ARTICLE
4 December 2013

Property & Projects – What's News - 27 November 2013

HR
Holding Redlich

Contributor

Holding Redlich, a national commercial law firm with offices in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, and Cairns, delivers tailored solutions with expert legal thinking and industry knowledge, prioritizing client partnerships.
The newsletter includes links to recent media releases, reports and cases relating to Australian property & projects.
Australia Real Estate and Construction

In the media – National

Australian farmers to benefit from direct action on their land
A new methodology for 'Native Forest from Managed Regrowth' allows farmers and land managers who have historically cleared their land for pastoral use to earn carbon credits by managing regrowth to regenerate native forests (12 November 2013). More...

Energy Efficiency Certificate Creators Association (EECCA) established
Australia's energy efficiency markets will be strengthened with the announcement today of the establishment of a new, independent body to represent businesses that create and trade in energy efficiency certificates (12 November 2013). More...

National Licensing Lessons Must Be Heeded
The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) says it's not surprised that the COAG Reform Council's (CRC) report, Lessons for Federal Reform illustrates that 15 out of 32 key performance indicators show little, no or negative progress (12 November 2013). More...

Abbott introduces carbon tax repeal bill
The government has begun the process of abolishing the carbon tax, introducing laws to parliament to unwind Labor's clean energy laws. Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday introduced a bill to repeal the impost, marking his government's first major piece of legislation (14 November 2013). More...

Australian climate tax and fees off table
Federal cabinet has ruled that Australia will not sign up to any new contributions, taxes or charges at this week's climate change summit. This come as part of a significant toughening of its stance as it plans to move within days to repeal the carbon tax (11 November 2013). More...

PCA: Government turns a blind eye to housing affordability
The PCA claims that far from being 'past its use-by date' the National Housing Supply Council is the government's only insight into Australia's housing affordability and undersupply problems (08 November 2013). More...

ASIC warns real estate industry about spruiking
The corporate regulator has warned real estate agents to adhere to the licensing requirements for self-managed super fund (SMSF) property investment advice. ASIC announced it is working with the REIA to ensure real estate agents understand their legal obligations when dealing with SMSFs (07 November 2013). More...

In the media – New South Wales

State planning reforms to kick start NSW economy
The Planning Bill 2013, tabled in NSW Parliament on 29 October by the Planning and Infrastructure Minister, represents the biggest overhaul of the planning system in 33 years The reforms will increase the output of the NSW economy by up to $3 billion a year over the next 30 years, according to the review by the Centre for International Economics (CIE) released today (22 October 2013). More...

In the media – New South Wales

Urban Taskforce: strata Act changes will support growth in apartments
Proposed changes to the NSW Strata Act will give greater confidence to the development industry and to owners corporations. The proposal to require an independent expert assessment of the condition of a building a year after completion will give all parties an impartial umpire who will assess defects and monitor rectification (14 November 2013). More...

New planning system laws to boost communities
New planning laws in NSW set upfront rules for fast-tracked approval of townhouses, retail and office projects. Legislation for the new planning system has passed the Legislative Assembly in the NSW Parliament and is due to be debated in the Legislative Council in November (08 November 2013). More...

In the media – Queensland

Queensland state planning's one-stop-shop awarded
The PIA has awarded Queensland's State Assessment and Referral Agency (SARA) with the 2013 Improving Planning Processes and Practices Award. SARA, launched on July 1, 2013, was created to centralize state referrals and to streamline development application assessments in a 'one-stop-shop' approach (12 November 2013). More...

Mineral assessment hub for resource sector
The State Government has launched, from this week, a new Townsville Minerals Assessment Hub would process all mineral exploration permits for Queensland, and would soon manage all mineral development applications across the state (09 November 2013). More...

Benchmarks for Queensland Planning Schemes released by the PCA
The Property Council has released its latest research, Property Interests: Benchmarks for Queensland Planning Schemes. This covers retail, industrial, commercial and residential land uses, Property Interests encourages local governments to take a step back, and make sure the strategic intent of their planning scheme is being reflected in the detail of the document (07 November 2013). More...

Qld to offer coal incentives
The Newman government will announce incentives for coal mines in the remote Galilee Basin using a ramp-up royalty period for miners. As a raft of changes including a faster planning and land acquisition process as well as the discounted royalties will be offered to aid development of the basin, 500km from the Queensland coast (07 November 2013). More...

In practice and courts – National

2020 Vision
A new national initiative, aiming to increase green spaces in our cities by 20% by 2020 was launched last week. The 2020 Vision is a unique collaboration between government, academic and private-sectors, aiming to increase urban green spaces, thus improving our environment, productivity and societal benefits (12 November 2013). More... More....

In practice and courts – Victoria

Current consultations

EPA: Draft guideline on applying environment protection principles EPA is seeking comments by 15 November 2013 on its draft guideline on the application of the environment protection principles to EPA's approvals process. It is intended to help project proponents understand how EPA expects them to consider the principles when developing proposals and preparing applications for an EPA approval. More... More...

Plan Melbourne Discussion and Feedback
Victorians are encouraged to contribute feedback on the blueprint for the city's future, in the next important milestone for Plan Melbourne discussions. The plan is open for comment until Friday 6 December 2013. More...

In practice and courts – Queensland

Announcements, Draft Policies and Plans released 2013

Galilee Basin Development Strategy November 2013
The Galilee Basin Development Strategy outlines streamlined solutions for water, power and rail and comprehensive infrastructure planning for this important region (06 November 2013). More...

Cases – Victoria

South Yarra Colonnade Pty Ltd v Designbuilt Industries Pty Ltd (Retail Tenancies) [2013] VCAT 1872 Retail tenancies – monthly tenancy – rental paid monthly in advance – re-entry on second day of month – whether Landlord entitled to rental for whole month - apportionment of rental due – interest payable under lease not limited by power to award interest conferred by s.91(2) Retail Lease Act 2003. More...

Ashdon Valley Pty Ltd v Hicks & Anor [2013] VSC 597 APPEAL – Appeal from Magistrates' Court on questions of law – Sale of land providing for the transfer of water entitlements – whether magistrate misconstrued the Water Act 1989 (Vic) – whether the magistrate failed to consider the issue of causation raised by the appellant – whether the reasons for decision were adequate – reasons for decision do not disclose the magistrate's path of reasoning – Appeal allowed – Magistrates' Court Act 1989 (Vic) s 109 – Water Act 1989 (Vic) ss 33E, 33F, 33G, 33S, 33U, 33W, 64J, 64S. More...

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