The Government has announced it intends to repeal the Business Payment Practices Act 2023 (Act).
The Act would have required large businesses to publicly report information on their payment practices to the Business Payment Practices Register, including how long it takes them to pay invoices. We previously wrote an article about the Act which you can view here.
The Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, Andrew Bayly, commented that large market players imposing long payment terms was a “major problem”, but a recent review of equivalent legislation in Australia found it did not reduce payment times. The Government intends to use non-regulatory means to improve payment practices, such as requiring government departments to adopt faster payment times.
The Act is expected to be repealed before coming into effect on 25 May 2024, but will remain law until then.
Aaron Young is part of our Corporate & Commercial team at Norris Ward McKinnon.