The Supreme Court of Queensland has found that the unfair preference recovery provisions of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth.) do not apply in the winding up of incorporated associations – Robson & Ors v Commissioner of Taxation [2015] QSC 76.

The dominant reason for the finding was the wording of the Queensland legislation regulating incorporated associations. The legislation provides that some parts of the Corporations Act relating to winding up also apply to incorporated associations, but not all of them – the preference recovery provisions being among those that were overlooked.

The court found itself powerless to read the Queensland legislation so as to incorporate the unfair preference provisions, concluding “if there is an error in the operation of [the Queensland legislation], it is one to be corrected by the legislature”.

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