High infrastructure charges that stall new projects, cost jobs and push up the price of housing in Queensland are now a thing of the past following the passing of the Sustainable Planning (Housing Affordability and Infrastructure Charges Reform) Amendment Bill on 25 May 2011. The Bill aims to establish, through State planning regulations, a...
Queensland will be the first state to adopt the new Work Health and Safety Act 2011 on Monday 6 July with other States and Territories soon to follow. The new Act is a result of a three-year national reform and will replace the Workplace Health & Safety Act 1995. In July 2008, the Council...
The Office of Fair Trading has warned consumers to beware of discrepancies between what they are promised by salespeople and what is stipulated in the contract. A story was reported by a man who decided to buy a second-hand car at a dealership and was told by the salesman that a new car stereo would...
A landmark decision may have potentially absolved Internet Service Providers of any responsibility to stop illegal file-sharing amongst their users, but media companies are still looking for a solution. Perth-based Internet service provider (ISP) iiNet, the third largest ISP in Australia, has defended proceedings brought against it by 34 media companies, including Village Roadshow, Universal...
In a landmark decision handed down in the Federal Court, Justice Gordon held that Telstra had failed to establish that copyright subsists in the contents of the Yellow Pages and White Pages telephone directories. Telstra and Sensis had alleged the publishers of ‘Local Directories’, which had been distributed in Queensland, Northern Territory and New South...
A recent study found less than 20 percent of Australians know their legal rights when they buy goods or services. The study, by the National Education and Investigation Advisory Taskforce, also found that consumers are spending, on average, almost six hours trying to resolve problems with purchased goods and services. Many businesses are also unsure...
In October 2010, a man from Morayfield, north of Brisbane, was charged with the assault of his neighbour, telling police “…he wouldn’t trim the hedges”. In Queensland, issues relating to trees and fences are the most common form of neighbourhood dispute – there is currently no statutory law in Queensland that provides for disputes relating...
This article takes a look at the emerging issue of social-networking in the legal space. Social-networking has become part of everyday life with new uses and applications continuing to emerge. The use of social networking continues to grow with Facebook, MySpace and Twitter boasting a combined membership of 730 million people. At the same time,...
As you are aware, new laws for pool safety, including spas, came into effect on 1 December 2010 for Queensland pool owners in the aim of reducing incidents of drowning and serious immersion injuries among young children in swimming pools. Previously, pool owners were required to ensure a pool was enclosed with compliant fencing regardless...
In the instance of a company going bankrupt, insolvent or into receivership, what are the rights of an employee? The Australian Government protects employees through the implementation of regulation and legislation such as the Corporations Act 2001, as well as through schemes such as the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme (GEERS). GEERS is a...
