Submission: ALRC’s Review of the legislative framework for corporations and financial services regulation Report A
25/02/2022
ARITA acknowledges and supports the work undertaken by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) in its current inquiry and has made a submission in response to the proposals and questions in Report A that directly impact the insolvency sector.
The submission supports the:
- application of definitional principles to reduce complexity in corporations and financial services legislation, but notes care would need to taken in applying them to existing provisions
- simplification of the definition of ‘financial product’ and ‘financial service’ to remove any uncertainty created by the current complexities with the definitions and ensure that debt management advice of all types is fully captured, thereby reducing the capacity of unregulated pre-insolvency advisers to continue to subvert the system.
- clarification and consolidation of the powers to grant and amend exemptions from AFS licensing requirements but highlights the need to extend to the existing exemption for registered liquidators or trustees who provide debt management assistance outside of a formal appointment.
Notwithstanding our support for the current inquiry, we continue to urge the Government to commission the ALRC to undertake a “root and branch” review as they last did in ALRC 45 – the Harmer Inquiry – in 1988.
Read ARITA’s Submission
ALRC’s Review of the legislative framework for corporations and financial services regulation Report A