In the media
National
First inland rail tenders on track
The initial round of tenders for engineering design and
environmental services has been advertised for the Brisbane to
Melbourne Inland Rail project, according to the federal government.
Truss said he had charged the Australian Rail Track Corporation
with developing a 10 year delivery plan for Inland Rail (13 March
2015).
More...
MBA: Latest Housing Finance Data Highlights Need to
Release the Handbreak On Housing Supply
The latest housing finance data highlights the urgent need for a
national housing affordability agenda to increase the housing
supply and ensure first home buyers are not locked out of the
market. The industry remains confident the upturn in residential
building will continue, underpinned by finance flows that preceded
the February rates cut, and by building approvals that have risen
to an historic 20 year high (11 March 2015). More...
Apartment Construction Continues to Rise
The largest rise in building approvals in three months has been
fuelled by another surge in apartments, which should help restrain
rising home prices. Approvals for the construction of new homes
rose 7.9 per cent in January, beating market expectations, and were
up 9.1 per cent in the 12 months to January, the Australian Bureau
of Statistics said (12 March 2015).
More...
Construction Industry Index Falls in
February
The seasonally adjusted Australian Industry Group/Housing Industry
Association Australian Performance of Construction Index
(Australian PCI®) registered 43.9 points in February 2015
(readings below 50 points indicate contraction) (11 March 2015).
More...
Pacific Highway duplicated before end of the
decade
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional
Development Warren Truss has confirmed the Australian and NSW
Governments' duplication of the Pacific Highway from Hexham to
the Queensland border is on track to be completed by the end of
this decade (10 March 2015).
More...
Prime time for privatisation
The timing is favourable for privatisation of state owned
infrastructure, according to the ANZ bank, with investor demand for
infrastructure assets expected to remain buoyant. However,
Australia's major project spending is in decline with
investment forecast to plummet from $88 billion in 2014 to $32
billion by 2017 (06 March 2015).
More...
$14.4 million for six new heavy vehicle projects across
Queensland
Truck drivers and other heavy vehicle operators in Queensland will
benefit from $14.4 million in new road upgrades as part of the
Australian Government's Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity
Programme (04 March 2015).
More...
Victoria
East West Link consortium borrowed $475 million to build
toll road
The consortium that was charged with building the East West Link
toll road has drawn down $475 million from its financiers since the
contract was signed, the Victorian Government says. The Victorian
Government and the consortium are currently locked in tense legal
negotiations over the breaking of the East West Link contract (13
March 2015).
More...
CEOs Appointed for Major Transport
Projects
The two people that will lead the delivery of Victoria's
largest transport infrastructure projects have been announced. Evan
Tattersall has been appointed CEO of Melbourne Metro Rail Authority
and Kevin Devlin the CEO of the Level Crossing Removal Authority
(10 March 2015).
More...
Record $27 billion Victorian building permits in
2014
The value of building permits in Victoria in 2014 was a record
$26.9 billion, 11 per cent above the previous highest calendar year
total of $24.2 billion reported in 2011 (02 March 2015).
More...
New South Wales
Sydney Airport Major Development Plan
approved
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional
Development Warren Truss has approved a Major Development Plan for
Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport. The Plan includes a new
ground transport network for Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, a 430-room
4–5 star hotel and redevelopments to improve passenger access
and convenience (12 March 2015).
More...
State Government buys back two CSG exploration licences
on north coast
The State Government has announced it will buy back two Petroleum
Exploration Licences in the Clarence region, knowing how unpopular
coal seam gas mining is in northern New South Wales (09 March
2015). More...
$273m to fix Hunter roads
$273 million will be spent over the next 10 years to build vital
roads and fix congestion pinch points across the Hunter. The Hunter
also stands to benefit from other initiatives funded by Rebuilding
NSW. These include the $1 billion Water Security Fund, the $600
million allocated to developing regional schools and hospitals and
the $2 billion Regional Road Freight Corridor Fund (05 March 2015).
More...
Queensland
Gold Coast building approvals soar as investors credited
with fuelling spike
A construction industry executive says investors are fuelling a
major increase in building activity on the Gold Coast. The deputy
executive director of Master Builders Queensland said 1,464
approvals were granted in January, compared with just 219 in the
previous month (13 March 2015).
More...
Palaszczuk Govt charts new course for Abbot
Point
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has today announced a new agreement
between the Labor Government and major proponents Adani and GVK to
put in place an environmentally sustainable and fiscally
responsible proposal for the expansion of the Abbot Point Coal
Terminal (11 March 2015).
More...
SEQ spearheads approvals spike
Last week's spike in building approvals in Queensland can be
largely attributed to south east Queensland, according to
yesterday's release of regional dwelling approvals figures for
January. Master Builders' Deputy Executive Director, said the
surge of 47.8% over the month was almost entirely due to
significant growth in approvals for multi-unit residential
construction on the Gold Coast (12 March 2015).
More... More...
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Cyclone-affected home owners warned about unlicensed
contractors
Home owners in cyclone-affected central Queensland needing repairs
or rebuilding work are warned to only use licensed contractors
approved by their insurers, and for those without insurance to also
only use licensed contractors (04 March 2015).
More...
Published – articles, papers, reports
Intergenerational Report 2015: Intergenerational
responsibility or neglect?
The Government's treatment of climate change in Thursday's
Intergenerational Report should come under close scrutiny, with key
elements to look for identified in a Research Brief released today
by The Climate Institute ( 05 March 2015).
More...
Facing the challenges: Research on shale gas
extraction
The exponential increase in the development of natural gas and oil
from tight shale reserves (also known as 'fracking') seen
in the last decade has resulted in optimistic predictions for
energy independence and economic development. More...
HIA New Home Sales Report
A survey of Australia's largest volume builders, signals
further upward momentum for the new home building sector shows
total seasonally adjusted new home sales posted a modest increase
of 1.8 per cent in January 2015. The headline result is consistent
with further growth in new home construction in 2014/15, following
a very strong year in 2013/14 (06 March 2015).
More...
ABS Housing Finance, Australia, January
2015
The trend estimate for the total value of dwelling finance
commitments excluding alterations and additions rose 0.8%.
Investment housing commitments rose 1.0% and owner occupied housing
commitments rose 0.8%. In seasonally adjusted terms, the total
value of dwelling finance commitments excluding alterations and
additions fell 0.6%. In trend terms, the number of commitments for
the purchase of new dwellings fell 1.9% and the number of
commitments for the construction of dwellings fell 1.0% (11 March
2015).
More...
Practice and courts
FWBC: Union officials must obey safety
rules
In recent weeks FWBC has launched four court cases against union
officials for allegedly disobeying safety laws on building and
construction sites. Under Right of Entry laws, Right of Entry
permit holders must obey site safety laws while visiting a site
(March 2015).
More...
FWBC: Compulsory 2013 Building Code audits starting
2015
The site visits, site inspections and audits that we will be
conducting against the 2013 Building Code will no longer be only in
response to requests for voluntary audits. As a result, where
breaches of the Building Code are identified through a visit,
inspection or audit, sanctions may be sought. FWBC audits commenced
in February 2015 with the primary focus on sections 7 to 22 of the
Building Code 2013 (March 2015).
More...
FWBC: Freedom of Association - Know Your
Rights
Freedom of association laws mean that all employees and
contractors have the right to join or not join a union. Freedom of
association laws also cover employers, allowing them to choose
whether or not to join an employer association.You can also find
more information about freedom of association on (March 2015). More...
Standards Australia: Draft contract standard available
for comment
Standards Australia is seeking public comment on a draft of the
new Australian Standard AS 11000, which combines general conditions
of contract standards AS 2124 and AS 4000. The public comment
period ends on 27 March 2015.
More...
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Cases
Morton & Anor v Rexel Electrical Supplies Pty
Ltd [2015] QDC 049
CORPORATIONS – INSOLVENCY – UNFAIR PREFERENCES –
Corporations Act 2001 s 588FA - where the Liquidator
claims that payments company made to creditor are unfair preference
payments – whether creditor would receive more from payments
than it would have received had it been required to prove its debt
in company's winding up – whether company was insolvent
at time of payments. CORPORATIONS – UNFAIR PREFERENCES
– DEFENCE – GOOD FAITH – s 588FG - whether
creditor who received payments had no reasonable grounds for
suspecting insolvency at the time of payments or after –
whether a reasonable person in creditor's circumstances would
have had no grounds for suspecting company was insolvent.
CORPORATIONS – UNFAIR PREFERENCES – DEFENCE –
RUNNING ACCOUNT – s 588FA(3) - where creditor supplied goods
to company while substantial debts were still outstanding –
where creditor then put supply on hold when company ceased making
payments – where creditor resumed supply after entering into
repayment plan with company – whether supply of goods to
company was done merely to reduce pre-existing debt – whether
alleged unfair preference payments were an integral part of a
continuing business relationship. CORPORATIONS – UNFAIR
PREFERENCES – DEFENCE – SET-OFF – s 553C - where
creditor rendered eight invoices to company during relation back
period – where creditor was frequently chasing payment
– where company indicated its inability to pay – where
parties entered into repayment plan – where company paid some
instalments late, some on time, and some not all - whether, at each
time an invoice was rendered, creditor had notice of facts that
would have indicated to a reasonable person that the company was
unable to pay its debts when due and payable. More...
Queensland Bulk Handling Pty Ltd v Peabody (Wilkie
Creek) Pty Limited [2015] QSC 037
CONTRACTS — GENERAL CONTRACTUAL PRINCIPLES — FORMATION
OF CONTRACTUAL RELATIONS — where the parties had made a
written agreement containing a provision for a possible further
term (the "Option Term") — proper interpretation of
that term of the Agreement which provided for a further
"Option Term" — where the contractual term
providing for a further term provided a sequence of steps —
where the term obliged the plaintiff to "obtain agreement in
principle" — intention of the parties to be bound
— where the parties were bound to enter an agreement for the
Option Term upon substantially the same terms as the Agreement.
CONTRACTS — GENERAL CONTRACTUAL PRINCIPLES —
CONSTRUCTION AND INTERPRETATION OF CONTRACTS — INTERPRETATION
OF MISCELLANEOUS CONTRACTS AND OTHER MATTERS —where the
parties had made a written agreement containing a provision for a
possible further term, described as the "Option Term"
— proper interpretation of term of an Agreement which
provided for further term— where the term obliged the
plaintiff to "obtain agreement in principle" —
intention of parties to be contractually bound — where the
parties were bound to enter an agreement for the Option Term upon
substantially the same terms as the Agreement. INTERPRETATION
— GENERAL RULES OF CONSTRUCTION OF INSTRUMENTS —
COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS — PARTICULAR
TRANSACTIONS — where the parties had made a written agreement
containing a provision for a possible further term (the
"Option Term") — proper interpretation of that term
of the Agreement which provided for a further term or "Option
Term" – where the contractual term providing for a
further term provided a sequence of steps — where the term
obliged the plaintiff to "obtain agreement in principle"
— intention of the parties to be bound — where the
parties were bound to enter an agreement for the Option Term upon
substantially the same terms as the Agreement. Leases – coal
mining export - port access. More...
Facade Treatment Engineering v Brookfield
Multiplex [2015] VSC 41
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION LAW – Building and Construction
Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) (the 'BCISP
Act') - Payment claim - Whether respondent's response a
valid payment schedule under s 15 of the BCISP Act –
Requirements of s 15 of the BCISP Act - Claimant company seeks
judgment under s 16 of the BCISP Act– Judgment not entered
where a valid payment schedule submitted within time.
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW – Claimant company in liquidation -
Respondent company has potential cross-claims and set-off defences
against claimant company – s 109 of the Constitution Act
(Cth) - Inconsistency of State legislation (s 16 of the
Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act
2002 (Vic)) with a law of the Commonwealth (s 553C of the
Corporations Act) – Commonwealth legislation prevails –
Entry of judgment pursuant to s 16 of the Building and
Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic)
precluded. CORPORATIONS LAW – Set-off provisions for
insolvent companies under s 553C – Whether notice of
insolvency precludes set-off under s 553C(2) – Relevant time
that creditor must have such notice. More...
Legislation
Commonwealth
Bills Progress
NSW
Regulations and other miscellaneous instruments (05 March 2015). More...
This publication does not deal with every important topic or change in law and is not intended to be relied upon as a substitute for legal or other advice that may be relevant to the reader's specific circumstances. If you have found this publication of interest and would like to know more or wish to obtain legal advice relevant to your circumstances please contact one of the named individuals listed.
