Corporations Act Section 300 and associated sections to be amended requiring public companies to comprehensively provide in their annual reports their compliance with social justice objectives in Australia and overseas.

Subsection 4(11)(a1) of the Long Service Leave Act 1955 (NSW) (“LSL Act”) ought to be changed to expressly provide that unpaid parental leave counts as service under the LSL Act.  

Elections are coming up this September for the City of Sydney. If you or your corporation (including partnerships) own, occupy or lease rateable property in the City of Sydney, you may be eligible to register to vote in the elections. 

More information on eligibility can be found online here on the City of Sydney website. The City of Sydney also updated its guidelines in September 2020 on how they interpret the legislative eligibility requirements - they can be accessed here. 

Since the beginning of the year, our Committee has been hard at work ensuring that legal issues are at the forefront of Federal and State Labor's policy agenda. 

Recently at the Special Platform Conference of the Australian Labor Party we were successful in amending the National Platform in a number of areas including in criminal procedure, child protection and class actions. A summary of these changes can be found online here. 

We have also submitted a range of policies to be considered at the NSW State Labor Conference, now scheduled for October 2021. A summary of these proposals can be found online here.

The Committee thanks Committee member Kirk McKenzie for his ongoing work on these policies. 

Members will recall that in August 2020 the Society lodged submissions with the Joint Select Committee on the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020. That Committee delivered its final report on 31 March 2021.

The Committee recently lodged a submission with the Senate Select Committee on Job Security, which is conducting an inquiry into the prevalence of insecure work in Australia. Broadly, the Society argued that gig economy workers, in particular share and food delivery drivers, should be extended minimum entitlements commensurate to other workers in the Australian economy, through amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) or the introduction of sui generis legislation. The Society also recommended that superannuation entitlements be extended to gig workers through amendments to s 12 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1993 (Cth).

I would overturn the rule in Bonnard v Perryman [1891] 2 Ch 269 and allow judges to grant interim injunctions against defamatory publications.

Amend the Limitation Act to provide Courts with the discretion to set aside settlement deeds which arose from causes of action in child abuse matters, where it is just and reasonable to do so.

I would amend the Public Holidays Act 2010 (NSW) s 4(g) so as to ‘Mondayise’ Anzac Day.

I would abolish subsection 500(6L) of the Migration Act, which imposes a fixed time limit on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in some visa cases.