending and presenting at the annual insolvency regulators' conference, along with regulators from the UK, the US, New Zealand, Singapore and others. …
A liquidator found liable for breach of confidence and invasion of privacy
“To say there is bad blood between David Henderson and Robert Walker is an understatement. From the time Robert Walker was appointed liquidator of Property…
A legal ‘affront’ – the Chorley exception – has gone
In raising the fundamental equality of all before the law in the context of a lawyer's costs in their own court proceedings, the High Court…
Democracy, Human Rights and the Judiciary: the common law and the wider world
The Australian Academy of Law is hosting a presentation by Sir Nicholas Blake on this Wednesday 4 September 2019, in Melbourne. Sir Nicholas is a…
Winding up a company for $2,000?
A court has suggested that the minimum debt amount for which a creditor can proceed to apply to wind up a debtor before the court…
Insolvency practitioner offence reporting – a need for reform
If liquidators in Australia are investigating and reporting to ASIC "thousands" of breaches of the law by those involved in insolvent companies each year, most…
A policy question with insolvency preferences
Is the essence of a preference payment in insolvency that the pool of the debtor’s assets are lessened by the debtor’s payment to the preferred…
Flying low – an airline’s ‘extraordinary’ response to a $19m penalty
A major international airline turned up to court to seek a stay of a A$19m penalty with evidence so inadequate that the Judge described it…