In December 2024, the High Court overturned a long-standing precedent preventing an employee from claiming damages for psychiatric injury arising from a breach of an employment contract by an employer. In Elisha v Vision Australia Limited [2024] HCA 50, the…
Until the passage of the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Amending Act), there was no general right to privacy in Australia except as provided by the relevant privacy legislation (such as the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act…
Use of public funds to support defamation litigation
22 Jan, 2025
By nature of their operations, local councils receive and control public funds for various purposes. Under the Local Government Act 1993 (LG Act), councils are required to follow principles of sound financial management, and ensure that their spending of public…
By nature of their operations, public sector agencies and organisations possess personal information provided by their employees and the general public they serve. While much community focus has been placed on protecting data stored digitally, agencies must ensure compliance with…
Introduction This article discusses some principles relevant to internal investigations carried out by NSW Government agencies, or by local government authorities where the investigation is conducted outside the Model Code of Conduct framework. We won’t cover employment or industrial law…
REMINDER: Changes to Defamation Law Have Commenced
22 Jul, 2024
At the end of last year, we wrote about changes to NSW defamation laws that introduced new exemptions and defences for potentially defamatory content posted online. Our article discusses these changes in detail: Changes to Defamation Law: New Exemptions and…
The employment conditions of most employees of local councils are set out in the relevant local government award (Relevant Award). For most councils, the Relevant Award is the Local Government State Award 2023. Prior to the changes discussed below, the…
‘No good can come from a circumstance in which a local government body takes action to foster the development of its area without also being willing and able to fund the action it has contractually promised to undertake’ is the opening…
ICAC’s guide on how to manage conflict of duties
4 Apr, 2024
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has issued a guide to assist public officials and agencies in identifying and managing conflicts of duties. The guide relates to conflicts of duties, not conflicts between a public duty and a personal or…
Section 220 of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) declares that a council is ‘is a body politic of the State’ and ‘is not a body corporate (including a corporation)‘. Amongst other things, this declaration is considered to largely shield…
For the first time in the context of a local council, the recent decision of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) in Shrestha v City of Ryde Council [2024] NSWIRComm 1005 has considered the interactions between differing lengths of probationary…
Key findings: ICAC Annual Report 2022-2023
17 Jan, 2024
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (the Commission) has published its annual report for the year 2022-23 (the Report), outlining the nature of complaints received and their investigative processes. The Report reflects a substantial increase in complaints reported to the Commission by…