In October 2016, we reported on the imminent commencement of ‘business to business’ unfair contract provisions in the Australian Consumer Law. As we approach the anniversary of the introduction of those laws, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (“the ACCC”) has announced that it has commenced its first enforcement action in relation to an alleged […]

Increasingly, the scale and complexity of projects are compelling practices in the same discipline to work jointly, pooling their resources to deliver the expertise that the client requires. This may be particularly so in the case of, for example, a PPP that you have been awarded, where you don’t necessarily have enough personnel to staff […]

In June 2017, the Commonwealth Government released its response to the Senate Economic  References Committee Report on Insolvency in the Australian Construction Industry (“the Report”). The Committee made forty-four recommendations in its Report to the Government in December 2015. Those recommendations sought to address the challenges encountered by the construction industry in dealing with the […]

However routine it may become, the humble “stat dec” should never be regarded as a mere formality. The Federal Court of Australia has recently found a senior staff member personally liable for loss arising from an inaccurate statutory declaration.

The Government Procurement (Judicial Review) Bill 2017 was introduced into Federal Parliament on 24 May 2017, whereby suppliers (anyone who supplies, or could supply, goods or services) “whose interests are effected”, can complain about breaches of some of the rules within the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (‘Rules’). Tendering, as a concept, is the traditional method of […]

For consultants who don’t do any work in Victoria, the main take-away from the new Regulations is they are an indication that Victoria is not about to join the scheme of “nationally harmonised” workplace health and safety (WHS) laws. The evidence for this is that the harmonised WHS laws contain a distinctive regulation 295, which […]

For better or worse, it seems that novation is here to stay. For consultants who work on commercial projects (especially high-rise development) in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne, novation tends to be commonplace, and traditional procurement (where the Principal engages the design team separately from the Contractor) is even becoming the exception. Larger clients in other […]

Those Architects registered to practice in New South Wales should be aware that the NSW Government Department of Finance Services and Innovation recently released a draft Architects Regulation 2017 for public consultation. The 2017 Regulation is to replace the current Architects Regulation 2012 when it automatically repeals on 1 September 2017. A Regulatory Impact Statement […]

“Security of Payment” we have heard of it, but what is it exactly? And how does it impact on you as consultants? The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 1999 (“SOP Act”) is the legislation that makes sure that any person who carries out construction work or supplies related goods and services (such […]

Poor old “set-off”! Thought by many of us to be such an obvious or even obscure concept, we rarely give it a second thought, let alone investigate it in any detail at all. Yet perhaps set-off is not as straightforward and therefore as boring as one might think?! We seek in this article to: