Welcome to the May edition of our Newsletter.
Autumn is bringing a beautiful change in nature in the Adelaide Hills where the crimson leaves of the deciduous trees make striking landscapes. Unfortunately, no rain has been seen for some time and I am always keen to see the many farming clients of our practice get some peace of mind by rains coming along at all the right times. Many are dry seeding at the moment, so it would be good if soaking rains swept the State very soon.
April was a beautiful month with ANZAC Day maintaining a good level of solemness, which is great to see. I observed the respect for the ANZAC’s being passed on to the next generation with many young families introducing their young children through the dawn services all around SA. The horrors of war and the sacrifice the ANZAC’s made should never be forgotten, with the hope that such things don’t occur again. Whilst things look bleak on that front globally, hopefully sensible heads will always prevail, and such all-out aggression will be avoided.
March saw the introduction of new laws relating to residential tenancies. It is now no longer allowable for a landlord to charge a fee to consent to a tenant subletting a property. Also, rental increases cannot be more frequent than every twelve months when a tenancy changes for a fixed period to a periodic tenancy. There are also laws coning in later in the year whereby a tenant may argue that a rental increase is excessive. A raft of other changes are in the pipeline as well pursuant to the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2023. Hopefully, the many changes coming through don’t negatively impact available rental stock for people, given how tight the residential rental market is at the moment.
Changes to the Animal Welfare Act are also afoot, proposing the inclusion of fish for the first time, among other changes. This will be a watch and see change that may impact our many aquaculture clients. We will need to monitor this space.
Safety at work has never been more important with the consequences of a workplace incident increasing significantly over time. From 1 July 2024 the Work Health and Safety Act has been amended such that individuals can face up to 20 years imprisonment and companies fines of up to $18 million dollars for reckless or grossly negligent conduct which breaches their OH&S duties and results in the death of a person. Workplace safety is something that clients unfortunately often do not pay enough attention to until an incident occurs. There are a number of measures that can be taken to ensure your policies and procedures will ‘stand up’ to the rigor of a Safe Work investigation.
The State Government is also focussing on the big issues, worrying about whether a barrister calls him or herself a Kings Counsel or Senior Counsel, the fact that we are not a Republic, and apparently the majority still do not want to be, doesn’t seem to be an issue for them trying to kill off a centuries-old tradition.
I trust you all have a healthy, happy and successful May and as always if you have any questions or concerns in areas where we may be able to assist, feel free to give us a call, as we say… we’re here to help!
Please telephone our main office number on (08) 8231 6100 or email reception@ezralegal.com.au.
For information on the range of legal advice and services that we provide, head to:
Michael Fabbro
Practice Principal
Ezra Legal
