On 29 April 2015, the Victorian Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Burbank Australia Pty Ltd v Owners Corporation PS 447493 [2015] VSC 160, which concerned an appeal from a decision of the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, in relation to allegations of defective building works in the common property of the ‘Waterford Towers’ apartment building built by Burbank in the Melbourne suburb of Maribyrnong.

Schools collect and receive personal and sensitive information on a daily basis. What are the legal requirements for managing and using this data? Much of the personal and sensitive information collected by schools is, of course, essential to their day-to-day running.

Congratulations to Facebook for introducing a system to allow some management of a person’s Facebook account after the person’s death.

In its latest policy change on paid parental leave, the Coalition Government has proposed to remove parents' ability to "double dip" paid parental leave entitlements from 1 July 2016 in a bid to save almost $1 billion dollars over four years.

Contrary to common belief, local councils and officers acting on their behalf are subject to the provisions of the Competition & Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), just like any other entity engaged in trade or commerce.

In budget papers released on 12 May the Federal Government has confirmed funding to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will continue until 2019.  However, the charity regulator will see a modest reduction in its funding from $14.8 million in the next financial year to $13.2 million in 2018-19.

According to the latest budget handed down on Tuesday night from Treasurer Joe Hockey, penalty units (ie. fines) for breaching federal laws are set to rise from $170.00 to $180.00 (per unit) from 31 July 2015.

The Tribunal recently commented upon the role that expert witnesses play in proceedings before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 

On 1 May 2015, the President of the Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) issued an advisory opinion in response to the Victorian Small Business Commissioner’s request as to whether a landlord of commercial premises can pass on the costs of Essential Safety Measures (ESM) and certain repair and maintenance obligations for retail premises to tenants.  The term ESM covers measures prescribed by building law for safety and fire protection.

Following on from an advisory report into the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment (Data Retention) Bill 2014 (Cth) (Data Retention Bill), released on 27 February this year, the Federal Government has now accepted recommendations to develop a mandatory data breach notification scheme.