A recent High Court decision highlights the substantial scope of s541 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 Cth to prevent an insurer from denying cover following an insureds non-compliance with certain terms of an insurance policy. ...

In coming to a recent decision the Queensland Supreme Court has taken a narrow view of a section of that states civil liability legislation that was designed to limit the liability of public authorities in Queensland Partner Nicholas Ng and Senior Associate Goran Gelic report on this decision and ...

Australia continues to expand its network of investment treaties In light of this Australian investors should consider a review of the treaty protections that apply to their foreign investments If a treaty includes an investor-State dispute settlement mechanism the investor may be able to resolve ...

The growth of financial services technology or Fintech as it is now called has exploded in recent years yet many of its creators dont realise that their innovations are patentable ...

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 ...

The Senates disallowance of the Corporations Amendment Streamlining Future of Financial Advice Regulation 2014 was messy However the same could be said of the process by which FoFA was originally enacted ...

At the recent APEC conference in Bali the finance ministers of Australia New Zealand Singapore and South Korea signed a formal Statement of Intent on the establishment of the Asia Region Funds Passport which will allow fund managers based in participating countries to market and sell certain managed ...

The Federal Government has released its Green Paper on the design of the Emissions Reduction Fund Partner Grant Anderson reports on this proposed centrepiece of the Governments Direct Action Plan ...

Class action risk has become a major issue for boards senior management and general counsel A key question often asked in that context is whether the changing nature of the class actions landscape poses an increasing area of risk for Australian corporates ...

The Victorian Government has introduced legislation to impose a 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on foreign purchasers of residential land and a 05 per cent land tax surcharge on absentee owners of both residential and other land The proposed legislation is very broad and applies to both direct and ...