Civil Law

Sexual harassment is prohibited in Queensland under the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 and complaints about sexual harassment can be made to the Queensland Anti-discrimination Commissioner. The prohibition on sexual harassment applies in all areas of life including work, study and recreation.  Many instances of sexual harassment that occur in Queensland are also actionable under federal law…

Same sex marriage became legal in Australia on 9 December 2017, with the Marriage Act being amended so that the definition of marriage is now ‘a union of two people’ rather than ‘a union of a man and a woman.’   The change meant that same-sex couples who married overseas now have their marriages recognised by…

If you are performing paid work, or if you are paying someone to do work, it is important to be clear about whether the arrangement is one of employer and employee or of principal and contractor. An employee is part of an employer’s business; a contractor is running their own business. There are different tax and…

Mediation is an important and usually a compulsory step when it comes to Civil Litigation proceedings. The purpose of mediation is to see whether a mutually acceptable resolution can be achieved between the parties to avoid the matter proceeding to trial. It is prudent for anyone contemplating civil litigation to understand what mediation conferences are and…

The Workplace Gender Equality Act was passed in 2012 and replaced the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999. It seeks to promote and improve gender equality in the workplace and in employment generally. The legislation creates a statutory body to support employers to work towards eliminating discrimination on the basis of gender…

The federal government’s attempt to put in place legislated targets for the reduction of carbon emissions over the next decade in the form of the National Energy Guarantee (NEG) has been abandoned as questions about Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership take centre stage. The questions of how best the country can agree on, legislate and achieve targets for…

In Western Australia, all real estate and business agents have an obligation under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978  to comply with the obligations set out in the Real Estate and Business Agents and Sales Representatives Code of Conduct 2016 at all times. The primary duties imposed on agents and sales representatives by…

A Queensland parliamentary inquiry is investigating the problem of wage theft in Queensland. The committee will be looking at the incidence of wage theft in the state, its impact on workers, families, businesses, the community and the economy. It will consider why wage theft is occurring, which industries or occupations it is most prevalent in…

The federal government and the states and territories of Australia all have legislation regulating the proceeds of crime. In Queensland, this legislation is the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002. This legislation provides for various orders to be made to restrain offenders from disposing of property obtained by crime and to forfeit property obtained through crime.…

Australia’s anti-discrimination regime is enshrined in both federal and state and territory law. At federal level, the legislation that governs anti-discrimination law is the Age Discrimination Act (ADA), the Australian Human Rights Commission Act, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) and the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA). Both the ADA and the…

In civil litigation it is common for the successful party to seek a costs order in its favour during or after the conclusion of litigation. Costs orders in Queensland are governed by the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (UCPR). Depending on how the matter has been conducted, the unsuccessful party may be ordered to pay…

The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race in a variety of contexts. The act, which was passed by the Whitlam government in 1975, was amended in 1995 and Section 18C introduced. Section 18C makes it unlawful to do an act in public that is likely to offend, insult or humiliate…

The Victorian Court of Appeal yesterday handed down its decision on the appeal by Bauer Media against the Supreme Court’s decision to award actor Rebel Wilson 4.5 million dollars damages for defamation. The Court of Appeal reduced the judgment in Wilson’s favour to an award of $600,000, finding that the Supreme Court judge made an…

Online activity by individuals frequently breaches the criminal and civil law. Some common examples of unlawful online activity is the downloading of films, music and other material through sites like Pirate Bay and the posting of defamatory comments online. These behaviors can give rise to civil actions for torts such as breach of copyright and…

Insolvency is the most common reason that companies are wound up.  When an application to wind up a company in insolvency is made, the court must determine whether the company is in fact insolvent. The Corporations Act defines ‘insolvency’ as being unable to pay one’s debts when and as they become due and payable (Section…

The Medical Treatment Planning and Decisions Act 2016 came into effect in Victoria in March 2018. Under this new legislation, Victorians are now able to execute a document called an Advance Care Directive to provides clear and explicit directions in relation to their future medical treatment for use if the person is incapacitated and unable to…