Publications

2017-18 New South Wales State Budget: Tax and duty changes, including significant increases to stamp duty and land tax surcharges, and certain exemptions and/or refund provisions for Australian-based developers and permanent residents

The New South Wales 2017-18 Budget handed down on 20 June 2017 has confirmed the pre-announced significant increases to stamp duty (from 4% to 8%) and land tax surcharges (from 0.75% to 2%) for 'foreign persons' of New South Wales residential property. These changes, together with others outlined below, have been introduced into the New South Wales Parliament under the State Revenue and Other Legislation Amendment (Budget Measures) Bill 2017 (NSW) (Bill).

As at 22 June 2017, the Bill was passed in both Houses of NSW Parliament and is now awaiting assent.

April 2017

In this edition we cover:

• Highest fine ever in Victoria
• WA Courts fine workers over deaths of their co-workers
• Update on the Coal Workers' Pneumoconiosis Select Committee Interim Report
• What the first new black lung diagnosis in NSW means for coal operators
• Managing mental health issues proving to be challenging
• Summary of interesting WHS developments across Australia

With public awareness of cyber security breaches continuing to rise, every kind of Australian organisation – Government, state owned enterprises, public and private companies and not-for-profits - must understand the risks they face as a result of modern technology and its impact on data privacy and security. The past year saw both the largest data breach in Australian history (with the accidental exposure of the personal information of around 550,000 donors to the Australian Red Cross), as well as highly-publicised attempts to sabotage the first digital Australian Bureau of Statistics Census through a series of denial of service attacks.