Australia

With over 600,000 jobs lost and over six million people on JobKeeper, the COVID-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact on the Australian economy. As a result, many businesses, small and large, have been faced with tough decisions pertaining to their employees. With businesses across various industries suffering substantial losses in revenue, many employers have…

In the last few years, the term ‘catfishing’ has become common. It refers to the act of luring a person to engage in an online relationship through the use of a fake identity, often with the intention of extorting money from the other person or obtaining other advantages from the relationship. While there is no…

Many couples each year seek services of assisted reproductive technology in the hope of having a child. One in six Australian couples suffer from fertility problems and around one in 25 Australian births are a result of in vitro fertilisation (IVF).  As part of the IVF process, embryos may be created, frozen and stored ready…

A property settlement is the arrangement between parties for division of assets, liabilities, and superannuation after the separation of a married or de facto couple. A property settlement can be formalised by way of a Financial Agreement, Consent Orders or by Court Order after a contested hearing. Whether property division is agreed to between the…

A parent’s mental health and the impact of any mental health issues on their capacity to care for the children are common concerns arising after separation. If a parent’s mental health issues were present during the relationship there may be heightened concerns for the children’s welfare in that parent’s care. Claims that a parent has…

The ASIO Powers Amendment Bill is currently before the House of Representatives. It is a bill, introduced by the Minister for Home Affairs, to amend the legislation governing the powers of arrest, questioning, search and seizure exercised by ASIO. Among others things, the bill proposes empowering ASIO to issue arrest warrants orally, to detain and…

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted the federal government to introduce stringent restrictions on travel into and out of the country. These restrictions are the strictest ever put in place by Australia. Many other countries around the world have also halted international travel despite the World Health Organisation’s advice that such measures are ineffective in slowing…

The family courts have recently announced the introduction of a COVID-19 List to deal with urgent parenting issues that have resulted directly from the Coronavirus crisis. The COVID-19 List has been introduced in response to the large number of urgent parenting applications filed during March and April this year, which amounted to a 39% increase…

On 23 March 2020 it was announced that federal Parliament would not sit again until 11 August 2020 due to the spread of the Coronavirus. The Parliamentary sittings of May and June were cancelled and the budget was postponed until October. The move was opposed by Labor and the Greens, who expressed concerns that legislation…

On 7 April 2020, the national cabinet announced a Mandatory Code of Conduct that would apply to commercial leases where the tenant is a small or medium-sized business which has been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Code imposes good faith leasing principles that are set to reshape relations between landlords and commercial tenants…

The commercial landscape that we once knew has been in turmoil since the outbreak of COVID-19. Federal and State Governments have been forced to take immediate action to curb the spread of this virus. These actions have had negative commercial and economic implications for Australian and Global businesses. Restrictions are being imposed on non-essential businesses…

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, parents who have a co-parenting agreement or parenting orders have found themselves in uncharted territory. The courts have been operating differently due to the pandemic and are only hearing urgent family law proceedings and are doing so via audio-visual conferencing. As a result, parents are often left contemplating the safety…

As businesses shut down or reduce their operations due to the spread of COVID-19, parties to commercial contracts may be seeking to resile from their contractual obligations. One way a party to a commercial contract may be excused from performing all or some of its obligations is through reliance on a force majeure clause. This…

The Child Visa (Subclass 101) allows a dependent child to enter Australia to live with their parent or parents. It covers biological children as well as adopted children and stepchildren. The dependent child must be sponsored by a parent or the parent’s spouse and must be outside of Australia when the application is made. A…

The use of drones for recreational, as well as commercial, purposes in Australia is becoming more and more common. Drones have been used in Australia for law enforcement, by the media and by scientists.  The laws surrounding drone use are set out in the Civil Aviation Safety Regulations. However, some aspects of drone use raise…

When a person seeks child support from another person, they must establish that the person is indeed a parent of the child or children in question. In most cases, parentage is not in dispute. However, when issues arise around parentage, an application will sometimes need to be made under Section 106A of the Child Support…