Hicksons Central: streamlining off-the-plan...

In an increasingly competitive property market, developers require streamlined processes to enable them to secure sales as quickly as possible. The process of converting a sale into an exchanged contract requires a swift and seamless approach – however developers are often let down by slow turnaround times and unreliable processes.

Company fails to set aside creditor’s statutory...

During 2020, the Commonwealth Government introduced restrictions on the issuing of creditor’s statutory demands for payment of debt to debtor companies, increasing the threshold for debts from $2,000 to $20,000 and the time for compliance from 21 days to 6 months.

First death benefit claim for contracting COVID...

In Sara v G & S Sara Pty Ltd [2021] NSWPIC 286 the applicant made a claim for compensation after her husband passed away due to contracting the COVID-19 virus whilst on a work trip in New York. The respondent, G & S Sara Pty Ltd, was one of a group of companies in the Stoneglass Group that provided dental technician products and services across the healthcare sector in Australia and the United States, and the deceased worker was a director of each of the entities in the Stoneglass Group.

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Did you really pay? Who is liable for payment in an invoice redirection scam?

According to the ACCC, Australian businesses lost over $132 million to business email compromise scams in 2019. One example is the invoice redirection scam, which can involve a fraudster hacking into the system of the supplier or intercepting emails and sending altered invoices to customers with different banking details. Payments made to these accounts are likely never recoverable. With work becoming increasingly digital, it is imperative for businesses to protect themselves and their customers from such scams.

Lachlan Wilson
12 Aug 2021

Exposing breaches of privacy – mandatory notification of data breach scheme approaching for NSW

For over two years, the NSW Government has considered whether a mandatory reporting scheme for data breaches should be adopted under the State’s privacy framework.

John Kell
26 May 2021

Bushfires Disaster Emergency Declaration – Privacy Act

In response to recent bushfires, on 20 January 2020 the Attorney-General made the Privacy (Australian Bushfires Disaster) Emergency Declaration (No. 1) 2020 (“Declaration”). This Declaration was made under section 80J of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”). This section allows the Australian government to make a declaration when an emergency or a disaster of national significance affecting Australians has occurred.

John Kell
4 Mar 2020

Can you hear me now? Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Amazon have admitted to listening in on users’ conversations.

Facebook, Microsoft, Google and Amazon have admitted to eavesdropping. It was recently revealed the industry giants paid hundreds of contractors to manually transcribe users’ conversations in an attempt to improve speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence algorithms. This revelation has left many users reeling.

24 Sep 2019

All the money in the world! Facebook agrees to pay USD $5 billion for breaches of privacy laws

In a landmark decision, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the US consumer regulator, has announced that Facebook has agreed to pay a USD $5 billion (AUD $7.1 billion) fine for deceiving its 80+ million users about the social medial giant’s ability to protect user’s personal information. The multibillion dollar fine is in addition to a $100 million settlement with the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC).

John Kell
13 Aug 2019

A snapshot of the notifiable data breach scheme over 12 months: trends, lessons learnt and hot tips

Malicious or criminal attacks continue to be the main sources of data breaches with 60% of breaches notified during the Period being attributable to such attacks. Notably, phishing and spear phishing were the most effective methods by which entities were compromised. Human error accounted for 35% of notified breaches and systems fault for 5% of notified breaches.

John Kell
4 Jun 2019

Unfair dismissal and your finger’s right to privacy

The pressures on employers are vice-like, how do you comply with requirements of the Fair Work Act to keep accurate attendance records to ensure correct pay, without monitoring employee attendance accurately?

Warwick Ryan
30 May 2019

Educators beware: six year old applicant brings privacy complaint against preschool and obtains suppression orders.

A 6 year old girl made a complaint alleging that the private school she attended interfered with her privacy by inappropriately collecting and retaining videos and photos of her and her schoolwork; publishing or displaying images of her publicly; and not providing access to all personal information the school held about her.

John Kell
28 May 2019

ACCC’s Plan to Tame Tech Giants

On 10 December 2018, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (‘ACCC’) released its proposals on how Australia should respond to the expanding grip of technology giants, like Facebook and Google, on the lives of everyday Australians.

John Kell
17 Dec 2018

New Data Sharing and Release Bill Issues Paper is currently open for Consultation

The Australian Government has released an issues paper outlining key principles that will guide the creation of proposed new legislation around the sharing and use of government data.

John Kell
18 Jul 2018

Why did I tell you that?

In CWI v The University of New South Wales [2018] NSWCATAD 12 the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales (NCAT) was asked to make a decision regarding a review of a determination by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in relation to a complaint made about the conduct of an officer of UNSW under the Privacy and Personal Information Act 1998 (PPIP Act).

John Kell
30 Jan 2018

GIPA: Scorned husbands need not apply

In DDT v Charles Sturt University [2017] NSWCATAD 329 the Civil and Administrative Tribunal of New South Wales (NCAT) was asked to make a determination concerning an access to information application under the Government Information Public Access Act 2009 (NSW) (GIPA Act).

John Kell
29 Nov 2017

Access denied

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Tribunal) was asked to review a decision made by The Charles Sturt University (the University) in relation to its refusal to allow the applicant access to an investigation report sought pursuant to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA application).

17 Nov 2017

To reveal or not to reveal – Privacy vs disclosure

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (the Tribunal) was asked to review a decision made by a Local Health District (LHD) pursuant to the Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (the GIPA application) to withhold certain information from the applicant.

23 Oct 2017

A politician, a crowded train and a breach of privacy laws

In August last year Jeremy Corbyn cried foul when he was, by his own account, forced to sit on the floor of a train vestibule of a Virgin Train due to overcrowding. At the time Mr Corbyn’s spokesperson used the incident as evidence of why the Labour Party’s policy to bring trains back into public ownership was so popular. Virgin Trains was quick to counter the allegation by releasing CCTV still footage which showed the politician walking past apparently unreserved seats.

John Kell
26 Jul 2017

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