Reed and Australian Securities and Investments Commission

The applicant, Reed, sought to challenge a decision by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to disqualify him from managing corporations under section 206F of the *Corporations Act 2001* (Cth). The dispute centred on the interpretation of the phrase "was wound up" as it applied to a company with which the applicant had been involved. The matter came before Professor R Deutsch, Deputy President, of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the winding up of a company needed to be finalised for the purposes of section 206F of the *Corporations Act 2001* to apply. The applicant contended that the winding up process for the relevant company had not been completed, and therefore, the disqualification was not warranted.

The Deputy President affirmed the decision of ASIC, finding that the Tribunal was bound by the Full Federal Court's decision in *ASIC v Broadbent* [2019] FCAFC 108. That decision established that the phrase "was wound up" in section 206F does not require the winding up to be finalised. The Tribunal applied this binding precedent, concluding that the applicant's disqualification was valid even though the winding up process for the company had not reached its final conclusion.

Consequently, the decision of the Respondent (ASIC) was affirmed.