News

‘Crypto bros’ and currency exchange woes: the status of cryptocurrency regulation in Australia
Pictures of Bored Apes bought and sold as non-fungible tokens, anonymous purchase and consumption of pornography, drug dealing, and money laundering. These are just a few of the many notable and controversial …

Impartiality and Independence in Expert Evidence
Impartiality and Independence in Expert Evidence A recent Federal Court decision serves as an important reminder to instructing solicitors on how best to brief experts, so as to ensure impartiality and independence …

Submission on the review of model defamation provisions | Stage 2 Part B
The process of reforming defamation law in Australia commenced around 2 years ago. The review of the Model Defamation Provisions is being managed by the Victorian and New South Wales State governments, …

Submission on the review of model defamation provisions | Stage 2 Part A
The process of reforming defamation law in Australia commenced around 2 years ago. The review of the Model Defamation Provisions is being managed by the Victorian and New South Wales State governments, …

The Building and Construction (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA) is here: are you SOPA ready?
The Building and Construction (Security of Payment) Act 2021 (WA) (SOPA) recently came into effect, bringing several significant changes of which parties to construction contracts should be aware. The SOPA will be …

Chief Justice Allsop and the Curse of Compulsory Retirement
Congratulations to the Piddington Society for hosting at the Federal Court on Wednesday evening a presentation by Chief Justice James Allsop AO – a View from the Bench. Chief Justice Allsop approaches …

Update to Landlords assessing claims for COVID-19 Rent Relief
A recent decision of the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has determined that a Landlord is not necessarily required to give 100% rent relief claimed by its Tenant under legislation responding to mandatory …

The limits of Google’s liability as publisher of defamation
On 17 August 2022, the High Court of Australia delivered its judgment in Google LLC v Defteros [2022] HCA 27. By majority, the Court concluded that Google was not publisher of defamatory …

Explainer: the result of the Palmer v McGowan defamation dispute
On 2 August, the defamation dispute between Clive Palmer and Premier Mark McGowan concluded, as Justice Lee of the Federal Court of Australia delivered his judgment. Palmer said McGowan defamed him; McGowan …

New image search tool for Australian wine trade marks, courtesy of Wine Australia
In 2021 the Australian government’s wine regulator, Wine Australia, introduced a database called the Export Label Image Search System (ELISS). ELISS was introduced in conjunction with broader regulations aimed at strengthening the …