An unanswered request for information does not, of itself, give rise to a genuine dispute about the existence or amount of a debt under s 459H(1)(a) of the Corporations Act. Cases where unanswered requests led to findings of genuine dispute are applications of the orthodox test to specific facts (often involving contractual rights to information), not a separate rule of law. A company seeking to set aside a statutory demand on the basis of suspected overcharging must provide an objective evidential foundation for the suspicion, not merely an honest belief that overcharging is 'likely'. For offsetting claims, bald rounded figures without any exposed methodology or basis of calculation are insufficient.
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