The Impending General Prohibition of Hawking Financial Products and what this will mean for Financial Service Providers
The Federal Government is preparing to introduce the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response—Protecting Consumers (2020 Measures)) Bill 2020: Hawking of financial products (the Bill) in response to the recommendations of the Hayne Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry that all hawking of insurance and superannuation products should […]
ReadmoreFederal Court seeks to limit High Court’s ban on Common Fund Orders
Tensions have intensified as the Federal Court experiments with alternative funding arrangements to revive common fund orders that were rejected by the High Court in certain circumstances. On 13 March 2020, the Federal Court in McKay Super Solutions Pty Ltd (Trustee) v Bellamy’s Australia Ltd (No 3) [2020] FCA 461 (Justice J Beach) (Bellamy’s No […]
ReadmoreA warning to Liquidators: comply with your disclosure obligations or face dismissal of your unfair preference proceedings
In Clifton (Liquidator) v Kerry J Investment Pty Ltd trading as Clenergy [2020] FCAFC 5, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia found that: where the Liquidators failed to comply with their discovery obligations and the Court could not be satisfied regarding the existence of documents which might be deployed by innocent parties to meet […]
ReadmoreWhy courts from different jurisdictions are sitting together: Australia’s experimentation with joint hearings
Australian courts regularly cooperate with courts of different jurisdictions, both domestically and internationally. We see this, for example, when courts transfer proceedings to different jurisdictions, or stay proceedings to allow the continuation of proceedings in different jurisdictions. In recent times we have also seen the rise of a more direct form of judicial cooperation: joint […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | Contact tracing? There’s an app for that!
Effective and widespread contact tracing is considered to be a critical step in managing and containing the spread of COVID-19. The Commonwealth has released COVIDSafe, a mobile app to assist in determining who may have been exposed to the virus. Additionally, a contact tracing protocol is being developed by Apple and Google which will be […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | Update: NSW Government introduces new regulations for retail and commercial leasing
Following the Mandatory Code of Conduct released by the National Cabinet on 7 April 2020 (Code), the New South Wales Government has introduced the Retail and Other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation 2020 (Regulations). The Regulations introduce temporary measures to provide urgent relief for retail and commercial tenants as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | Disaster Profiteering Outlawed (for now)
The Australian Government has outlawed price gouging for some essential goods until 18 June 2020 under a new Biosecurity law. Here is what you need to know. The Australian Government has passed a new determination to prohibit price gouging for certain “essential” goods (Biosecurity (Human Biosecurity Emergency) (Human Coronavirus with Pandemic Potential) (Essential Goods) Determination 2020 (Cth)). […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | Is your policy register current?
The highly infectious nature of COVID-19, the ability of the virus to kill, and the disastrous impact the virus has shown it can have on a national economy all lead to one certain point. Once a vaccine for COVID-19 is available every employer will need to consider whether they are doing enough in their workplace […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | VIC Government introduces new legislation to regulate commercial leasing arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic
Following the Mandatory Code of Conduct released by the National Cabinet on 7 April 2020 (Code), the Victorian Parliament passed the COVID-19 Omnibus (Emergency Measures) Bill 2020 (Vic) (COVID-19 Bill) to introduce a range of temporary measures to provide urgent relief for commercial tenants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also contains provisions for […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | The JobKeeper Payment – What this might mean for your business [updated to be current as at 26 April 2020]
The Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Act 2020 (Cth) (Payments and Benefits Act) and Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020 (Cth) (Omnibus Act) implement a framework for economic response payments known as the JobKeeper scheme and temporarily amends the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) by applying specific COVID-19 provisions. Following the […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | WA Government introduces new legislation to regulate commercial leasing arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic
Following the Mandatory Code of Conduct released by the National Cabinet on 7 April 2020 (National Code of Conduct), the WA Legislative Council passed the Commercial Tenancies (COVID-19 Response) Bill 2020 (WA) (COVID-19 Bill) to introduce a range of temporary measures to provide for urgent relief for commercial tenants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. […]
ReadmoreCOVID-19 | Asset Protection
The issue of asset protection often doesn’t materialise until it’s too late, however the current COVID-19 crisis should serve as a reminder that all those who personally own a business, are company directors, or even those in professional services should take legitimate steps to protect their assets. Much like when Kerry Packer told everyone who […]
Readmore
