The Queensland Civil Partnerships and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 came into effect on 27 June 2012, and, amongst other amendments, has renamed the former Civil Partnerships Act 2011 to the Relationships Act 2011. In order to formally recognise a committed relationship between a couple, regardless of their sex, couples can now register their relationships...
Separated couples, (married or defacto) can avoid stamp duty payments when transferring property between themselves (whether it is for a house or investment property) if their property settlement is properly documented. Which means that getting this paperwork right can represent savings of tens of thousands of dollars. To meet this requirement, the transfer of property involved...
From 1 July 2012, the principal place of residence concession will be re-introduced and the applicable concession rates will be those which were in place prior to the 1 August 2011 amendments. There have also been amendments to the first home owner concession. For contracts entered into after 1 July 2012, there will be no...
With the enactment of the Business Registration Services Act 2011, as of 28 May 2012 the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (‘ASIC’) took over the registration of business names from the States and Territory departments such as the Office of Fair Trading, which previously provided these services. There is now a single national register which...
Following on from our previous article in relation to the enactment of the Personal Properties Securities Register on 30 January 2012, we remind our clients that if you or your business provide goods to customers in the course of your business, and you have previously relied on consignment/lease terms or ‘retention of title’ clauses to...
On 30 January 2012, a national scheme governing security interests over most types of personal property commenced. The new national Personal Property Securities Register (PPSR) consolidates security registers previously operated by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments into a single register. Broadly, a personal property security interest occurs when a person or company takes an...
Joint State and Federal Government-funded assistance measures have been activated for the Sunshine Coast, Fraser Coast, Gympie and Moreton Bay council areas following recent storms and flooding. Emergency Services Minister Neil Roberts said the Natural Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements would help the four councils cover the cost of their counter disaster operations. Assistance for...
If you become seriously ill or unconscious or are no longer able to make decisions, you may be unable to communicate your healthcare decisions. An advance health directive allows you to plan what medical treatment or health care you would like in the event that you cannot make decisions for yourself. You can even appoint...
Jayant Patel submitted an application in the High Court of Australia seeking special leave to appeal a decision of the Queensland Court of Appeal. Mr Patel was convicted on three counts of manslaughter and one of unlawful grievous bodily harm for deciding to operate on a patient whose health was precarious. The patient suffered bleeding...
In the run up to the recent State Election the Queensland Law Society called for the major political parties to commit to better treatment of people in the criminal justice system who suffer from mental health issues. In a State election issues paper, the Society highlighted the need for programs to identify mental health issues...
