Pub­li­ca­tions

3 Aug 2026

AI Slop v Fair Work Com­mis­sion: The Scourge Continues

For all the talk of how extra­or­di­nary and trans­for­ma­tive arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI) can sup­pos­ed­ly be, it con­tin­ues to be a scourge for the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC). In the recent FWC case of Emmanuel Tis­chler v Ava­da Traf­fic Pty Ltd [2026] FWCFB 174, the Full Bench con­sid­ered an appeal in an unfair dis­missal…

31 July 2026

Nichol­son v Stra­ta Plan No 104042 –The Valid­i­ty of Debt Recov­ery Claus­es in By-laws

The recent NSW Civ­il and Admin­is­tra­tive Tri­bunal deci­sion in Nichol­son v The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 104042 [2025] NSW­CATCD 202 pro­vides impor­tant guid­ance on the lim­its of an own­ers cor­po­ra­tion’s pow­er to pass by-laws reg­u­lat­ing short-term rental accom­mo­da­tion in the scheme. More impor­tant­ly how­ev­er the deci­sion rein­forces a broad­er prin­ci­ple which…

20 July 2026

Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026

The Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Amend­ment (Under­quot­ing and Oth­er Agent Con­duct) Act 2026 (NSW) (the Amend­ment Act) was assent­ed on 29 June 2026. The Amend­ment Act amends the Prop­er­ty and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW) (the PSA), which seeks to impose new pro­ce­dur­al require­ments, and oblig­a­tions on real estate agents. Notably it…

15 July 2026

10 year long stop on build­ing defect claims rein­forced for con­tri­bu­tion claims

The recent deci­sion in For­tius Broad­way No 1 Pty Ltd V ACN 103 211 141 Pty Ltd (for­mer­ly known as Wat­pac Con­struc­tion (NSW) Pty Ltd) [2026] NSWSC 710 (For­tius) hand­ed down on 25 June 2026 rein­forces the 10-year ​“long-stop” peri­od on claims for defec­tive build­ing work[1], includ­ing con­tri­bu­tion claims, with the Court…

6 July 2026

A High­er Evi­den­tiary Bur­den for Work Orders: The Prac­ti­cal Impli­ca­tions of The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 102171 v Ceerose Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CATCD 137

The deci­sion in The Own­ers – Stra­ta Plan No 102171 v Ceerose Pty Ltd; Zone Q Mil­sons Point Devel­op­ment Pty Ltd v Ceerose Pty Ltd; Ceerose Pty Ltd v South­ern Cross Cli­mate Con­trol Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CATCD 137 is a sig­nif­i­cant devel­op­ment in under­stand­ing the evi­den­tiary oblig­a­tions of an appli­cant when seek­ing a work order under…

26 June 2026

Impor­tant Work­place Rela­tions Changes Effec­tive 1 July 2026

Employ­ers and employ­ees alike should be aware of impor­tant changes in the work­place rela­tions are­na, effec­tive 1 July 2026. From that date:the high income thresh­old for unfair dis­missal claims will increase to $190,100 per annum (from the present $183,100 per annum) and the com­pen­sa­tion lim­it will be $95,050 (equiv­a­lent to 6 months of the…

11 June 2026

Strata Plan 92183 v Samdora Pty Ltd [2026] NSWSC 406 | 'Substantive Control' over Works & s37 of the DB&P Act

In this case, the plain­tiff (Stra­ta Plan 92183) brought pro­ceed­ings alleg­ing defec­tive res­i­den­tial build­ing work in rela­tion to 9 town hous­es locat­ed in Manger­ton, NSW.Rel­e­vant­ly SP92183 claimed that both the builder’s direc­tor (Mr Nas­sif) and the developer’s direc­tor (Mr Chah­wan) had both breached their duty to exer­cise rea­son­able care to avoid eco­nom­ic…

3 June 2026

Dis­clo­sure: When is enough enough?

Dis­clo­sure, the fam­i­ly law equiv­a­lent of dis­cov­ery in oth­er kinds of civ­il pro­ceed­ings, is a foun­da­tion­al part of fam­i­ly law matters. The Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia (Fam­i­ly Law) Rules 2021 (Cth) (“the Rules”) and the var­i­ous pre­de­ces­sors of those Rules have long includ­ed a require­ment that:… each par­ty to a pro­ceed­ing has a duty…

2 June 2026

When Judges return to prac­tice: a clos­er look at the deci­sion in Tan­it & Tanit

In the Fed­er­al Cir­cuit and Fam­i­ly Court of Aus­tralia, being a Fed­er­al Court, the com­pul­so­ry retire­ment age of Judges is 70 years of age. If Judges don’t retire before they turn 70 (which many Judges do), they are forced to leave the role at 70 pur­suant to Sec­tion 72 of the Constitution. Accord­ing…

19 May 2026

SP6534 v Elkhouri; Own­ers Cor­po­ra­tion SP6534 v Per­pet­u­al Cor­po­rate Trust Ltd [2024] NSW­CA 279 (in Eq. Div) (27 Novem­ber 2024)

Back­ground and PartiesMr. Elkhouri (Elkhouri) owned Lot 11, a pent­house apart­ment in an 11 lot res­i­den­tial stra­ta scheme at Point Piper, Syd­ney. The lot occu­pied the top two lev­els of the build­ing and includ­ed bal­conies and rooftop areas that were com­mon prop­er­ty. When Elkhouri pur­chased Lot 11 in 2007, he had no exclu­sive rights…