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…
Choosing courts in cross-border insolvency applications
As a federation, Australia has a mix of state and territory and federal courts, each with their own jurisdictions. Jurisdiction is however shared between courts…
Cafés and restaurants – at a tipping point, in 2018, and now?
In light of current (July 2019) reports about restaurants' tax [non] compliance, my article of a year ago, 15 July 2018, is re-issued. The…
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…
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…
Bankrupt trustees coming before the High Court
While the focus of the High Court’s trust law decision in Carter Holt[1] is in the context of corporate insolvency, many of the principles applied…
Delayed payment of a receiver’s bill – by 400 days?
Delayed payment of bills is said to be a significant problem facing small to medium enterprises in particular, with ‘cash flow’ remaining as an essential…
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…
‘Your place or mine, and for how long?’ – a lack of judicial independence
We might have noticed that courts in Australia and indeed in most comparable countries are usually housed in their own buildings, one reason being the…
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…
Some concession for small business bankruptcy under severe NSW law
NSW law can remove a person's right to practice their job for up to 6 years, in the person has gone bankrupt, well beyond what…
ASIC’s “significant element of vexation”
ASIC has failed in an application to have an inquiry conducted into joint liquidators’ conduct – Hurst and Wily - in respect of companies that…
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…
An inquiry into a liquidator’s conduct, some many years ago
ASIC has succeeded in obtained a court order for an investigation of the conduct of a liquidator, in relation to liquidations going back to 2001,…
ASIC’s review of liquidators for 2017-2018 – continued fall in complaints
This ASIC Report 610 has been released, with some interesting points to note, and questions raised. It largely expands on the reporting component in the…