Pub­li­ca­tions

Jun 26, 2019

NSW con­struc­tion indus­try — an expert’s per­spec­tive (part 4 of 6)

Inter­view with Steven Nakhla – SJN Build­ing Consultants Over the com­ing weeks, I will be releas­ing a six part arti­cle series. The arti­cles will doc­u­ment my dis­cus­sions with build­ing con­sul­tants who are in the know when it comes to the cur­rent state of the NSW con­struc­tion indus­try and the high per­cent­age of…

Jun 25, 2019

What hap­pens to chil­dren on the death of a res­i­den­tial par­ent in the con­text of divorce and separation

There is no auto­mat­ic right for the sur­viv­ing par­ent to have the care of chil­dren after the death of the res­i­den­tial par­ent. On the death of a res­i­den­tial par­ent the par­ent­ing order that spec­i­fies that the chil­dren would live with them ceas­es. Most par­ents have joint parental respon­si­bil­i­ty, so it is…

Jun 13, 2019

Divorce and Sep­a­ra­tion — What you need to know

How long do I have to be sep­a­rat­ed before I can divorce my spouse? A divorce is the Court’s recog­ni­tion that a mar­riage no longer exists and a sep­a­ra­tion shows your inten­tion to divorce. In Aus­tralia you are required to be sep­a­rat­ed for a peri­od of 12 months before you can make an Appli­ca­tion for Divorce…

Jun 12, 2019

NSW con­struc­tion indus­try — an expert’s per­spec­tive (part 3 of 6)

Inter­view with Allan Har­ri­man – BCA Log­ic Over the com­ing weeks, I will be releas­ing a six part arti­cle series. The arti­cles will doc­u­ment my dis­cus­sions with build­ing con­sul­tants who are in the know when it comes to the cur­rent state of the NSW con­struc­tion indus­try and the high per­cent­age of prop­er­ties…

Jun 5, 2019

Should Aus­tralia adopt a Direc­tor Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion Num­ber (DIN) requirement?

Should Aus­tralia Adopt a Direc­tor Iden­ti­fi­ca­tion Num­ber (DIN) Requirement? On 13 Feb­ru­ary 2019, the Trea­sury Laws Amend­ment (Reg­istries Mod­erni­sa­tion and Oth­er Mea­sures) Bill 2019 was intro­duced to the Aus­tralian Par­lia­ment (Amend­ment Bill). The Amend­ment Bill pro­posed a direc­tor iden­ti­fi­ca­tion num­ber (DIN) require­ment as part of a suite of Gov­ern­ment ini­tia­tives which attempt to…

May 30, 2019

The prop­er scope of the anti-bul­ly­ing jurisdiction

Strong Words from the FWC Bench In the recent deci­sion of Tan­ka Jang Kar­ki [2019] FWC 3147, which dealt with an appli­ca­tion to the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) for a stop bul­ly­ing order, Deputy Pres­i­dent Sams took the oppor­tu­ni­ty to express dis­qui­et about the way in which some appli­cants use the anti-bul­ly­ing…

May 29, 2019

NSW con­struc­tion indus­try — an expert’s per­spec­tive (part 2 of 6)

Inter­view with Paul Rat­cliff – Paul Rat­cliff Build­ing and Water­proof­ing Pty Ltd Over the com­ing weeks, I will be releas­ing a six part arti­cle series. The arti­cles will doc­u­ment my dis­cus­sions with build­ing con­sul­tants who are in the know when it comes to the cur­rent state of the NSW con­struc­tion indus­try and the…

May 20, 2019

Con­struc­tion — Inde­pen­dent ver­i­fi­ca­tion, is it that simple?

The Aus­tralian Stan­dards Design and Con­struct Con­tract AS 4902 – 2002, does not make any pro­vi­sion for an inde­pen­dent ver­i­fi­ca­tion process through­out the build. With build­ing defects on the rise, one has to con­sid­er that the appoint­ment of an inde­pen­dent project ver­i­fi­er, to over­see the works and con­duct inspec­tions at…

May 15, 2019

NSW con­struc­tion indus­try — an expert’s per­spec­tive (part 1 of 6)

Inter­view with Peter Kar­sai – Cladding specialist Over the com­ing weeks, I will be releas­ing a six part arti­cle series. The arti­cles will doc­u­ment my dis­cus­sions with build­ing con­sul­tants who are in the know when it comes to the cur­rent state of the NSW con­struc­tion indus­try and the high per­cent­age of prop­er­ties which…

May 13, 2019

Fair Work Com­mis­sion rules out new approach to indi­vid­ual dispute

A New Approach Sec­tion 576(2)(aa) of the Fair Work Act (Act) con­fers upon the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) the func­tion to pro­mote ​‘coop­er­a­tive and pro­duc­tive work­place rela­tions and pre­vent­ing dis­putes’. Pur­suant to this pro­vi­sion, the FWC has imple­ment­ed a juris­dic­tion called ​‘New Approach­es’, which has the aim of assist­ing employ­ers, employ­ees and…