Allens has advised the Northwest Rapid Transit consortium on the financial close of the $3.7 billion Public Private Partnership for the next stage of the Sydney Metro. ...

Shareholders will receive total cash consideration of $2.345 per share under the approved Scheme, which represents a 5.2% increase from AVID's initial proposal of $2.23 per share in March 2019 and ...

In a development that is especially relevant to property developers and financial institutions, draft legislation to introduce a Papua New Guinea strata title scheme has been released. ...

The Australian Government has tabled the Crimes Amendment (Combatting Corporate Crime) Bill 2019 (the 2019 Bill) in the Senate, and the Attorney-General's Department has released Draft Guidance on the steps a body corporate can take to prevent an associate from bribing foreign public officials for public consultation (the Draft Guidance). Like the 2017 version of the Bill that lapsed earlier this year (the 2017 Bill), if passed, the 2019 Bill will strengthen Australia's foreign bribery laws, including by introducing a new corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery by an associate, and will introduce a Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) scheme for resolving serious corporate criminal matters. Partner Rachel Nicolson, Senior Associate Andrew Wilcock and Associate Lewis Winter report on the key differences between the 2017 and 2019 Bills, and the content of the Draft Guidance. ...

Conditions of development consent regulating scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions outside Australia will be prohibited under proposed legislation introduced into the NSW Parliament. The draft legislation forms part of a package of measures announced by the Deputy Premier to provide certainty for mining investment, which includes continuing the previously announced review of the Independent Planning Commission (IPC). ...

The Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission decided that a crane operator's sacking for a 'significant' safety incident was a fair and proportionate response, despite a working relationship of almost four decades. ...

With talk of wage theft becoming a criminal offence, this month's Senate approval of a wage and superannuation theft inquiry, and the increasing number of large employers being named and shamed for underpayments, there has never been a more important time for employers to check they are meeting their obligations – including compliance with modern awards. ...

Australia's modern slavery reporting regime was introduced one year ago, and 2020 will see the first set of modern slavery statements published by reporting entities. ...

With negotiations underway for the free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union (the A-EU FTA), Australian businesses that produce, buy or sell EU and non-EU food, agricultural goods and spirit drinks have to confront the possibility that Australia will agree to give much stronger protection to the names of hundreds of EU products that indicate their geographical origin. We look at some of the key issues in the EU's proposal that would impact Australian businesses' operations and IP portfolios, and consider some of the agreed compromise positions in the EU's other recent FTAs. ...

In Technological Resources Pty Ltd v Tettman [2019] FCA 1889, the Federal Court decisively reversed yet another Australian Patent Office (the APO) decision to reject a patent application on the basis that it was not a 'manner of manufacture'. ...