Christmas Safety

Tis the season to avoid online scammers In a bid to avoid Christmas crowds, online shopping during the festive season is very appealing. And while the ease and convenience of shopping from the comfort of home is a positive, it’s still important to be aware of simple security measures to ensure it’s not the season…

Airbnb – what are your rights?

Do you have rights to share your home? Airbnb has become a central player in the sharing economy in the last decade. While its usage has presented opportunities to ease the financial burden of a mortgage, there are legal implications that hosts of strata-titled properties should be aware of. In a recent case of Estens…

Cyclone season is upon us

That’s not a cyclone…this is a cyclone Although the effects of Cyclones Debbie, Yasi, Marcia and Larry are generally well known, these are dwarfed by Cyclone Mahina. Cyclone Mahina is the deadliest cyclone in recorded Australian history, striking Bathurst Bay in Cape York on the 4th March 1899, with its destructive winds and storm surge…

New ID Scanning Laws – what you need to know

The new ID scanning laws came into effect in Queensland from 1 July 2017. The purpose of these laws is to identify individuals who are the subject of banning orders to the various licenced pubs, nightclubs and bars around town. In short, all licensed venues that ordinarily trade past midnight in the Safe Night Precincts,…

Travel Insurance Review

The Insurance market is reviewing cover in respect to mental illness. At the time of writing, some policies specifically exclude mental illness whilst others are reviewing their cover. Most travel policies do not automatically cover you for claims arising from, or exacerbated by, any existing medical condition unless you disclose that condition and the Insurer…

Employment Contracts

An Employment Contract is an Agreement between an Employer and an Employee that sets out Terms and Conditions of Employment. A Contract can be in writing or verbal. It’s certainly preferable to be “in writing” because should a dispute occur this will be the information that is relied upon to gain resolution between the “Parties”.…

Combustible Cladding

The Grenfell Tower fire in London in June 2017 has put building cladding under the spotlight with audits happening around Australia as a result. Manufacturers offer two different versions of the cladding – one with a plastic core and one with a mineral core. The plastic filled version if ignited becomes a fuel for the…

Car thefts on the rise

If car owners think the improved security now fitted to most new vehicles has forced car thieves to move on to easier targets, think again! Empirical evidence suggest that they are now just targeting older model vehicles, but car thefts are not reducing. According to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, there was a…

Creepy crawly spider facts

DID YOU KNOW? You are rarely more than a few metres from a spider. And that one acre of ground is home to about a million spiders! Around most homes you will find about 20-50 different species of spider. But in any bushland area, there is usually around 100-120 species! There are around 10,000 different…