The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released guidelines to help businesses avoid greenwashing and greenhushing, calling on general counsel to avoid broad terms like ‘sustainable’ and ensure businesses have research to back up green claims.
Tax advisers and firms promoting tax avoidance could face penalties of up to $780 million, as part of a suite of reforms the government is calling “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”.
A Coalition MP has urged the government to take action on the regulation of artificial intelligence, flagging “very significant” issues in the intellectual property sphere.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has vowed to limit the role of local councils in planning decisions after the state’s anti-corruption board delivered a scathing report finding property developer John Woodman “bought influence” from councillors in Melbourne and two state MP’s.
A senior public servant behind the Robodebt fiasco is one of the first heads to roll following the findings of a royal commission into the illegal debt recovery scheme devised by the previous federal government to claw back welfare overpayments.
Senior EY partners have condemned PwC and attempted to distance the firm from the scandal that has rocked the industry, but its cleanskin claims were met with scepticism by senators, who questioned the failure to provide EY’s partnership deed and remuneration details.
A law firm is considering an ‘unprecedented’ move to reconvene its class action on behalf of Robodebt victims, which can only happen with the Commonwealth’s permission, but the Albanese government might consent as a way to score political points, an expert has told Lawyerly.
A lawyer behind a settled class action against the previous government’s Robodebt disaster has called for the case to be reconvened in the wake of a report that blasted the “crude and cruel” scheme, as Government Service Minister Bill Shorten suggests victims could sue individual Coalition ministers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has set its sights on data brokers such as Equifax and Corelogic amid concerns about harms to consumers from their information collecting practices.
A damning report by a royal commission into the former federal government’s Robodebt scheme has recommended several individuals be referred for civil action or criminal prosecution, finding it was “a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal”.