The Federal Government has announced new insolvency reforms that are intended to give businesses more control over how they restructure debts in recovering from the COVID-19 financial downturn. These reforms are especially important with the temporary protections for...
Amendments to insolvency and corporations laws extended until 31 December 2020
In what for many was a controversial move in the first place, amendments to insolvency and corporations laws (Relief Laws) have now been extended to 31 December 2020.The Relief Law were initially enacted in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and were due...
When Loans Go Bad: Supreme Court sides with ANZ on Unconscionable Conduct Claim
Currently, due to the pandemic, there are a number of restrictions in place that make it impractical or undesirable for lenders to recover outstanding debts. These protections will expire in September 2020, which will place additional pressure on borrowers to meet...
AFCA test case to determine if exclusion clauses are effective amid COVID-19 business interruption claims
Introduction Many businesses are in the process of assessing how sustainable continued operations will be after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. With temporary protections under the Corporations Act, such as changes to the insolvency rules, coming to an end on 25 September...
Centralised business information register and the introduction of Director identification numbers
Administrative changes coming to your business The Federal Government has recently announced the Modernising Business Registers (MBR) program. The MBR consists of a legislative package of five bills, collectively known as the Registries Modernisation Law (RML). It is...
Reforms to limit tax concessions for minors receiving income from testamentary trusts
On 1 July 2020 the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Bill 2019 came into force. This Bill reformed the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (ITAA), and was intended to limit the amount of tax concessions available to minors for income from a testamentary...
Non-disclosure by an insured does not always mean the insurer can avoid liability for a claim
A potential insured has a responsibility to disclose all information that is needed for an accurate risk assessment by an insurer, at the time of entering into a policy. Failure to disclose relevant information may entitle the insurer to avoid liability for a claim....
Businesses liable for third party comments made on social media posts
Social media is an important medium for businesses to market brands and products to a wider audience. Up until now, businesses have been relatively shielded from liability for defamation for third party comments made on social media pages that a business maintains....
The COVIDSafe app – Recent changes to the law and your privacy
Privacy concerns have plagued the introduction of the COVIDSafe app (App). In response, strict privacy protections for users of the App have now been enshrined in law via The Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contract Information) Act 2020 (the Act) which introduces...
Things to consider when signing up to and claiming travel insurance
The closure of both domestic and international borders has lead to many travellers attempting to claim their travel insurance. With the recent deluge of claims bringing travel insurance into focus, we would like to discuss some of the key clauses that you need to be...
Commercial & Residential Tenancies
Commercial Tenancies On 7 April 2020 the National Cabinet announced a new Code of Conduct (“Code”) to be legislated by the State and Territory governments in an effort to relieve pressure on retail, commercial and industrial tenants during the Coronavirus (“COVID-19”)...
How to Avoid a Dispute About Your Dispute Resolution Clause
As counterintuitive as it seems, time and time again we see disputes before the courts concerning the very clauses that were supposed to assist the parties avoid being there in the first place – the dispute resolution clauses that are most often found at the back of...