The Government released draft legislation yesterday in relation to extending the unfair contract term protections to small businesses. 

Once the legislation has been passed, a court will have the ability to declare an unfair term in a standard form small business contract void. Under the proposed legislation, a contract will be a small business contract if:

In a recent speech to the Community Council for Australia forum, Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg flagged that the Abbott Government plan to make changes to the way in which private ancillary funds can distribute their assets and wind-up

The Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission have issued a final warning to 6,000 charities that face deregistration for failing to lodge their AIS for two consecutive years. If deregistered, these charities will lose their entitlement to tax concessions

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) requires organisations to take “reasonable steps” to ensure that all Personal Information held is secure and protected from misuse, interference, loss and disclosure.

1380 charities, including 170 Victorian charities, will no longer be eligible for tax concessions as the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has revoked their registration. These charities have been deregistered due to failure to lodge their Annual Information Statement (AIS) for two consecutive years.  

The Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission (ACNC) has announced its decision to revoke the registration of Queensland charity ‘Get Rid of SIDS Project Inc’, a charity reportedly linked to controversial anti-vaccine lobbyists Stephanie Messenger and Sherri Tenpenny. The charity was established in 2010 and has since sought donations to fund a study into whether toxic gases coming from mattresses cause SIDS.

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal  (VCAT) has last week considered the operation of Clause 61.01 which makes the Minister for Planning the responsible authority for certain planning applications within the City of Melbourne. 

Dustday Investments v Minister for Planning & Melbourne City Council [Dustday] represents the first judicial consideration of the current section 12(2) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987.

In the recent decision of Calderara v Banyule (Calderara) the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Tribunal) considered whether section 149(1)(b) of the Planning and Environment Act 1987 conferred it jurisdiction to review a Council’s decision not to ‘agree’ to an action restricted under a section 173 agreement.

In Victoria the law prevents a person who has unlawfully killed another person from benefiting under the deceased person’s will.  This is called the Forfeiture Rule.  An exception applies where the killer is found not guilty by reason of mental impairment.

A truck delivery driver whose employment was terminated after he worked for his employer’s customer during his annual leave has been awarded $12,864 compensation after the Fair Work Commission (Commission) found his dismissal was harsh, unjust and unreasonable

The Federal Court has heralded a green light for competition in the discount pharmacy market in handing down its decision in a misleading and deceptive conduct case between the owners of Chemist Warehouse (Applicants) against Direct Chemist Outlet (Respondents). In this case, Harwood Andrews successfully defended the Respondents and also made out the Respondents counterclaim, invalidating the Applicants trademark “Who is? Australia’s Cheapest Chemist”. 

Section 588FF(1) of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) (Act) allows liquidators to apply to a court for orders in relation to voidable transactions.  Liquidators commonly seek to use this provision to “claw back” unfair preferences to particular creditors, but it also covers claims in respect of uncommercial transactions, unfair loans and unreasonable director-related transactions.