Minter Ellison's popular report on the fundamentals of doing business in Australia.
Minter Ellison is proud to sponsor the 4th annual International Construction Law conference constructionlaw2012.com
Our construction team is focussed on providing end-to-end legal support on infrastructure projects – from project structuring, advice on procurement options, financing, tender strategy, contract documentation and negotiation through to contract administration, maintenance issues and dispute resolution. We have worked with governments, consortia, financiers and subcontractors across the full spectrum of project delivery. Our experience includes a broad range of project delivery models such as: traditional construction procurement, partnering/alliancing, target price contracts, guaranteed maximum price contracts, design/build, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), and construction management and other fast-track procurement strategies. Our construction team has been involved in more than 100 nationally significant infrastructure projects across Australian and in the key areas of health, transport (ports, roads, rail and light rail), mining, general construction, government, PPPs and finance, education (incorporating universities and schools), justice (including prisons), property development, power and water.
The Christmas period is seen by many in the construction industry as an opportunity to serve payment claims or have claims for payment of construction work adjudicated under the security of payment legislation — in the hope those claims or applications will go unanswered or the other party will be ill-prepared to defend them.
The Transport Legislation Amendment (Public Transport Development Authority) Bill 2011 was passed by the Victorian parliament on 8 November 2011. It creates a new Public Transport Development Authority which will plan and manage all Victorian train, bus and tram services.
The Queensland Government recently passed the Disaster Readiness Amendment Act 2011 (Qld), which will directly affect dam operators, utilities companies, government and the community, as it implements the Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry Interim Report recommendations.
The construction industry has been the subject of continuous scrutiny throughout Australia for a number of decades through the triple lens of industrial relations practices, tender practices and dispute procedures. The Victorian government is continuing the focus on industrial relations in the construction industry by issuing draft implementation guidelines to support the Victorian Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry. The government is seeking comments on the guidelines before finalising them.