Barely Legal
For a variety of technological, societal and other reasons, many couples have embraced the use of assisted reproductive treatment (‘ART’) as an integral element in the child-birth process. During the past five years alone, ART procedures conducted in Australia have increased by 10% on average.
ART for life’s sake
For a variety of technological, societal and other reasons, many couples have embraced the use of assisted reproductive treatment (‘ART’) as an integral element in the child-birth process. During the past five years alone, ART procedures conducted in Australia have increased by 10% on average.
Right of Publicity
At present, there is no statute law in Australia that provides a right of publicity. However, that doesn’t mean one can invariably use the likeness or image of another without permission or compensation.
Affordable Housing Help
In a time of rising construction costs, plummeting home building activity and increasing demand, the Housing Availability and Affordability (Planning and Other Legislation Amendment) Act 2024 was passed through Parliament in April 2024, amending the Planning Act 2016 to hopefully streamline and facilitate affordable residential development throughout the state.
Locking up kids and other quick ways to get votes in an election year
Holistically, the hope is that many of the root causes of youth crime may be adequately addressed by the proposed programs and funding.
The Lucky Country
This week, as we paused to remember, on the 102nd Remembrance Day, those who fell in foreign fields to defend and preserve our liberties, hopefully we also reflected on a great deal more.
D’OH!!
Is it just me, or are we maybe making things just a little more complicated than they really need to be?
In the context of litigation, lawyers sometimes need to access and disclose copies of their clients’ financial and other records held by various government bodies. That means getting the client’s written authority to access their records, and then getting in touch with the relevant government institution. That should be pretty simple, right?
Covid Flux
With COVID-19 directives flying thick and fast from both federal and state institutions, many of us may be getting a little confused about precisely what we can and can’t do, as a matter of law. Every day, someone asks my advice about the fine detail – “Can I drive in a car with my friend/spouse/lover/sister/workmate?”, “Can I walk on the beach with a friend?”, “Can I stroll in the park for fresh air?” – and it’s not always easy to give a definitive answer. The reason is the day to day requirements at law are not set in stone but rather, like the crisis itself, they’re in a state of continual flux.
Adapt or Perish
Biologist, historian and futurist H G Wells, author of the sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds – a tale of alien invasion and annihilation by pathogen – once famously wrote “Adapt or perish, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” It could be very good advice in today’s troubled times.
No Ordinary Time
It’s sometimes said that one man’s loss is another man’s profit, and that’s evidently true, even in these strange and troubled times. Just ask all those previously-struggling toilet paper and face mask makers.
One curious example has even arisen in the criminal courts.
A Mile In Their Shoes
On 20 February 2020, the historical drama, “The Professor and the Madman”, starring Hollywood heavyweights, Sean Penn and Mel Gibson, was rolled out to Australian cinemas. It is loosely based on the 1998 book ‘The Surgeon of Crowthorne’ written by Simon Winchester, which revolved around the life and work of Professor James Murray, who compiled the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary in the late 19th century.
People Power
For the past couple of months, I have been receiving messages and calls from concerned relatives and friends back home in Malaysia wanting to know whether I have been affected by the recent bushfires. Thankfully, like most Gold Coasters, I wasn’t physically confronted by the crisis, but of course we have all been touched by the devastating news of loss and destruction suffered by so many around us. It is awful to think the fires have claimed lives, destroyed homes, impacted at least a billion animals, and laid to waste more than 25 million acres of land.