Amendments to Commonwealth Whistleblower Protections
Changes to federal laws will significantly clarify and enhance whistleblower protections as well as require large companies to have formal whistleblower policies. The Federal Parliament recently passed the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2018 and it will now become law. The new laws primarily amend the current whistleblower protections found in the Corporations […]
ReadmoreTermination for convenience clauses in government contracts
Termination for convenience clauses are commonly included in government contracts, sometimes thoughtfully but often reflexively. Their reflexive use can be a form of security blanket that is rarely necessary and potentially risky. A termination for convenience (TFC) clause is a contractual escape hatch, giving the party with the benefit of the clause the right to […]
ReadmoreHuman rights at the forefront
On 31 October 2018, the Queensland Government introduced new human rights legislation into Parliament. Although not constituting a statutory bill of rights, the Human Rights Bill 2018 (Qld) (“the Bill“), if passed, will increase the focus of government, courts and tribunals on internationally recognised civil and political rights,[1] while providing modest new remedies for some […]
ReadmoreProcedural fairness not readily ousted
Administrative decision makers are subject to a common law duty to accord procedural fairness for decisions which affect rights, interests and legitimate expectations, unless the governing statute clearly provides otherwise.[1] This is a subset of the broader principle of legality, that courts will not interpret legislation as abrogating or contracting fundamental rights or freedoms unless […]
ReadmoreNot all errors are equal
The nature of jurisdictional error has long confounded and confused. Not all errors of law are equal. Some errors deprive decision makers of authority, others do not. Some errors may be reviewed; the review of others may validly be excluded. There is a distinction of principle between errors characterised as jurisdictional errors and errors characterised […]
ReadmoreWhen is a decision subject to judicial review?
The Judicial Review Act 1991 (Qld) (JRA) provides an avenue for a person aggrieved by an administrative decision to seek judicial review. However, the right of a person to make an application for review of a decision[1] and the power of the Court to make orders[2] depend on the existence of ‘a decision to which […]
ReadmoreTwo wrongs don’t make a legal right
Equal treatment is a fundamental principle of justice. This is well understood in the abstract, but what it might mean in practice and how it might be enforced is less clear, as is demonstrated by an important recent UK decision[1] that will be monitored closely by Australian lawyers. The case As a result of […]
ReadmorePersonal Property Securities Act – register or regret
State and local governments have large asset portfolios and enter hundreds – if not thousands – of property dealings every year. The Personal Property Securities Act 2009 Cth (the Act) has critical implications for common property transactions. Government property owners: need to be alert to the real risk of losing title to goods if appropriate […]
ReadmoreChanges in the pipeline for data protection in Queensland
2018 has been a big year in data. Spurred on by recent well publicised global data breaches such as the Cambridge Analytica‘s data harvesting of Facebook in the lead up to the 2016 US presidential elections), this year has seen the introduction of ground-breaking new data laws both in Australia and internationally. This article explores […]
ReadmoreIpso Facto Reforms
On 1 July 2018, the Australian Government’s ipso facto reforms (the Reforms) came into effect.[1] Rather than prohibiting the inclusion of ipso facto clauses, the Reforms impose statutory limitations on the enforcement of certain rights found in contracts, agreements or arrangements. It is crucial that government and government agencies understand these Reforms and take them […]
ReadmoreEthics of Public Sector Decision Making
Governments keep getting bigger. The exercise of their powers is more far-reaching than ever before. As powerful as government may be, there is no such thing in Australia as unlimited official power. Governments can only exercise the powers vested in them. Governments exist only to serve the public interest and the courts will hold them […]
ReadmoreGovernment quashes MIT concessions for foreign investors in major Easter-eve crackdown
The cost of capital for new investment in Australian infrastructure and much of the property sector will increase following changes announced yesterday to the taxation of Managed Investment Trusts (MITs) that are “stapled”, i.e. the MITs lease property assets to brother/sister operating companies. The key changes will increase the MIT withholding rate to 30% on […]
Readmore
