It has been confirmed that an employer may require a union official to possess an entry permit under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) even when the official has purportedly been invited on site by a safety representative. On 17 November 2017, the High Court...
The Federal Circuit Court has found that truck driver, (Mr. Skene) engaged on a casual basis under an enterprise agreement and who worked regular rosters, was entitled to annual leave under Part 2-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (FW Act). The finding of an entitlement to...
Are enterprise agreements on the way out? The Fair Work Commission’s Annual Report 2016-17 highlighted: Fewer businesses are making enterprise agreements; The FWC are approving fewer enterprise agreements; The number of enterprise agreement applications being...
Two major developments occurred in 2017 for the labour hire industry, and those engaging labour hire: A mandatory licensing scheme is set to be introduced in Queensland, impacting any business that engages with temp agencies, or any form of labour hire. Contractors...
2017 has seen significant legislative changes at both the Commonwealth and the Queensland level, but while the Commonwealth changes (being the introduction of safe harbour) demonstrate a shift away from the imposition of rigid requirements upon corporate entities, the...
The Federal Government has recently released draft legislation that will shift responsibility for paying GST on new residential premises from developers to purchasers. The proposed legislation is being introduced to target ‘phoenix operators’, who collect GST from...
This article was amended on 24 May 2018. On 26 October 2017 the Queensland Parliament passed the Building Industry Fairness (Security of Payment) Act 2017 (Qld) (“BIFA”). It will commence on a date set by proclamation (which has not yet occurred). In addition to...
Since October 2016, all foreign buyers and developers are subject to a 3% stamp duty surcharge on the acquisition of residential property in Queensland known as Additional Foreign Acquirer Duty (AFAD). The Commissioner has now updated conditions under which ex gratia...
On 7 September 2017, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Tax Integrity) Bill 2017 was introduced in the House of Representatives as a measure to address housing affordability issues. A key component of this legislation is the implementation of an annual...
By Peter Karcher and Sarah Cooper Our firm has an IT client who burned all of his printers and resists having to put pen to paper when he needs to sign a contract. That might seem extreme to some, but when you consider that most offices punch out enough paper to...
As the saying goes: there are the things that you know; the things that you know that you don’t know (the known unknown); and the things that you don’t know that you don’t know (the unknown unknown). The recent Grenfell Tower fire tragedy in London highlights the...
For those of you who are not familiar with Pinterest, it is an online pin board service where users can collect images, webpages, and product links from across the net and virtually “pin” them for later reference. Although Pinterest is free to sign up and use they...