By Andrew Hack, Solicitor, and Stephen Mullette, Principal, of Matthews Folbigg Lawyers, in our Insolvency, Restructuring and Debt Recovery Group.
Countries around the world have commenced their vaccine programs, with Australia’s vaccine is expected to commence imminently once the TGA completes its approval process. As to the economic impacts of COVID-19, the Australian Government has been testing its own form of vaccine through legislative changes to corporate insolvency and bankruptcy laws.
In March 2020, the Australian Government enacted a number of changes to corporate insolvency and bankruptcy laws, seeking to address the economic impact of the coronavirus. The significant changes to bankruptcy laws included:
- An increase in the cap on issuing bankruptcy notices from $5,000 to $20,000; and
- An increase in the period for compliance with a bankruptcy notice from 21 days to 6 months.
Both of these changes were made by providing definitions determined through Regulations, which means that they are able to be adjusted from time to time by the Executive. Previously those amounts were hard-coded in the Bankruptcy Act and could only be changed through Parliament.
Continue reading…