The Australian Securities & Investments Commission ("ASIC") is increasing its focus on private markets, adopting a similar approach to other international regulators. Following on from its introduction of a dedicated private...more
On 13 February 2025, the Australian Federal Parliament passed the Scams Prevention Bill 2025 (Cth) ("Bill"), the first of its kind worldwide....more
The Australian Human Rights Commission Amendment (Costs Protection) Bill 2023 (Cth), which was enacted to address perceived disincentives to pursuing claims for discrimination, took effect on 2 October 2024....more
The first wave of Australia's expansive privacy law reforms has been introduced into Federal Parliament in the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 (Cth) ("Bill")....more
10/29/2024
/ Australia ,
Cybersecurity ,
Damages ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Protection ,
Data Security ,
Invasion of Privacy ,
Personally Identifiable Information ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Reform
The Australian federal government recently released its response to the independent review of Australia's amended continuous disclosure regime (the "Independent Review")....more
The Federal Court of Australia has granted relief to a company under section 1317S of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Act") following declarations that it contravened two civil penalty provisions in relation to one of its...more
The Situation: The Australian Securities Exchange ("ASX") has published new data breach examples in an update to its continuous disclosure Guidance Note, effective from 27 May 2024 ("Data Breach Examples")....more
Recent legal and regulatory developments, including the joint release of APRA and ASIC guidance concerning the new Financial Accountability Regime, APRA's announcement that it will publish superannuation expense data to...more
The Situation: The Australian Federal Parliament has passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Combatting Foreign Bribery) Act 2024 ("Act"), some six years after a bill to create a 'failure to prevent' foreign bribery offence...more
In Short -
The Situation: In 2020, a cruise ship in Australian waters, the Ruby Princess, experienced a COVID‑19 outbreak that resulted in an Australian class action. Part of the class were passengers subject to...more
Although class actions have been common in the United States for decades, they have not been as widely used in the rest of the world. The situation and risks remain in flux, however, as more countries have renewed momentum to...more
12/22/2023
/ Article III ,
Australia ,
Class Action ,
EU ,
France ,
Germany ,
International Litigation ,
Jurisdiction ,
Settlement ,
Standing ,
UK
A significant newly enacted class actions regime has come into force in Western Australia, as of 25 March 2023.
The Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Act 2022 (WA) ("Act") was enacted in September 2022,...more
In Short -
The Situation: The High Court of Australia has confirmed in Bryant v Badenoch Integrated Logging Pty Ltd [2023] HCA 2 that the "peak indebtedness rule" is no longer available to liquidators when assessing the...more
In Short -
The Situation: Historically, creditors pursued by liquidators under the unfair preference regime could rely on a statutory set-off as a defence to the claim, reducing or eliminating their liability to repay...more
This edition of the Update covers:
Recent legal and regulatory developments, including guidance to APRA-regulated entities following the cyber attacks on Medibank and Optus, the release of the inaugural Climate...more
In Short -
The Situation: Following a number of high-profile cyber incidents resulting in significant data breaches, the Australian Government has doubled down on its efforts to strengthen privacy laws and cybersecurity...more
Recent legislative and regulatory developments, including the Federal Government's draft regulations to deregulate litigation funding in class actions and the Civil Procedure (Representative Proceedings) Bill 2021, which...more
In Short -
The Situation: The Victorian Court of Appeal in Australia has delivered a decision with guidance to lawyers on their duties when dealing with witnesses in civil cases where there is a risk that the witnesses'...more
This edition of the Update covers: -
Recent legal and regulatory developments, including the commencement of cyber security incident notification obligations for critical financial market infrastructure assets, AUSTRAC's...more
The construction sector in Australia has long been affected by insolvency and broader liquidity issues. In the last year, construction companies accounted for 26% of businesses that entered into insolvency, and insolvencies...more
In Short -
The Situation: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC") has released guidance to superannuation and managed funds as to how to avoid the risk of greenwashing when promoting...more
More Detail: Regulation of Litigation Funding in Class Actions
In 2009, the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia, in Brookfield Multiplex Ltd v International Litigation Funding Partners Pty Ltd [2009] FCAFC 147,...more
This edition of the Update covers:
Recent legal and regulatory developments, including the release of regulatory guidance on crypto asset-related investment products, the imposition of additional licence conditions on the...more
Australia's Existing Autonomous Sanctions Regime -
Australia's existing autonomous sanctions regime is set out in the Autonomous Sanctions Act 2011 (Cth) ("Act")....more
ASIC's Approach to CEUs Prior to the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry ("Royal Commission"), ASIC routinely accepted CEUs as a form of administrative settlement...more