November, 2010

Q400

Friday, November 5th, 2010

Q400…Ferguson Cannon Lawyers  for the second year running has been recognised in the Queensland Business Review’s annual  top 400 leading private companies. Our ranking was 278 a big jump from our 2009 ranking of 347; hence we have been  recognised as one of the Q400 2010 big movers in the 201 to 400 category.  Some interesting facts about the Q400 are:

  1. Combined revenues $14 Billion
  2. Collective workforce of nearly 40,000
  3. Anticipated revenue growth in 2010 of 9%
  4. And growth in employment of more than 45%

Finally we would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to those of our clients who have also been recognised in the Q400.

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New Office

Friday, November 5th, 2010

New Brisbane Office…. Ferguson Cannon Lawyers are opening a second office in Brisbane on the 29th November. This Office will be located in the Hitachi or old MLC building in George Street. The opening of this office will enable us to better service existing clients and to source new clients, including  those that are based on the Sunshine Coast but utilise the services of a Brisbane legal firm.  Having a presence in Brisbane will also provide us access to a larger pool of experienced legal experts for the future growth of Ferguson Cannon Lawyers. We are very excited about the opening of the new office and the opportunities that it can deliver for both our clients and the team at Ferguson Cannon. So, if you are in Brisbane or need a matter handled from there please don’t hesitate to call or visit our new office.

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Victorian Government Opens Sponsorship Applications

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Victoria’s State Migration Plan has been approved and released, allowing for applications to the Victoria State Government for Sponsorship.

Victoria has released two ‘Eligibility Lists’ which contain the occupations they are currently seeking for migration to their state;

  1. For Graduates (subclass 886 applicants); and
  2. For subclass 176, 475 and 487 visa applicants

The Victorian Government, like all states, has a quota of applications they can sponsor for each application on it’s Eligibility Lists. This is largely controlled by an overall cap imposed by DIAC. For 2010/2011 Victoria has a cap of 4500 visa grants which includes both primary and secondary applicants, meaning that the actual number of sponsorships granted by Victoria will be lower than 4500.

For more information and to see if you are eligible contact our migration team on +61 (07) 54436600.

Posted in Migration & Visas | Comments Off

Commercial Law

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

LITIGATION AND DEBT RECOVERY

Changes to Court Jurisdictions as of 1 November 2010.

The changing of the jurisdictional limits of the Courts limits will have a major impact upon all civil litigation. The changes are as follows:

  • The civil monetary limit of the Magistrates Court is increased to $0.00 to $150,000.00 from $0.00 to $50,000.00;

 

  • The civil monetary limit of the District Court is changed to $150,000.00 to $750,000.00 from $50,000.00 to $250,000.00;

 

  • The civil monetary limit of the Supreme Court is changed to $750,000.00 and above from $250,000.00 and above;

 

  • The Magistrates Court scale of costs recoverable has been amended for proceedings where the amount recovered by the litigant is over $50,000.00; and

 

  • The civil jurisdictional monetary limits for the District and Magistrates Courts are now to be reviewed regularly, at least every 5 years, and adjusted to reflect the then current value of money and other relevant consideration

Posted in Litigation & Dispute Resolution | Comments Off

Employment Law

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

Paid Parental Leave                                                                                        

Working parents who will adopt or give birth to a child from 1 January 2011 may be eligible to take advantage of Australia’s first Paid Parental Leave Scheme (“the Scheme”).

From 1 January 2011, primary carers who meet the eligibility criteria will receive up to 18 weeks pay at the national minimum wage. To be eligible, the employee must have:

  1. been in paid work continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to the birth or adoption of the child;
  2. worked for at least 330 hours in that 10 month period (just over one day a week) with no more than an eight week gap between two consecutive working days.
  1. not earned more than $150,000.00 per year;
  2. been approved by the Family Assistance Office.

Employees are not required to have worked full-time to qualify. Qualification may even be granted to those who are self-employed, casual, recently changed jobs or have multiple employers.

If the employee returns to work while receiving payments from the Scheme, their entitlement will cease. However, if agreed between the employer and the employee, the employee may participate in workplace activities whilst on Scheme for up to 10 days, for the purposes of ‘keeping in touch’ with the workplace. The employee is entitled to receive payment for these days at their normal rate of pay. The 10 day ‘keeping in touch’ allowance does not need to be taken all at once. If the employee receives payment for more than 10 days, they will cease to receive payments under the Scheme.

The Scheme is funded by the Family Assistance Office, not the employer. However, the payments are to be managed by the employer. The participation of the employer in managing the payments is voluntary until 1 June 2011, but will be compulsory after that date. It is advisable that employers use this 6 month window to make any necessary changes to their pay-roll systems.

If you are concerned about your parental leave obligations, or any other employment law issue, please contact Tony Pattinson or Sarah Quilliam of our office.

Posted in Employment Law & Industrial Relations | Comments Off

Migration

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

General Skilled Migration UPDATE

As many of you are aware there has been many changes for skilled migration to Australia in the past few months and further changes are expected.

To give you an idea of how the visa 105,850 places for skilled visa will be distributed for 2010/11;

Employer Sponsored (ENS 121/856 & RSMS 119/857) – 2009/10 = 35,000 – 2010/11 = 44,150 an increase of 9,150 places

Skilled Independent (175) – 2009/10 = 41,600 – 2010/11 = 35,200 a decrease by 6,400 places

State/Territory Sponsored (176/475) – 2009/10 = 11,200 – 2010/11 = 23,000 an increase of 11,800 places

Skilled Australian Sponsored (176 Family Sponsored) – 2009/10 = 12,300 – 2010/11 = 3,500 a decrease of 8,800 places

From this you can see that DIAC have place more emphasis on Employer Sponsored and State Sponsored visas. This is also reflected in the advertised priority processing guidelines.

Group 1 being Employer Sponsored, Group 2 being State Sponsored and Group 3 being Skilled and Skilled Australian Sponsored.

Please find DIAC’s processing guidelines at http://www.immi.gov.au/about/charters/client-services-charter/visas/8.0.htm.

If you wish to have a look at the full statistics for the whole migration program please go to http://www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/visa-grants/migrant.htm.

State Migration Plans

Victoria and the ACT are the only SMP to be announced at present and we are hopeful other states will follow over the coming months but no time frame has been given. Many are asking how the program will work;

State Migration Plan Fact Sheet; http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/statmig-fs.pdf

State Migration Plans FAQ; http://www.immi.gov.au/skilled/general-skilled-migration/pdf/statmig-faq.pdf

Victoria Skills list;

http://www.liveinvictoria.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/225920/State-Sponsorship-Eligibility-List-Nov-2010.pdf

ACT skills list; http://www.business.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/208081/SMP_Occupation_List_Nov_2010.pdf

Posted in Migration & Visas | Comments Off

Horror Story

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

A Horror Story

Business Owner dies without a Business Will and Personal Will, leaving his wife and Business partners in financial difficulty.  I recently spoke with a colleague who relayed a tale of woe about a business owner he knew who passed away recently.  About 5 years ago the deceased (Partner A) and his business partners (Partners B and C) decided it would be a good idea to get some life insurance to fund a buy out in the event that one of them died.  The business was growing and they were worried about raising the money to buy out a deceased partner.  The intention was right…

They met with their insurance broker who organised quotes for the appropriate policies.  He also organised an extra policy for the deceased.  The partners organised to see a Solicitor to draw up a Business Will.  Unfortunately they never went ahead with the insurance or the Business Will.

Partner B died about 2 years ago.  As he did not have a personal Will he died intestate and it has taken this long to get the insurance payout of the extra personal policy to his wife.  This would have occurred much quicker if he had a valid will.

Worse still, Partners B and C have to come up with about $6M to pay out the wife of Partner A.  Guess what – they don’t have the money and can’t raise the finance!  If the insurances and Business Will were put in place then the buy out would have occurred smoothly; Partners B and C would own the business without debt; and the wife of Partner A would have the proceeds of the business policy.  Instead they are all now far worse off.

This story should prompt every business owner to review their personal and business circumstances and agreements.  Death is inevitable and something that should be discussed.

For any queries or questions about your personal or business circumstances please call Byron Cannon on 1800640509 or email Byron@fclawyers.com.au.

Posted in Wills, Estates & Business Succession | Comments Off