Bill
Bankruptcy Amendment (Debt Agreement Reform) Bill 2018
passed, as at 2018-09-27. Attorney-General portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Attorney-General
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2018-02-14
- second reading — 2018-02-14
- second reading — 2018-02-28
- second reading — 2018-02-28
- third reading — 2018-02-28
- introduced — 2018-03-19
- second reading — 2018-03-19
- second reading — 2018-09-18
- second reading — 2018-09-18
- committee — 2018-09-18
- committee — 2018-09-19
- third reading — 2018-09-19
- other — 2018-09-19
- passed — 2018-09-19
- royal assent — 2018-09-27
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2018-02-14.
The bill would give debtors more flexibility to change their debt agreements after a major unforeseen change in circumstances.
It would let homeowners propose debt agreements of up to five years and exempt them from the payment to income ratio rule.
Most provisions would start nine months after Royal Assent, rather than the original six months.
- Allow debtors to extend a debt agreement to five years if a substantial and unforeseen change prevents completion.
- Let homeowners with equity in their home propose a five-year debt agreement without the payment to income ratio requirement.
- Improve the payment to income ratio formula to target low-income debtors better.
- Give debtors the option to propose payments above the payment to income ratio if the payment source is viable.
- Align offence descriptions in the bill and the Bankruptcy Act with Criminal Code standards.
- Prohibit debtors from self-administering their own debt agreement.
Debtors, registered debt agreement administrators, registered trustees, and the Official Trustee.
Sources
em
em
em supp
billhome
frl act