EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
BANKRUPTCY ACT 1966
BANKRUPTCY RULES (AMENDMENT)
1986 No. 323
The purpose of the amendments to sub-rule 162(2) and Schedule 3 of the Bankruptcy Rules is to adopt the recommendation by the Federal Costs Advisory Committee that the scale of solicitors’ costs in the Bankruptcy jurisdiction be increased by 3.4 per centum.
The scale was last increased on 1 May 1986 by Statutory Rules 1986 No. 84 after consideration of an earlier report by the Federal Costs Advisory Committee.
The Committee advises the Attorney-General at regular intervals on variations in the quantum of costs for solicitors under the Bankruptcy Rules, having regard, among other factors, to government policy in relation to prices and incomes and in particular to paragraph 28 of the National Economic Summit Communique.
That paragraph states -
“If restraint is to be exercised then such restraint should be exercised universally. As such, it is important that non-wage incomes are not increased faster than movements in wages.”
The increases are consistent with paragraph 28 of the Communique. They are based on movements in various indices during the second half of 1985 and the proportion representing partners’ salaries and profit costs has been discounted to the same extent as wage increases in the last National Wage Case.
Authorised by the Attorney-General