Australia: Sovereign Immunity: Public Sector Government

Public authorities may be liable in private nuisance for construction impacts unless they can prove the interference was reasonable or inevitable.

Commonwealth's status as a "body politic" will not preclude it from recovering damages on a patent owner's undertaking.

Foreign state immunity extends to a state-owned national airline subject to winding-up proceedings.

While there were no heroes, villains or shootings in Canberra last Wednesday morning, there was a partial revocation of the immunity from suit previously afforded to solicitors.

A recent High Court of Australia decision considers the unique circumstances in which a foreign State is entitled to relief from a foreign judgment made against it.

The Hamcor decision highlights the need to take these immunity provisions into account in the decision making processes.

The "Seretide" war reached the Full Court of the Federal Court in Australia this month. The central issue in the case involved the question of whether two flyers sent to some 14,000 general practitioners in Australia and two advertisements published in "Australian Doctor" magazine relating to Glaxo's "Seretide" combination inhaler were misleading and deceptive or likely to mislead or deceive in contravention of the Australian Trade Practices Act.

The Australian Productivity Commission has concluded that, on the whole, our current system of consumer product safety is working relatively well. There is no demonstrated economic need for any wholesale substantive reform.

Retailers should not make special offers to attract customers unless they have enough stock to meet reasonable customer demand during the advertised sale period. If particular items are available in limited quantities or at limited locations, this must be clearly communicated.