Hall v Arrernte Council of Central Australia Aboriginal Corp

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT 1 This is an application by Ian Richard Hall and Gregory Winfield Hall, the liquidators of the respondent, the Arrernte Council of Central Australia Aboriginal Corporation (in liquidation), for leave to appoint themselves as administrators of the respondent. The application is made pursuant to s 436B(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ('the Corporations Act'). 2 Leave is required before liquidators can appoint themselves as administrators. As Bryson J noted in Re Cobar Mines Pty Ltd (1999) 17 ACLC 275: 'If it appears to the Court that it is a proper course that the liquidator should have the position of administrator as well as that of liquidator, the Court should give leave. … If attaining the office of administrator is seen by the Court as an inappropriate or unnecessary advantage for the liquidator to have, leave should be refused.' 3 In the present case, the respondent is amenable to the provisions of the Corporations Act pursuant to s 62 of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 (Cth), in particular the provisions of the Corporations Act relating to compromises and arrangements under Pt 5.3A: Re Deeral Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Corporation; Re Jessup (1996) 140 ALR 83 at 88 per Kiefel J. 4 In this case, it is clearly appropriate that the liquidators be appointed as administrators. From the material in the affidavit of Ian Richard Hall, it appears that the liquidation of the respondent is complex. There have been important negotiations between a number of parties with competing interests, including more than 225 people employed by the respondent to receive work and weekly payments as part of a community development and education program for Aboriginal people. A wholly-owned subsidiary of the respondent, ACM Arrernte Pty Ltd has now been placed into provisional liquidation and Mr Hall deposes that he has been appointed the provisional liquidator of that company. 5 There are a number of contracts yet to be started that will provide work for a number of the Community Development and Education Program for Aboriginal participants, and there are two properties over which National Australia Bank has mortgages. There are, of course, other creditors and interested parties in the liquidation. 6 Mr Hall deposes to the number of important negotiations that have been his responsibility in respect of the liquidation directed at benefiting the interest of creditors, the employees, the funding bodies of the respondent Aboriginal Corporation and the Alice Springs community as a whole. 7 It is plain that the complexity of the arrangements entered into between the liquidators, the Commonwealth of Australia and the creditors of the respondent would make it difficult for any other person to administer the respondent as expeditiously and efficiently as the present liquidators. The fund of knowledge of the detail of the operations and of the company indicates that it is desirable that unnecessary duplication be avoided. 8 There is no official liquidator in or around Alice Springs. It would, in my judgment, be inefficient to have someone other than the liquidators appointed as administrators of the respondent. An important consideration is that the largest creditor and the major creditors are aware of the application and support it. 9 For these reasons, the court makes the following orders: (1) Ian Richard Hall and Gregory Winfield Hall, the liquidators of the respondent, the Arrernte Council of Central Australia Aboriginal Corporation (in liquidation), have leave pursuant to s 436B(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to appoint themselves as administrators of the respondent. (2) Ian Richard Hall and Gregory Winfield Hall, the liquidators of the respondent, the Arrernte Council of Central Australia Aboriginal Corporation (in liquidation), have leave pursuant to s 436B(2) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to appoint themselves as administrators of any deed of company arrangement entered into by the respondent corporation. (3) The costs of this application be costs in the proposed administration.