Latest publications
Family Law | What will the Court do if we can’t agree about our child’s religion?
Typically, Parenting Orders cover such matters as where the child will live; when they will spend time with the other parent and which school they will attend. And if religion is an important issue for parents, and the child is aged under 18 years, the Court has the power to make…
The Employment Reality of TV Fame
Reality television shows thrive on intrigue and drama. A key component of successful reality TV shows is the contestant viewers love to hate; the villain who, for a brief period of time, becomes Public Enemy No. 1. Of course, being cast in that light on a TV show can damage the reputation of…
Family Law | A word about gifts in your family law property settlement
Weddings, engagements, birthdays, Christmas … at some stage most of us will make a generous gift to a loved one. It could be cash for a house deposit, a car, a lovely piece of jewellery or a valuable family heirloom. This article looks at how the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court have treated different kinds of…
Family Law | What the Family Court merger means for separating couples
Families going through separation may be aware of recent news announcements about changes to the Family Court system and the likely impact this will have on parents and children. The Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia have issued a joint statement about the merger of the two…
Casual Clarification Emerges From Omnibus Breakdown
Despite the fact the majority of industrial reforms proposed by the Government in its Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020 (“Bill”) have been stymied by the Senate employers should welcome the fact long standing ambiguity surrounding the test for determining who a casual employee is, and…
Helen Kowal’s article published in Sourceable.net | Finally, Better Building Practices are Being Enforced
Back in 2019, frustrated in my profession as to how many building defects appear in multi-storey residential buildings shortly after construction leading to multi-millions of dollars being spent on remedial repairs, I spent the year interviewing expert building consultants as to their views on the state of play in construction and…
UPDATE | Changes to statutory demands from 1 January 2021
Marc Baddams and Sean Greenwood provide an update following on from the recent article Changes to statutory demands from 1 January 2021 posted on 23 December 2021.Update The Corporations Amendment (Corporate Insolvency Reforms) Act 2020 (Cth) (the Act), commenced on 1 January 2021. The Act provides, among other things, that for a three month…
COVID-19 | Further COVID-19 Tenancy Update
On 24 September 2020, we published a COVID-19 Tenancy Update regarding the extension of the Retail and other Commercial Leases (COVID-19) Regulation (Regulation) until 31 December 2020. This article can be located here. On 16 December 2020, the NSW Government has announced the Regulation will be extended again, this time until…
FWCFB sheds light on the information employers are required to provide employees for an agreement to be ‘genuinely agreed’
In the case of The Australian Workers’ Union v Skout Solutions Pty Ltd [2021] FWCFB 119, a Fair Work Commission Full Bench (FWCFB) has provided further guidance on the information an employer is required to provide to employees to ensure it has taken all reasonable steps to explain the terms of a proposed…
Changes to statutory demands from 1 January 2021
The temporary insolvency protections relating to statutory demands, which apply to all companies, are due to end on 31 December 2020. In the normal course, under section 459E of the Corporations Act, a creditor can issue a statutory demand against a company demanding payment of a debt of at least $2,000 (the Statutory Minimum) that…