Man­u­fac­tur­ing is key to almost every sup­ply chain and busi­ness, adding val­ue across all sec­tors in Aus­tralia. In a tumul­tuous time for the glob­al econ­o­my, the Aus­tralian man­u­fac­tur­ing sec­tor is fac­ing strong head­winds from over­seas com­pe­ti­tion and domes­tic labour mar­ket constraints.

It’s imper­a­tive that busi­ness­es remain flex­i­ble and adapt to chang­ing indus­try out­looks in order to piv­ot when required and keep growth prospects strong over the com­ing years. We advise a range of clients on legal issues fac­ing the sec­tor includ­ing reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance, cor­po­rate set-up, com­mer­cial con­tracts, sup­ply chain man­age­ment, data pro­tec­tion and intel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty, ESG, real estate, prod­uct lia­bil­i­ty, employ­ment and work place safe­ty laws, and dis­pute resolution.

We pro­vide com­pre­hen­sive solu­tions to the legal chal­lenges faced by our clients as they look to expand pro­duc­tion, dri­ve prof­it growth, increase effi­cien­cy, pro­duc­tiv­i­ty and sustainability.

Emerg­ing issues fac­ing the sec­tor include invest­ment in process con­trols, imple­ment­ing cloud-based appli­ca­tions, as well as sup­ply chain, logis­tics and improved cus­tomer ser­vice expe­ri­ence. Many man­u­fac­tur­ers are also turn­ing to emerg­ing tech­nol­o­gy to dri­ve effi­cien­cies and cus­tomer util­i­ty. The fastest-grow­ing areas of adop­tion in the next few years are expect­ed to be next-gen­er­a­tion enter­prise resource plan­ning (ERP) sys­tems, autonomous sys­tems and equip­ment and arti­fi­cial intelligence.

Use­ful links:

The ACCC pro­vides a num­ber of guides and pub­li­ca­tions pro­vid­ing use­ful infor­ma­tion to manufacturers.

No mat­ter how rou­tine or com­plex the busi­ness issues you face, Mer­i­tas’ net­work of law firms is with you every step of the way. Mar­ket-lead­ing firms offer a full range of legal ser­vices, which enable you to do busi­ness any­where. Wise coun­sel and prac­ti­cal solu­tions are just a phone call or e‑mail away. Dis­cov­er the breadth and depth of the prac­tice and indus­try sec­tor capa­bil­i­ties avail­able to you through Meritas.

Publications

Ope­nAI’s screen­less future on pause amidst trade mark dispute

Back­groundIn ear­ly May, Ope­nAI sur­prised the tech world with news of an esti­mat­ed $6.4 bil­lion part­ner­ship and acqui­si­tion involv­ing ​“io”…

Impor­tant Stra­ta Law Changes — Effec­tive 1 July 2025

The Stra­ta Schemes Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Act 2025 (Amend­ing Act) intro­duces fur­ther reform in Gov­ern­men­t’s ongo­ing review of the stra­ta legislation. On 1 July…

Unfair con­tract terms in out­dat­ed stan­dard form con­tracts could cost you a fine of $50 mil­lion (Com­pa­nies) or $2.5 mil­lion (Indi­vid­u­als)

If you have not reviewed your stan­dard form con­struc­tion con­tracts since 9 Novem­ber 2023 (when the amend­ed Com­pe­ti­tion and Con­sumer Act…

In the News

Press Release | We are pleased to announce five senior pro­mo­tions in key prac­tice areas of the firm effec­tive, 1 July 2025

Con­grat­u­la­tions:Maris­sa Arag­o­na — AssociateRamesh Chamala — AssociateAaron Boz — AssociateWilliam Clement — Senior AssociateKel­lie Van Mun­ster — Spe­cial Counsel “I am per­son­al­ly delight­ed…

Michael Byrnes quot­ed in the arti­cle, “‘Creep­ing’ unfair dis­missal thresh­old will increase to $183k on 1 July”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 27 June 2025

Michael Byrnes quot­ed in the arti­cle, “‘Creep­ing’ unfair dis­missal thresh­old will increase to $183k on 1 July”, pub­lished in HR Leader…

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ABC may face sig­nif­i­cant penal­ties’ after can­cel cul­ture’ sack­ing ruled unlaw­ful”, pub­lished in HR Leader on 26 June 2025

Michael Byrnes is quot­ed in the arti­cle, ​“ABC may face ​‘sig­nif­i­cant penal­ties’ after ​‘can­cel cul­ture’ sack­ing ruled unlaw­ful”, pub­lished in…