Pub­li­ca­tions

Sep 8, 2025

Fed­er­al Court Deci­sion Lim­its Effec­tive Use of Set-Off in Con­trac­tu­al Annu­al Salary Arrangements

The Deci­sionIn a recent Fed­er­al Court deci­sion*, Jus­tice Per­ram held that while con­trac­tu­al set-off claus­es in an annu­al salary arrange­ment can be effec­tive for the sat­is­fac­tion of mod­ern award enti­tle­ments dur­ing a pay peri­od, they are inef­fec­tive between pay peri­ods. This is a sig­nif­i­cant lim­i­ta­tion on the prac­ti­cal use of con­trac­tu­al annu­al salary…

Sep 8, 2025

Pro­tect­ing your tomor­row, today: The impor­tance of an endur­ing pow­er of attorney

We often talk about the impor­tance of draft­ing your estate plan­ning doc­u­ments, includ­ing how draft­ing your will can ensure your loved ones are pro­vid­ed for as you wish, and the risk of dying intes­tate, giv­ing the State author­i­ty to decide how your estate is admin­is­tered, is avoid­ed fol­low­ing your death. But…

Sep 2, 2025

NSW Fair Trad­ing com­pli­ance | What to do if you receive a complaint

You receive a let­ter from NSW Fair Trad­ing (OFT) in your inbox refer­ring to a ​‘com­plaint’ being lodged against you/​your agency and requir­ing infor­ma­tion to be pro­vid­ed with­in a few days. It’s daunt­ing to receive one of these let­ters, espe­cial­ly if it’s your first. You’ll be won­der­ing who com­plained, what did you do…

Sep 1, 2025

AS4000:2025 – What is all the fuss about?

What’s new in AS4000:2025 and why does it mat­ter for con­struc­tion con­tracts? After near­ly three decades, the AS4000 Gen­er­al Con­di­tions of Con­tract has been updat­ed to reflect mod­ern leg­is­la­tion, indus­try prac­tices, and clear­er draft­ing stan­dards. The 2025 edi­tion intro­duces a For­mal Instru­ment of Agree­ment, flex­i­ble dis­pute res­o­lu­tion options, and pro­vi­sions aligned…

Aug 26, 2025

Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence Fol­ly Called Out by Fair Work Commission

In the recent Fair Work Com­mis­sion deci­sion Mr Bran­den Dey­sel v Elec­tra Lift Co.[2025] FWC 2289, Deputy Pres­i­dent Slevin applied a crit­i­cal lens to the use of Chat­G­PT by the Appli­cant who was seek­ing an exten­sion of time to make an appli­ca­tion to deal with con­tra­ven­tions involv­ing dismissal.One fac­tor the FWC exam­ines in…

Aug 11, 2025

Assess­ing Scope 3 Emis­sions: An analy­sis of the impli­ca­tions of Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone Healthy Envi­ron­ment Group Inc v MACH Ener­gy Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CA 163 (the Mount Pleas­ant decision)

Intro­duc­tionOn July 24, 2025, the New South Wales Court of Appeal (NSW­CA) deliv­ered a land­mark rul­ing in Den­man Aberdeen Muswell­brook Scone Healthy Envi­ron­ment Group Inc v MACH Ener­gy Aus­tralia Pty Ltd [2025] NSW­CA 163, over­turn­ing the approval of a sig­nif­i­cant coal mine expan­sion at Mount Pleas­ant, near Muswell­brook. The deci­sion, the result of…

Jul 21, 2025

Work­place Rela­tion­ships: The Legal Posi­tion (Cold­play Con­cert Edition)

The recent sto­ry of col­leagues (a Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer and Chief Peo­ple Offi­cer (CPO)) whose appar­ent rela­tion­ship was cap­tured on a ​“kiss cam” (jum­botron) at a Cold­play con­cert has cap­tured the pub­lic imag­i­na­tion, result­ing in thou­sands of arti­cles, memes and jokes. In the after­math of the inci­dent, the CEO has resigned…

Jul 7, 2025

Dis­missal for Dissent?

The recent unfair dis­missal deci­sion of the Fair Work Com­mis­sion, Shaun Turn­er v Dare­bin City Coun­cil [2025] FWC 1763, in which Deputy Pres­i­dent Clan­cy held that the dis­missal of an employ­ee for, among oth­er things, alleged com­ments in response to an Acknowl­edg­ment of Coun­try before a ​‘tool­box’ meet­ing, was unfair, has gar­nered…

Jul 7, 2025

Con­struc­tion con­tract time­frames and their inter­ac­tion with the NSW Secu­ri­ty of Pay­ment legislation.

Mark Glynn, Con­struc­tion Part­ner at Swaab con­sid­ers the recent deci­sion of Shar­vain Facades Pty Ltd (Admin­is­tra­tors Appoint­ed) v Roberts Co (NSW) Pty Ltd [2025] NSWSC 606TimeTime is an impor­tant aspect of the deliv­ery of a build­ing and con­struc­tion project.A suc­cess­ful project con­tract not only spec­i­fies the time with­in which the works must be car­ried…

Jul 4, 2025

10 Tips For Stra­ta Reme­di­al Con­struc­tion Contracts

Are you won­der­ing why your stra­ta work to repair or main­tain your stra­ta build­ing is over bud­get, rid­dled with delays, plagued with costs over­runs and vari­a­tions at every turn?It is impor­tant to con­sid­er and fol­low these steps:Before ten­der­ing for the work to be done, have your build­ing con­tract, con­sul­tan­cy agree­ment and/​or sep­a­rate…