I’d also like to think so.
We have a very unfortunate history of dodgy financial planners and accountancy services. This fires the imagination as to what might occur if your second point re good oversight in some form is not provided.
How well the model when it has been sorted serves consumers still owed refunds or with outstanding service commitments and goods will be one test of patience and tolerance.
Hopefully the mentioned $1M threshold preferences small local businesses. It’s actually the liabilities that are assessed to meet the threshold, not the turnover or other measure of the size of a business.
Chapter 11 in the US removes employee rights, as I understand it. So that’s the first set of losers - any leave entitlements, superannuation owed etc. is down the drain.
This is actually a much more complex change to bankruptcy and company law than the government seems to be suggesting, and it will be interesting to watch the interest groups come out of the woodwork as the proposal gets more flesh on its bones.
The Australian proposal also favours larger creditors - and as in the US, smaller creditors may find themselves near the back of the line when it comes to deciding what creditors might get.
As the Guardian article notes, phoenixing is a particular problem in Australia and it is not clear how this could possibly be prevented under the new proposal.
Finally, a “small business restructuring practitioner”? Is there even a diploma for that, or can anyone hang a sign up?
There are better ways of saving small businesses, like extending existing arrangements and continuing to pay JobKeeper and JobSeeker at the current rate. Pretty much all of that money gets spent, while any tax cuts will largely go into savings in the current environment.
There is no such thing as superannuation in the USA. There are 401(k) and similar, in the hands of the employee. Not all employers have them or contribute much. The norm is social security that is a payroll tax, administered by the government. As for leave, it varies widely case by case.
It was also a problem in the USA, but not nearly as prevalent as here.
That would also have been the case for the original driver license testers One has to start somewhere and I suspect they would be drawn from the companies who do administration, accounting, and the like.
That may be the case for now, but not long term. I read about many companies abusing Jobkeeper, and Jobseeker does not save businesses per se excepting for monies spent.
There are usually many views on such thing, some better or worse, but the worst is standing by and watching it while doing nothing. The stated target is smaller business that is less likely to have financial resources and the ability to obtain new loans. At the least if they can continue trading they may be able to service their loans and survive.
It might actually be legally OK. Whether people in the pub might therefore suggest to the government that it’s an area that needs tightening up is another question.
One has to start somewhere and I suspect they would be drawn from the companies who do administration, accounting, and the like.