Pub­li­ca­tions

10 Nov 2026

Per­son­al Lia­bil­i­ty for Build­ing Defects: The scope of sec­tion 37 of the Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act 2020 (NSW)

NSW Supreme Court con­firms direc­tors and project man­agers can be per­son­al­ly liable under sec­tion 37 of the Design and Build­ing Prac­ti­tion­ers Act: Alta Vale Res­i­den­tial Pty Ltd v STM123 Pty Ltd [2026] NSWSC 882.Alta Vale Res­i­den­tial Pty Ltd (In Liq) (Rec Appoint­ed) v STM123 Pty Ltd [2026] NSWSC 882The NSW Supreme Court’s deci­sion in…

9 Nov 2026

Pineap­ple on the Piz­za: Rea­son­able Direc­tion to Com­mit a Culi­nary Cul­tur­al Crime

The recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) deci­sion in Mr Davide Tam­bu­rel­la v The Trustee For La Cos­ta Hos­pi­tal­i­ty Unit Trust [2026] FWC 4264, aris­ing from an appli­ca­tion to deal with con­tra­ven­tions involv­ing dis­missal, has attract­ed inter­na­tion­al atten­tion, large­ly because it has reignit­ed the long­stand­ing culi­nary debate as to whether pineap­ple belongs on piz­za…

9 Nov 2026

‘Tis the Sea­son to Avoid Fol­ly: Work­place Christ­mas Par­ties (2026 Edition)

It’s that time of year. The ​‘Sil­ly Sea­son’. For many organ­i­sa­tions, the offi­cial employ­er Christ­mas par­ty is imminent.The start­ing point for office Christ­mas par­ties is that they are an exten­sion of the work­place — employ­ers need to care­ful­ly bal­ance hold­ing and facil­i­tat­ing a fun event with main­tain­ing a safe, respect­ful envi­ron­ment for employees.Bal­anc­ing the…

19 Oct 2026

Employ­ers Ban­ning AI Smart Glass­es from the Workplace

Can employ­ers ban AI smart glass­es at work? As wear­able AI tech­nol­o­gy grows, busi­ness­es are nav­i­gat­ing pri­va­cy, cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, work­place sur­veil­lance and con­fi­den­tial infor­ma­tion risks, along with their rights to reg­u­late its use in the workplace.In recent times, there has been sig­nif­i­cant debate and dis­cus­sion about whether employ­ers can, or should, ban…

14 Sept 2026

Land­lords Beware: New Tobac­co Laws Could Mean Heavy Fines and Even Gaol Time

How Do New Tobac­co Laws Affect Land­lords in NSW?This year the NSW State Gov­ern­ment is crack­ing down on the sale of illic­it tobac­co and vapes, tar­get­ing not only those sell­ing these prod­ucts, but also the land­lords turn­ing a blind eye to their ten­an­t’s actions. Plau­si­ble deni­a­bil­i­ty is now no longer a valid defence…

14 Sept 2026

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When there is an emergency

When is entry into a lot with­out the lot own­er’s con­sent per­mit­ted to car­ry out repair work to com­mon prop­er­ty? When there is an emergency McArthur v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No. 30924 [2025] NSW­CATCD 207 This case serves as a use­ful guide to own­ers cor­po­ra­tion when con­sid­er­ing access­ing a lot under sec­tion 122(3) of the…

7 Sept 2026

A Short Sto­ry about Bullying

In the recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion deci­sion of Appli­ca­tion by Gary Whitham [2026] FWC 3322, Deputy Pres­i­dent Col­man gave short shrift to an appli­ca­tion brought for an order to stop bullying, In fact, it was very short shrift; the entire judg­ment of two para­graphs is set out below:[1] Gary Whitham made an appli­ca­tion under…

4 Sept 2026

Decen­ni­al insur­ance for new apart­ment buildings

The New South Wales Gov­ern­ment con­tin­ues to address the lack of con­fi­dence in the build­ing indus­try, par­tic­u­lar­ly in rela­tion to stra­ta liv­ing with the recent­ly passed Fair Trad­ing and Build­ing Leg­is­la­tion Amend­ment Bill 2026 lay­ing the final piece of leg­isla­tive ground­work required to bring Decen­ni­al Lia­bil­i­ty Insur­ance (DLI) to the market. On…

11 Aug 2026

More AI Slop in the Fair Work Juris­dic­tion: The Fight Back

In two recent cas­es both the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) and Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia (FCF­CoA) have fought back against the indis­crim­i­nate and mis­guid­ed use of arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) by applicants.Ba v Ster­ling Parts Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2026] FedCFamC2G 1245In Ba v Ster­ling Parts Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2026] FedCFamC2G 1245, Judge Symons of…

7 Aug 2026

NSW Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 Pass­es Parliament

The Build­ing (Approvals and Prac­ti­tion­ers) Bill 2026 (the Bill) passed through Par­lia­ment on Tues­day after­noon 4 August 2026. The Bill is await­ing assent from the Gov­er­nor and will com­mence on a date set by proclamation.Much of the prac­ti­cal oper­a­tion and impli­ca­tion for those affect­ed by the pass­ing of this Bill will be…