The "Safe Harbour" Reform of Directors' Insolvent Trading Liability in Australia: Insolvency Professionals' Views

Abstract

Directors of Australian companies are subject to a duty to prevent their company trading while it is insolvent. The duty is controversial. Over a period of at least 10 years, a series of reforms have been proposed, leading to the introduction, in 2017, of a safe harbour for directors where directors undertake a restructure of the company outside of external administration. There are important questions relating to the safe harbour reform. To assist in answering these questions, the authors undertook a survey of insolvency professionals. The study had three main goals – to obtain insight into the experience of practitioners with the safe harbour reform, to obtain the views of these practition..