The Australian Government has announced that from 1 March 2015 acquisitions of agricultural land worth more than A15 million and any additional acquisitions over and above that amount will require government approval It will also establish a foreign ownership register of agricultural land ...

Superannuation fund trustees and their lawyers including this one have been grappling for years with what the covenant in section 522c of the Superannuation Industry Supervision Act 1993 means What must a trustee do to exercise its powers and discharge its duties in the best interests of ...

After almost 10 years of negotiations between the nations on 17 November 2014 Prime Minister Abbott and President Xi announced the conclusion of negotiations on the China Australia Free Trade Agreement ChAFTA Once implemented the ChAFTA is expected to significantly reduce import barriers for ...

Partners Leighton OBrien and Nicholas Ng provide an overview on public-private partnerships PPPs in Australia examining the general PPP framework trends in the industry the procurement process operation and maintenance default and termination and financing ...

Last night the Senate Economics Legislation Committee released its report on the Corporations Amendment Streamlining of Future of Financial Advice Bill 2014 The Committees recommendations could lead to changes in the treatment of scaled advice and general advice Partner Michelle Levy and Senior ...

While the media has focused on the more sensational recommendations of last weeks Senate report on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission there are a number of other interesting comments and themes that provide some clues about future regulation by the Federal Government surveillance ...

It has been recognised for some time that the domestic corporate bond market constitutes a weak spot in the otherwise robust and deep Australian capital markets The less developed domestic bond market is a distinguishing feature among the leading financial systems and capital markets This was no ...

The PRC Government is reforming its corporate regulatory approval processes at an unprecedented rate The changes are aimed at facilitating private sector investment including foreign direct investment in order to move towards a more market-driven economy Over the past four months new regulations ...

The Federal Government has today announced that the start date for portfolio holdings disclosure reporting and choice product dashboard requirements will be deferred until 1 July 2015 to allow it further time to consult on the detail of the requirements Partner Geoff Sanders and Lawyer Stephanie ...

A recent Federal Court decision highlights the importance of managing the provision of information and documentation to third parties with caution in order to preserve legal professional privilege Partner Richard Harris and Senior Associate Elnaz Nikibin report on the case ...