Pub­li­ca­tions

Sep 1, 2020

Can we build bet­ter build­ings in NSW?

The con­struc­tion indus­try in New South Wales is in cri­sis and has been at an impasse for a pro­longed peri­od of time. The ques­tion as to why we have so many build­ing defects, par­tic­u­lar­ly in mul­ti-storey res­i­den­tial apart­ment build­ings, was being asked long before the Opal and Mas­cot tow­er dis­as­ters and…

Aug 31, 2020

NSW Con­struc­tion Indus­try Reform

The NSW Build­ing Com­mis­sion­er, David Chan­dler OAM, is at the ready with ​‘boots on the ground’, to ​‘rid the indus­try of dan­ger­ous builders, devel­op­ers and cer­ti­fiers’ and improve con­sumer con­fi­dence in the buy­ing of res­i­den­tial apart­ments in NSW with the com­mence­ment on 1 Sep­tem­ber 2020 of the Res­i­den­tial Apart­ment Build­ings (Com­pli­ance…

Aug 20, 2020

Fam­i­ly Law | Arbi­tra­tion vs Medi­a­tion, weigh­ing up what is right for you

There are var­i­ous options avail­able to assist par­ties to resolve their Fam­i­ly Law dis­pute out­side of lit­i­ga­tion, includ­ing medi­a­tion and arbi­tra­tion. This arti­cle pro­vides an overview of both options to assist you to con­sid­er what may be suit­able to resolve your dispute. Arbi­tra­tion Fam­i­ly Law Arbi­tra­tions have been avail­able to par­ties…

Aug 12, 2020

Claim­ing to be a mod­ern-day Mr Dar­cy was no defence to sex­u­al harassment

In the recent mat­ter of Hugh­es trad­ing as Beesley and Hugh­es Lawyers v Hill [2020] FCAFC 126 (Hugh­es v Hill), the Full Court of the Fed­er­al Court of Aus­tralia reject­ed a cat­e­gori­sa­tion of con­duct by a lawyer towards his employ­ee as roman­tic ges­tures akin to those of the well-known lit­er­ary fig­ure, Mr Dar­cy, rather…

Aug 10, 2020

First 30 days | Hard­ings integration

To our val­ued clients and friends As most of you will already know, as of the 1 July 2020 the staff of Hard­ings Lawyers joined Swaab in their new­ly refur­bished offices.  With Covid-19 still hav­ing a major impact on office atten­dance with WFH arrange­ments and Part­ners and staff being on a ros­ter sys­tem to attend…

Aug 3, 2020

Address­ing Build­ing Defects in Stra­ta Schemes

Leg­isla­tive oblig­a­tions and func­tions for a stra­ta scheme can be over­whelm­ing in the first few years and it may take time to estab­lish a func­tion­ing stra­ta com­mit­tee. Obvi­ous­ly, the thought of defects in a stra­ta scheme are not what is on a lot own­er’s mind hav­ing just pur­chased a new unit. How­ev­er, with strict time…

Jul 28, 2020

Abuse from the Anti-Mask ​‘Activists’: The Oblig­a­tions of Employers

One very recent and unwel­come phe­nom­e­non dur­ing the Covid-19 pan­dem­ic in Aus­tralia has been the emer­gence of the anti-mask ​“activists” (often described using the recent­ly mint­ed pejo­ra­tive ​“Karen”). Media reports (large­ly based on social media posts) sug­gest they are espe­cial­ly preva­lent in Vic­to­ria, where masks in pub­lic have been made…

Jul 21, 2020

COVID-19 | Updat­ed Job­Keep­er Scheme

On 21 July 2020, the Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment announced that it would be extend­ing the Job­Keep­er pay­ment scheme for eli­gi­ble employ­ers until 28 March 2021. The Job­Keep­er scheme, which was orig­i­nal­ly due to come to an end on 27 Sep­tem­ber 2020, will now be tar­get­ed towards those busi­ness­es and not-for-prof­its which con­tin­ue…

Jul 21, 2020

COVID-19 | The Fair­ness Prin­ci­ple in Stand­ing Down Employees

In the recent mat­ter of Mr Ryan La Plume v Thomas Foods Inter­na­tion­al Pty Lim­it­ed T/A Thomas Foods Inter­na­tion­al [2020] FWC 3690, the Fair Work Com­mis­sion (FWC) con­sid­ered an appli­ca­tion to deal with a stand down dis­pute aris­ing in the con­text of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. This mat­ter demon­strates the impor­tance of employ­ers…

Jul 16, 2020

Mer­i­tas — An Intro­duc­tion to Tem­po­rary Changes Affect­ing Busi­ness­es in Aus­tralia and New Zealand

Look­ing for busi­ness and legal guid­ance regard­ing COVID-19 updates and pro­grams in Aus­tralia & New Zealand? This doc­u­ment has cov­er­age across the region with mem­ber firms who are here to assist. Please vis­it any of the COVID-19 resource mate­ri­als for more com­pre­hen­sive updates.  View here…