In this issue we look at sham contracting arrangements gambling addiction as a possible protected attribute under anti-discrimination law who is liable for costs associated with bullying claims a failed general protections claim when a lawful direction will be deemed reasonable and employers ...

In this issue we look at a dismissal case emanating from poor behaviour at a company Christmas party the importance of the employment contract in determining whether a reduction in an employees pay and duties results in dismissal an employers difficulty in justifiying a summary dismissal and the ...

Last month we were fortunate enough to host Barney Frank co-architect of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 2010 to discuss financial regulation reform Coincidentally a couple of weeks later we were treated to a presentation on US financial regulation reforms by a US ...

The Dodd Frank Act is a bit like the US financial system it is trying to regulate - vast complex and hard to wade through It creates a bunch of new regulators on top of what was already a pretty solid cast and gives them wide-ranging powers They can not only set capital and liquidity requirements ...

The Board of Taxations report on tax arrangements applying to collective investment vehicles considers that offshore investors are dissuaded from investing in Australian funds because they do not understand unit trusts and that access to a broader range of collective investment vehicles would help ...

Legislation introduced into Parliament will impose a 10 per cent non-final withholding tax on proceeds paid to foreign parties to acquire direct or indirect interests in Australian real property and mining rights from 1 July 2016 Partner Martin Fry and Lawyer David Lewis discuss the proposed law ...

The Government has finally begun the process of implementing its policy on crowd-sourced equity funding CSEF by introducing a Bill and releasing draft exposure regulations late last year which envisage the establishment of a CSEF regime in Australia The Bill has been referred to the Senate Economics ...

The forecast for the year ahead for Australian anti-bribery laws and compliance is a busy one with a Senate inquiry new laws and a continued focus on suspected foreign bribery offences ...

In Touch looks at what's been happening in Competition this month and what it means for your business ...

The Federal Governments Competition Policy Bill which contains its response to the Harper Reviews broader recommendations on competition law and policy will make significant changes to Australian competition laws ...