Consumer Prepayments and Reward Schemes: Could these be the Next Statutory Priorities?

In corporate insolvency there are often groups that receive an unfair outcome.1 Consumers are not singled out for any special treatment in the Australian corporate insolvency statute, the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). This chapter investigates whether new priorities for consumers should be considered, and, if so, whether they could be justified. In looking to justify the introduction of any consumer priority, comparisons are drawn with a number of other jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and New Zealand.2 There is also a brief examination of how consumers are treated in specific industries where company failures have occurred.