ASIC issued Regulatory Guide 256 Client review and remediation conducted by advice licensees late last week In short RG 256 says an Australian financial services licensees duty to provide financial services efficiently honestly and fairly means they have to take responsibility for the consequences ...

In this issue we look at the problems of overselling a companys performance to attract new staff new Federal Government policy that will make franchisors and parent companies responsible for their franchisees and subsidiaries breaches of the Fair Work Act and the importance of following procedural ...

From 1 October 2016 a stamp duty surcharge of an additional 3 per cent will apply when a foreign person acquires residential land in Queensland Affected taxpayers should therefore urgently consider whether contracts relating to potentially affected transactions can be exchanged in the next few days ...

Papua New Guineas Conservation and Environment Protection Authority commences implementation of its new fee structure this year Partner Vincent Bull and Senior Associate Ryan Warokra look at the changes and how they will be administered ...

The Federal Court has awarded a substantial penalty of $500,000 against a franchisor that had contravened both the Australian Consumer Law and the Franchising Code of Conduct ...

The Queensland Government has introduced into Parliament legislation to provide a stamp duty concession for eligible farm-in agreements relating to exploration authorities and transfers of interests in exploration authorities under such farm-in agreements Partner Katrina Parkyn and Associate Jay ...

In preparing its Final Report the FSI has clearly paid close attention to the report of the Senate Economics References Committees Report into ASICs performance and its recommendations designed to strengthen ASIC through a combination of better funding an enhanced regulatory toolkit and higher ...

The West Australian Government and the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council have come to an in-principle agreement in relation to a collective native title claim of the Noongar people The South West Settlement Agreement which should provide greater clarity regarding aboriginal heritage surveys ...

The Federal Court has recently had another opportunity to consider the application of the promoter penalty provisions in the Taxation Administration Act The Federal Courts recent decision indicates that the promotion of schemes that are clear and deliberate tax exploitation schemes will result in ...

From 1 January 2015 a new common risk management prudential standard will apply to banks general insurers and life companies and in many cases to other companies in the corporate groups in which those institutions sit Michael Mathieson looks at the three lines of defence model that APRA proposes to ...