Last week, the Australia Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission introduced External Conduct Standards (ECS), with which all charities that operate overseas (including Basic Religious Charities) must comply.

If you provide services to consumers and provide some form of warranty against defects you must adhere to some updated mandatory requirements of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL).

Under the Local Government Act 1989, Victorian local Councils must use their resources efficiently and effectively and provide services in accordance with best-value principles to meet the needs of the local community, and improve the quality of life in the local community.

At any stage of the procurement lifecycle – from tender writing to final negotiations – accurately and completely describing what you are buying is critical…and rarely straightforward.  Here are some of our thoughts on getting this right.

A “lack of probity” is often raised in a procurement context as part of a complaint that there is an element of perceived unfairness.  It is an easy allegation to make, and one that is often made easier when organisations do not take the time to understand probity and embed it into their procurement practices. 

At the end of last year, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) issued civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia against Harold Mitchell and Stephen Healy, two former directors of Tennis Australia Limited.

Landholder duty is a state tax that was introduced to impose duty on acquisitions in landholding entities. 

The ‘economic entitlement’ provisions of the landholder regime are an integrity measure unique to Victoria. Previously, they applied duty to transactions which provide the acquirer with an economic entitlement that amounts to an interest of 50% or more in a private landholder. This specifically impacts arrangements where developers or builders agree with a landholder to receive 50% or more of the profits or income of a landholder’s land without actually acquiring an interest in the landholding entity.

Since 1 July 2017, a lower Victoria payroll tax rate of 3.65% has applied to wages paid by regional employers. This rate was further reduced to 2.425% from 1 July 2018.

Harwood Andrews is delighted to announce that Ron Lewis OAM has joined Allison Bruce and Anthony McFarlane in our Albury office. Ron will work alongside Allison and Anthony as a Consultant from 1 July 2019