How director disqualification works in Australia

ASIC can itself disqualify a person from managing corporations for up to five years, and courts can impose longer bans in ASIC civil penalty cases.

ASIC says section 206F of the Corporations Act lets it disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum of five years, where the person was an officer of at least two companies wound up within seven years and a liquidator reported that each could not pay its debts.¹
A person disqualified by ASIC has the right to seek review of the decision by the Administrative Review Tribunal, ASIC says.¹
Courts can disqualify directors in civil penalty proceedings brought by ASIC, often alongside financial penalties. In 2025 the Federal Court disqualified a former listed company chief executive for six years and fined him 1 million dollars, a decision that is under appeal.²
Court bans can be much longer than five years. In the HIH case the NSW Supreme Court imposed a 20 year ban in 2002, which the NSW Court of Appeal upheld, ASIC said.³
ASIC keeps a public banned and disqualified register showing the type of ban, its start date, whether it is permanent or temporary, and its end date if temporary.⁴

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