Bankruptcy Act 1966

Where a sequestration order is made, the person against whose estate it is made shall, within 14 days from the day on which he or she is notified of the bankruptcy:

make out and file with the Official Receiver a statement of his or her affairs; and

furnish a copy of the statement to the trustee.

Where a sequestration order is made against 2 or more joint debtors (whether partners or not), each of those persons shall (in addition to complying with subsection (1) in relation to his or her affairs), within 14 days from the day on which he or she is notified of the bankruptcy, and either on his or her own account or jointly with another or others of those debtors:

make out and file in the office of the Official Receiver a statement of the joint affairs of those persons; and

furnish a copy of the statement to the trustee.

If the Official Receiver accepts under subsection 57B(1) an updated statement of affairs filed in accordance with a notice under subsection 57B(3) for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) or (2)(a) of this section, the bankrupt must give a copy of the statement to the trustee within 14 days from the day the bankrupt receives notice of the acceptance.

Subsections (1), (2) and (2A) are offences of strict liability.

For strict liability, see section 6.1 of the Criminal Code.

A person who states in writing that he or she is a creditor of a bankrupt against whom a sequestration order has been made, or a creditor of 2 or more bankrupts against whom the one sequestration order has been made, may without fee, and any other person may on payment of the fee determined by the Minister by legislative instrument, inspect, personally or by an agent, the statement of affairs filed by the bankrupt or the statements of affairs filed by the bankrupts, as the case may be, and may obtain a copy of, or take extracts from, the statement or statements.

A bankrupt against whom a sequestration order has been made may, without fee and either personally or by an agent:

inspect the bankrupt’s statement of affairs; or

obtain a copy of, or take extracts from, the bankrupt’s statement of affairs.

If the approved form for a statement of affairs indicates that particular information in the statement will not be made available to the public, then the Official Receiver must ensure that the information is not made available under this section to any person (other than the bankrupt or an agent of the bankrupt).

Subsection (6) does not prevent the making available of information as required by law.

The Official Receiver may refuse to allow a person access under this section to particular information in a bankrupt’s statement of affairs on the ground that access to that information would jeopardise, or be likely to jeopardise, the safety of any person.