The High Court has decided a constitutional matter on the validity of a state law, the Bell Group Companies (Finalisation of Matters and Distribution of Proceeds) Act 2015 (WA), which aimed at providing a legislative framework for the dissolution and administration of the property of the Bell Group Ltd (the Bell Act). Following the collapse of the Bell Group and a number of its subsidiaries (the WA Bell Companies), the Western Australian parliament enacted a law to collect the remaining property of each of these companies to be then transferred to and vested in a fund that was to be administered by a statutory authority (see [20]ff). The Commonwealth was a substantial creditor of several WA Bell Companies, including for pre-liquidation tax debts and post-liquidation liabilities. The Bell Act required the Authority to determine the property and liabilities of each Continue reading →