Australian personal insolvency reform for COVID-19 impacted debtors
The Australian government's proposed retention of the restrictions of bankruptcy on COVID-19 impacted business proprietors and consumers is questionable, but expected. Possible reasons for this…
Liquidator’s registration suspended not cancelled, by agreement
In A liquidator disciplinary decision – some regulatory insights | Murrays Legal Commentary , I reported an AAT decision refusing a liquidator’s application for a…
‘Modernising’ insolvency communications
The Australian government’s consultation paper - Modernising Business Communications - Improving the Technology Neutrality[1] of Treasury Portfolio Laws, of December 2020 – offers, as an…
Australian root and branch bankruptcy reform – creditors’ rights? Elizabeth (Ist) laws? SMEs? …
While COVID-19 restrictions on creditors in bankruptcy have ended, though now with an increased $10,000 threshold, the experience should prompt one of many root and…
Australia’s new liquidator registration processes, and its ‘new liquidators’
On 30 December 2020, ASIC issued guidance on the new liquidator registration processes that apply in Australia two days hence - from 1 January 2021…
Bad bankruptcy notices
A bankruptcy notice was found to have been wrongly issued by the Official Receiver because it did not attach a final judgment or order of…
‘There is no such thing, per se, as “illegal phoenix activity”….’ – ASIC’s application struck out; yet to file its statement of claim
This post is updated on 22 December 2020 to this effect, that ASIC was to have prepared and filed a statement of claim setting out…
The financial viability of personal insolvency practice in Australia
The Australian bankruptcy regulator - AFSA - has been making inquiries about the financial health of bankruptcy trustee firms during what AFSA terms ‘the challenges…
Reinventing Bankruptcy Law – Virginia Torrie
This is a very good book on Canadian insolvency law, sadly with no equivalent in Australia, as I explain below. My review of it was/is…
Australia’s litigation funding market a ‘global hotspot for international investors … many based in tax havens and with dubious corporate histories’ with returns of ‘more than 500%’
The tone and findings of this 454 page report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services - Litigation funding and the regulation of…
The ‘powerhouse’ of small and medium enterprises and their recovery ‘boosted’ by our new insolvency laws
Interesting to know from what [limited] bases journalists get their views ... 'Finally, a fair go for small suppliers', R Gottliebsen, The Weekend Australian, 19-20…
Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 No 130 of 2020
This is now law, with a date of assent of 15 December 2020, and with a commencement date for most provisions of 1 January 2021.
Bankruptcy threshold to be increased from $5,000 to $10,000
The Australian government has not been ignoring personal insolvency reform in 2020, despite its recent small business reforms dealing only with the smaller proportion of…
NZ’s measured review of class actions and litigation funding, noting Australia’s ‘polarised’ debate
The New Zealand Law Commission has commenced a 2 year inquiry into litigation funding and class actions, right at the time that an Australian parliamentary…
Does small business count?
This Ombudsman's follow up report - Small Business Counts - examines small to medium business enterprises (SMEs) from an economics and technology perspective, including as…
Australia’s corporate SME insolvency law may soon become law – and then….
The Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Bill 2020 progressed through a third reading in the Australian parliament on 8 December 2020 and its passage is…
Corporate insolvency reforms 2020 – referred to a committee?
Report No 11 of 2020 of the Senate’s selection of bills committee of 3 December 2020 has considered the Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Bill…
Australian insolvency practitioner disciplinary decisions – short but to what point?
This report of two insolvency practitioner disciplinary decisions in Australia will be brief because the decisions, or their publicly released versions, comprise 12 words each. …