THE Insolvency Practitioners Association says an industry ombudsman may be needed to preserve public confidence in Australia's insolvency regime, and has called for the process for registering and disciplining liquidators to be re-examined.
But the IPA has defended Australia's ''sound and balanced'' insolvency laws, saying liquidators and administrators were closely regulated and the number of practitioners guilty of misconduct was small.
In a submission to a Senate economics committee inquiry into the insolvency industry - launched in the wake of the exploits of disgraced former insolvency practitioner Stuart Ariff - the IPA has put forward several possible reforms.
They include appointing an ombudsman, reworking the registration process for liquidators - possibly involving panel interviews and regular professional reviews - and introducing an independent arbitration process to solve disputes over liquidators' fees in a ''transparent, cost-effective and speedy'' way.
It also called on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to collect and publish more information on insolvencies.
The IPA maintained its stance that Australia's insolvency regime was highly regarded internationally. IPA chief executive Denise North said the group's members were required to abide by the IPA's code of practice, and that ''recent, well-publicised'' breaches by a ''small number'' of practitioners were not evidence of systemic failure.
The inquiry - charged with investigating the role of liquidators and administrators, their fees and their practices - was launched in November and will report by the end of August, with submissions closing on Friday.
The inquiry is also examining ASIC's role as regulator.
Submissions lodged so far include several alleging questionable behaviour by insolvency practitioners, although the names of those accused have been withheld.
''Our experience has been that … the liquidators are a law unto themselves and to question their actions either means more fees or engaging a lawyer,'' one submission says.
