Adam Merlehan

The Prime Minister flagged yesterday (23 April 2020) that the Federal Government is actively reviewing policy options presented in a multitude of review papers from the past decade to identify, and implement, productivity enhancing reforms in order to ready Australia’s economy for a post-COVID recovery. You can read the transcript of that press conference here. What reforms might be involved? In yesterday’s press conference, the Prime Minister made clear that all previously mooted …

[Read more...] about “Never waste a good crisis” – Post-COVID-19 Federal Government reform agenda

The National Cabinet of the Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments in Australia, which has been regularly meeting to lead Australia through the COVID-19 pandemic response, recently released the ‘COVID-19 National SME Commercial Leasing Code’ (the Code). You can read the Code here. The Code states that it is designed to ‘impose a set of good faith leasing principles for application to commercial tenancies’ in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic and ‘to aid the management of …

[Read more...] about COVID-19 National SME Commercial Leasing Code may see commercial landlords forced to fund profitable tenants

As the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Australian businesses continues to intensify, we recognise it can be difficult to remain across the many announced Federal and State Government COVID-19 business relief initiatives. To assist businesses in need right now, below is a summary of the key relief measures implemented by the Commonwealth and each State and Territory Government in Australia to date. For those businesses most affected by the pandemic, after implementation of …

[Read more...] about COVID-19: Key business relief initiatives – summary table

The COVID-19 (or coronavirus) pandemic sweeping the world has caused massive disruption to economies and supply-chains. A pragmatic and practical response to the pandemic is necessary. We suggest the following steps be undertaken for your business now: Review regulatory requirements your business may be a risk of not meeting due to the coronavirus pandemic: many businesses will find themselves in the position of being unable to (or seriously hampered in) practically meeting …

[Read more...] about Coronavirus pandemic – a sensible legal response

The idea in brief The recent Opal and Mascot Towers apartment building failures reveal a messy set of inconsistent laws, nationally, that discriminate between homeowners and apartment owners, undermining confidence in the residential apartment sector. In most States and Territories in Australia, homeowners are protected by statutory warranties that when complete, each new home will be free from defects for a warranty period. Most States and Territories also legislate for the requirement …

[Read more...] about Inconsistent laws are undermining confidence in the residential apartment sector in Australia