Question: What are the changes to debt relief?

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Coronavirus and changes to bankruptcy laws
section_headers: Important information for practitioners
section_content: Guidelines for debt agreement administrators
We have made important temporary updates to the certified duties of debt
agreement administrators, regarding proposals to vary debt agreements. These
changes are currently in affect for six months (until 30 September 2020).
For more information about these changes see Practitioners: COVID-19 and
changes to debt agreements.
For updated general guidelines for practitioners, including debtors in arrears
notifications see Practitioners: COVID-19 and updated advice from the
Inspector-General.
Guidelines for trustees
General guidelines are now available for trustees regarding COVID-19 and its
effect on our stakeholders. This includes information about Official Receiver
services, meetings of creditors and statutory returns.
For more information see Practitioners: COVID-19 and updated advice from the
Inspector-General.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Provides information about debt relief during the pandemic, with links to more information.
This is a great response that provides a link to the debt agreement updates that is being asked about in the question. It provides instructions for both admins and trustees so a good answer

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Coronavirus and changes to bankruptcy laws
section_headers: Temporary debt relief
section_content: On 25 March 2020, changes came into effect to support individuals and
businesses. The temporary debt relief measures include:

Six month temporary debt protection
Changes to bankruptcy notices
Impacts to people who are currently bankrupt

If you have been financially impacted by Coronavirus (COVID-19), you may be
eligible to receive financial assistance - see the Services Australia website
Affected by
coronavirus for more information.
If your business has been impacted, you can find more information on the
business.gov.au website:

Coronavirus information and support for business – summary of all Australian Government information and support
Temporary relief for financially distressed businesses - temporary changes to bankruptcy and director liabilities for trading while insolvent

Six month temporary debt protection
We have increased the temporary debt protection period available for people in
financial difficulty from 21 days to six months. This protection now prevents
recovery action by unsecured creditors for a six month period.
You can use this time to:

Seek advice from a free financial counsellor - contact the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 or see Where to find help.
Negotiate a payment plan with your creditors. You can do this yourself or authorise someone else to negotiate on your behalf.
Consider if any of the formal insolvency options would be right for you - see What are my options?

For more information see What is temporary debt
protection?
Changes to bankruptcy notices


We have increased the debt threshold required for creditors to apply for a bankruptcy notice against a debtor. The limit has increased from $5,000 to $20,000.


We have increased the timeframe for a debtor to respond to a Bankruptcy notice from 21 days to up to six months. This means that a creditor will have to wait until the six month period has passed before they can commence bankruptcy proceedings.


What happens to Bankruptcy Notices issued before 25 March 2020?
If the bankruptcy notice was issued before 25 March 2020, the debtor has 21
days to comply with the bankruptcy notice. For more information see
Bankruptcy notices.
These temporary measures will be available for six months.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Has very comprehensive information about debt relief during the pandemic.
This response does a very good job outlining some of the debt relief changes including changes to bankruptcy notes and 6 month debt protection. A very good and detailed repsonse

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Coronavirus and changes to bankruptcy laws
section_headers: Impacts to people in a Debt Agreement
section_content: What can people in an active Debt Agreement do if they are affected by the
Coronavirus?
If you are in an active Debt Agreement and your circumstances have changed as
a result of the Coronavirus, you can contact your debt agreement administrator
to discuss your options, which may include submitting a possible variation
proposal.
For example, you may request that:

The payments you have made to date be accepted as the full payment (which would end the debt agreement)
The debt agreement to be extended for a specific period

For more information see What is a debt agreement?

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
Has brief information about debt relief available during the pandemic.
This response talks about how you can contact your admin to discuss changes that have occurred in light of COVID but doesn't actually talk about what any of those changes are which is what the question is asking

Reviewer ratings:
Acceptable
Could be Improved