New Zealand

The Business Payment Practices Act Repeal Act 2024 has come into force. Large entities will no longer be required to collect and disclose information about their payment practices as was required under the Business Payment Practices Act 2023. 

The Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing, Hon Andrew Bayly, signalled in his Cabinet paper that he intends to address issues around business payment times with non-regulatory measures. The Government will be requiring government agencies to adopt faster payment times, including for eInvoices, which will support business cashflow and encourage the growth of eInvoicing. There is also intention to work with Business New Zealand to create an industry-led voluntary code to ensure small businesses are paid on a more timely basis. 

Australia

The Payment Times Reporting (PTR) Scheme, which commenced on 1 January 2021, requires businesses with over $100 million in annual turnover to publish information on their small business payment times and practices.

The framework requires large entities to prepare bi-annual reports on their payment terms to small businesses. Reporting entities are required to submit their reports 3 months after the end of each of the reporting periods via the Payment Times Reporting Portal. Daily penalties apply to reporting entities that fail to report. The data submitted is publicly available through the Payment Times Reports Register.

In September 2023, the report of the statutory review of the Payment Times Reporting Act (2020) (the Act) was published. The report outlines 20 findings, 14 recommendations and 23 actions for Government including amendments to the objects of the Act, simplification of who must report and improvement of the Small Business Identification Tool. Read the statutory review of the Act report.

The Government responded to the statutory review in December 2023 and agreed with all the findings and recommendations of the Review. 

In July 2024, the Government passed (in both Houses of Parliament) the amending Act which amends elements of the Act such as the expansion of the functions and enforcement powers of the Regulator and the introduction of new Ministerial direction-making power for slow small business payers. The amending Act also introduces a fast small business entity framework where the Regulator must maintain and publish a list of entities that are fast small business payers. The Amending Act and amendments to the Rules (to support the Amending Act) commenced in September 2024. 

The Payment Times Reporting Regulator (The Regulator) is currently considering feedback in relation to their recent public consultation on exposure draft guidance materials for the updated Payment Times Reporting Scheme. The draft guidance will apply to reporting periods beginning 1 July 2024 onwards. The Regulator published updated guidance in December 2024.  

Refer to the Regulator’s new site for updates.