Creditors of Queensland GP chain DoctorLink collapse could get nothing back

Creditors owed millions from a collapsed Queensland medical chain may walk away empty-handed, as administrators probe whether the directors failed to prevent insolvent trading.

Creditors owed millions of dollars from the collapse of a Queensland medical chain are likely to walk away empty-handed.

Creditors owed millions of dollars from the collapse of a Queensland medical chain are likely to walk away empty-handed.

Several entities under the once-popular GP brand DoctorLink, which News Corp previously revealed collapsed into administration earlier this year, have racked up debts exceeding $38m.

The majority is owed to related parties, exposing a complex web of interrelated party loans between the various medical clinics.

Unrelated unsecured creditor claims totalled $3.1m, mainly made up of money owed to the Australian Tax Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Australian-wide medical group Family Doctor – who are the new owners of the several clinics formally under the DoctorLink brand – is also listed as an unsecured creditor.

Assets of several companies that ran Doctorlink medical centres across Queensland, including in Albany Creek, Bundaberg, Brighton, Cooroy, Maroochydore and Stafford, were sold to Family Doctor on August 5 last year.

The sales included the transfer of equipment, licenses, stock, contracts, records, business and domain names, and other intellectual property.

All employees and their entitlements, including annual leave, long service leave, and sick leave, were also transferred.

Australian-wide medical group Family Doctor is also listed as an unsecured creditor. Picture: Family Doctor

The businesses were sold by the holding company, DL Aspley, prior to the administration, with $14.8m used to repay secured debts owed to the Commonwealth Bank of Australia by the corporate group.

Only $236,724 of assets, mostly made up of cash on hand, was deemed recoverable, insolvency experts Bill Karageozis and Jonathan McLeod of Mcleods Accounting, who were appointed joint administrators on May 29, revealed.

The administrators said related holding company DL Aspley – which was listed as being owed $11.3m – was likely to receive 0.77 cents on the dollar in a liquidation scenario, and related entity DL Newman Road would get back 0.86 cents on the dollar.

All other unsecured creditors would receive nothing back, they said.

“Only two of the 19 companies are providing an estimated high range return of less than (one cent on the dollar) with the remaining 17 companies providing no return to creditors at all in liquidation,” Mr Karageozis said.

He said at the date of the report, no draft proposal for a deal to creditors had been received, but he had been advised that a proposal was “currently being prepared”.

“However we are unable to confirm what (it) will comprise of at this juncture other than to state it will provide external funding in addition to available funds for each company in a liquidation scenario together with ensuring that in a grouped (deal to creditors) scenario, all intercompany loans within the group will be extinguished.

He said at the date of the report, no draft proposal for a deal to creditors had been received.

“We note that the return under the expected draft (deal to creditors) should be more beneficial to creditors, and accordingly we have formed the opinion that it may be in the best interests of creditors to accept the proposed (deal to creditors).”

Mr Karageozis said the companies’ financial performance was varied, with working capital ratios deteriorating below one – when current liabilities exceed its current assets – for some businesses from June 2021.

He alleged based on his initial investigations, the companies’ directors may have failed to prevent insolvent trading.

Damien Kiely, Joseph Barbagallo and Clem Bonney are listed as directors of the various entities under administration.

The administrators said it appeared that all of the directors would not be able to pay any insolvent trading claim judgement brought against them.

“From our review of the personal asset and liability summaries provided by the directors on 20 June 2025, we note (they are) in a net liability position,” he said.

He said both Mr Kiely and Mr Barbagallo’s statements disclosed that they had also been issued with director penalty notices from the tax office.

Mr Karageozis said the companies’ financial performance was varied.

Mr Karageozis said that if two or more of the companies were placed into liquidation at the meeting of creditors Mr Kiely and Mr Barbagallo would qualify for a director banning as they would have been a director of at least two failed companies within a period of seven years.

If both DL Indooroopilly and DL Newman Road are placed into liquidation Mr Bonney will also qualify for a director banning.

Mr Karageozis said the directors attributed the companies’ collapse to their non-profitability, leading to the sale of the businesses in order to clear the outstanding bank debt.

But the administrator also said poor strategic management of the businesses and inadequate cash flow to pay off the existing debts also contributed to the companies’ demise.

The DoctorLink website lists Mr Barbagallo as its founding director, who has a “deep and long history in the healthcare sector”.

“He started his career in the pharmaceutical industry, moving into pathology and then into corporate medical services,” it reads.

“Joe wanted to open medical centres that genuinely cared for patients and ensured the focus was on preventative medicine.”

DoctorLink was contacted for comment.