Major “root and branch” overhaul of Australia’s corporate insolvency regime announced

The first major review of Australia’s corporate insolvency regime in more than 30 years, the Federal Government’s Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services (‘Committee’) has announced a “root and branch” overhaul of the structures regulating corporate insolvency within Australia (‘Inquiry’).

Why now?

With the last major review of Australia’s corporate insolvency regime occurring through the Harmer Report in 1988, the Committee’s current Inquiry has been prompted from a series of recent challenges to Australia’s economy, including:

• the COVID-19 pandemic and the introduction of temporary (now lapsed) insolvency measures, such as:
  • Government stimulus packages;
  • amendments to the…