The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, the Hon Chris Pearce MP, announced today that the Government would address corporate law issues raised by the James Hardie Special Commission of Inquiry in the context of developing an integrated set of proposals to improve the operation of Australia’s insolvency laws.
Mr Pearce said that the paper presented by the Commonwealth Government at today’s meeting of the Ministerial Council on Corporations (MINCO) emphasised the significance and complexity of the issues identified in the inquiry.
‘It is important that we evaluate the impact of any potential reforms across all 1.3 million Australian companies, rather than focusing exclusively on one example of poor corporate behaviour’.
‘The legal framework governing insolvency has major implications for the performance of the Australian economy’.
The integrated reform package will include the Government’s response to other reports which cover similar issues.
These are:
- the report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services entitled ‘Insolvency Laws: a Stocktake’; and
- the reports by the Companies and Securities Advisory Committee (CASAC) on corporate voluntary administration and corporate groups.
The Government expects to release proposals for consultation with stakeholders by the end of 2005.
Mr Pearce also announced that he would ask the Companies and Markets Advisory Committee (CAMAC) to examine the issue of directors’ duties and to consider whether or not the Corporations Act should be amended to require directors to take account of the interests of groups other than shareholders when making corporate decisions.
CAMAC is a statutory advisory committee that was established provide advice to the Australian Government on issues that arise from time to time in corporations and financial markets law and practice. It is the Government’s principal source of external advice on corporate law matters.
These new developments follow on from the following initiatives that have already taken by the Commonwealth Government:
- the passage of legislation to provide certainty for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in relation to the use of Commission documents passed to ASIC;
- the provision of additional special funding for a full scale ASIC investigation into the conduct of James Hardie and its advisers; and
- the preparation of a paper on corporate law refinements for MINCO.
22 March 2005
CANBERRA
Contact: Gillian Harvey: (03) 9887 3890 or 0411 567 060