It is the time of year when employers encourage their staff to celebrate another year’s hard work – a time to bring together employees who may rarely meet face-to-face and to reward them for their hard work. It is also unfortunately the time of year for alcohol-fuelled indiscretions, allegations of workplace bullying, sexual harassment, and […]
ReadmoreThe Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2017 passed though the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 29 November 2017. The law will go through an 18 month period of implementation before individuals can request access to voluntary assisted dying. However now is the time to start to consider how this legislation will impact on your organisation as a […]
ReadmoreOver the past 10 to 15 years many buildings have been constructed using Aluminium Composite Panels (ACP). ACPs are frequently used in buildings because of the need to improve thermal or acoustic aspects of the design and also because the panels are a comparatively cheap building material to use. ACPs typically have on each side […]
ReadmoreThe National Aged Care Quality Regulatory process underwent a review which examined Australia’s current aged care regulatory system against best practice regulatory principles and included an international comparison of how Australia’s aged care regulatory system is performing. The Report concluded that the Australian system, whilst complex, it aligned well with some of the best practice […]
ReadmoreAged care providers will be subject to the Notifiable Data Breach scheme which requires organisations, including residential and home care providers, to mandatorily report eligible data breaches to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner begins on 22 February 2018. An eligible data breach will occur if: there is unauthorised access to, unauthorised disclosure of, […]
ReadmoreRefer-a-friend promotions are where consumers are encouraged to refer their friends to enter a promotion, or to find out about a promotion. Here is our overview of the specific issues raised in refer-a-friend promotions. Authored by: David Smith, Partner Erica Huntley, Lawyer Allison Rickard, Law Clerk Jessica Bell, Law Clerk
ReadmoreThe ATO has released a draft of the legislation which will give effect to the proposed new GST withholding requirements for buyers in new developments announced by the Treasurer in this year’s budget speech. Partner Matthew Raven has produced this brief summary. Who is affected? The proposal will affect all developers of apartments and […]
ReadmoreSchools should tread carefully when considering whether to terminate the employment of a teacher or other employee whose Working with Children Check has been suspended because of pending criminal charges. A recent case before the Fair Work Commission, following a series of similar cases in New South Wales, concerned a teacher whose employment was terminated […]
ReadmoreFranchisors’ joint and several liability for the negligence and defalcations of their franchisee estate agents has been cast into doubt by a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Victoria. In Secretary to the Department of Justice & Regulation v Century 21 Australia Pty Ltd [1] , the court narrowly read the definition of “franchising agreement” […]
ReadmoreFollowing the Better Apartments – A Discussion Paper (May 2015) and the Better Apartments Public Engagement Report (December 2015), the Victorian Government has now released the long awaited Better Apartments Draft Design Standards (Draft Standards). Partner Meg Lee and lawyer Linda Choi highlight the key proposals. The Draft Standards aim to raise the quality of […]
ReadmoreThe Queensland State election was called on 29 October 2017 with the effect of dissolving the Legislative Assembly (Parliament). All of the committees of the Parliament (other than the Parliamentary Crime and Corruption Committee) have now ceased and all Bills before the Parliament that had not yet been passed have now lapsed. Implications All committee inquiries […]
ReadmoreThe Planning and Environment Court made a declaration that a development approval for residential purposes over land in Beerwah had lapsed and an order that the time for the making of a request to extend the relevant period of the development approval be extended. This decision was determined under the provisions of the now repealed […]
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