Insights

Gas Security Amendment Bill

The Queensland State Government has recently introduced the State Gas Security Amendment Bill. The legislation has a number of objectives which...

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Proposed ASX Listing Rule amendments facilitating accelerated rights issues

In January 2011, ASX issued a consultation paper and exposure draft containing proposed listing rule amendments to facilitate commonly used forms of rights issues known as ...accelerated offers...

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2010 JWS AGM season survey results

At the conclusion of the 2010 "AGM Season" we conducted a survey of the business of

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Corporations Amendment Submission

In our December 2010 issue of Acumen, we published an article summarising the Exposure Draft - Corporations Amendment (Improving Accountability on Director and Executive Remuneration) Bill 2011 and...

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Electronic transactions and business records

Amendments to the Electronic Transactions Act 2000 were passed by the NSW Parliament on 28 September 2010 and commenced operation in NSW on...

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Handling confidential, price sensitive information: principles of good practice

Chartered Secretaries Australia and the Australasian Investor Relations Association have issued guidance on handling confidential, price-sensitive information. This is in response to ASIC's...

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One month until new consumer laws come into effect - what you need to do now

On 1 January 2011, Australia's consumer protection laws will be replaced by new legislation. While the majority of the new laws do not substantially change your existing obligations when dealing...

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ASIC CP 143 - Experts reports and independence of experts

ASIC has issued Consultation Paper 143: Expert reports and independence of experts: Update to RG111 and RG112. In CP143 ASIC proposes changes to its two regulatory guides dealing with content of...

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The new Australian Consumer Law - what does it mean for your business?

From 1 January 2011, the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) will be amended by the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act (No. 2) 2010 and replaced by the Competition and Consumer...

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New Dividend Payment Rules

From 28 June 2010, the law relating to the payment of dividends by companies has changed, including the replacement of the traditional "profits test" for determining whether a company can pay a

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Taxation treatment of earn out rights

As part of the Commonwealth Budget 2010-11, the Assistant Treasurer announced the Government...s intention to enact legislation to apply a ...look-through... capital gains tax (CGT) treatment for...

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The proposed Minerals Resource Rent Tax

On 2 July 2010 the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, and the Minister for Resources and Energy issued a Joint Media Release (JMR). The JMR announced a 'breakthrough agreement' and

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Online voting without a proxy

Online voting by shareholders without a proxy form has become more and more popular in the last few years. Large companies such as Telstra, Commonwealth Bank and Wesfarmers have put in place...

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Resource Super Profits Tax

The mining industry...s reaction to the Australian Government...s proposal to enact a Resource Super Profits Tax (RSPT), a rent based tax, as recommended by Australia...s Future Tax System (Henry...

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ASX Listing Rule Amendments: governance issues, dividend announcements and share purchase plans

ASX has amended several Listing Rules; this article reviews the amendments and how they relate to listed...

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Overview of the Short Term Trading Market

The Short Term Trading Market (STTM) is a mandatory wholesale gas market which operates at various hubs,1 initially at the Sydney Hub and the Adelaide...

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Recovery of cost of proceedings denied as a result of belated s477(2B) applications

In circumstances where the number of retrospective applications made by liquidators under section 477(2B) of the Corporations Act for Court approval to enter into agreements of more than 3 months...

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Validly constituted committees of inspection

Owen, in the Matter of RiverCity Motorway Pty Ltd (Administrators Appointed) (Receivers and Managers Appointed) ("RiverCity") [2014] FCA 1008 -- It has been"accepted practice" in company

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Liquidator's lien prevails over secured creditor

Stewart v Atco Controls Pty Ltd (In Liquidation) [2014] HCA 15 ("Atco") -- In a good outcome for Liquidators and litigation funders, Atco has overturned a unanimous decision of the Victorian Court

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Maintaining confidentiality of sensitive documents in litigation

The case of Alcoa of Australia Ltd v Apache Energy Ltd [2014] WASCA 148 provides the latest guidance on a court's power to impose a confidentiality regime on the inspection of discovered...

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Not quite the landmark

High Court corrects the error, but stops short of giving builders of commercial property unqualified comfort -- The High Court of Australia has unanimously overturned the New South Wales Court of...

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REPORT 408: ASIC reviews implementation of Platform policy

In June 2013, ASIC updated its policy about platforms and published Regulatory Guide 148 Platforms that are managed investments schemes

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Search engine optimisation and trade mark infringement under Australian law

Many businesses use search engine optimisation strategies as part of their online marketing strategy to generate online traffic. This raises...

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High Court says 'no' to mutual trust and confidence

In the highly anticipated decision of Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker [2014] HCA 32 (10 September 2014), all five members of the High Court of Australia have held that there is no term of...

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