Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I take this opportunity to thank everybody who's contributed to this debate thus far. As we outlined, this bill implements the most significant reforms to Australia's insolvency framework in almost 30 years and is part of the government's economic recovery plan to keep businesses in business and Australians in jobs. These changes will give Australian small businesses the opportunity to quickly restructure and to survive the economic impact of the coronavirus. Where restructure is not possible, businesses will then be able to wind up faster, enabling greater returns for creditors and employees. These reforms form part of the JobMaker plan to ensure Australia emerges from the pandemic with a stronger, more resilient and more competitive economy. The need to give businesses and their creditors certainty is crucial to kickstarting confidence and activity as the economy transitions to the recovery phase.

The bill introduces a new formal debt restructuring process for small businesses, to provide a faster and less complex mechanism for financially distressed but viable firms to restructure their existing debt, increasing the chance of them surviving and contributing to economic and jobs growth. During this process, the business owner will remain in control of their business while a debt restructuring plan is developed and voted on by creditors. For small businesses that unfortunately can't survive due to the impacts of coronavirus, this bill introduces a simplified liquidation pathway for them to allow faster and lower cost liquidation, increasing returns for creditors and employees alike. Together these measures will re-position our insolvency system to reduce access costs for small business, reduce the time they spend during insolvency processes, ensure greater economic dynamism and, ultimately, help more small businesses to survive. I therefore commend the bill to the House.

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