Mackay Lawyers & Advisors | Lawyer & law firm

Mackay Lawyers & Advisors

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25.01.2022 "While they were selling AMP, AMP sold them out"we couldn't say it any better than Senator O'Neil. While we all read about AMP asset sales, let's bear a thought for why. Like many of Australia's largest financial service providers, AMP was called out during the Royal Commission and subsequently during the entire BOLR mess. AMP has felt the brunt of the market response, but still very little from regulators. ... As the federal government continues to kick the reform can down the road, we have to ask whether companies like AMP are just going to restructure and dodge a bullet, while putting all the cost on to others. https://www.moneymanagement.com.au//labor-backs-amp-advise

25.01.2022 Regulatory change can be fraught with disagreement. Right now, governments around Australia are grappling with big and small changes brought on by the COVID crisis. One that gets little attention, but will make a significant impact on business, is changes to continuous disclosure. Back in May, the Federal Government announced a temporary relaxation of liability under continuous disclosure laws as a response to the volatility of the COVID-impacted market. So what does this... mean for the market in a few months time when these protections run out? What sort of liability will directors be exposed to? How much information can businesses' and the public expect to be receiving in the coming months? 03 8596 8196 https://www.mackayla.com.au/

24.01.2022 Like it or not, the future is going to be filled with rolling waves of lockdown. Jobkeeper has been extended, with changes to March 2021. But what about beyond this? As we face the reality that without an effective vaccine rolling outbreaks and lockdowns may be the new normal, how long can government support continue in the way it has to date? How are businesses going to survive in a repeatedly contracting, and overall contracted, market. Is it inevitable that some busine...sses are going to fail whatever we do? There are a lot of hard choices for governments and business owners. https://www.mackayla.com.au/

22.01.2022 What does being strategic actually mean? Law and other professional services firms throw around "strategic" like tech firms do "innovation". In reality that is where most of their strategic approach begins and ends. ... Real strategy is learned, it's permeable, and it's agile. A strategic approach starts with understanding not just the problem, but the entire environment it exists in. It's about leveraging the effect of time, and being conscious of the impacts different decisions will make on everyone affected. It's creative, it's responsive and most importantly it's effective. People talk about strategy. We pride ourselves on being different in the litigation landscape, by developing and implementing complete strategies from the start of our engagement while maintaining the flexibility to respond to the vagaries of litigation and disputes. We don’t over promise at the first meeting, under prepare subsequently, and then under deliver. If you shouldn’t litigate, we will tell you that. If there is a better alternative, we’ll identify and execute it. https://www.mackayla.com.au

20.01.2022 Worried about the cost of your lawyers? You should be. If there's anything that law firms mess up, it's communication on costs. But there's just no excuse for it. At Mackay, we regularly help clients who need to move lawyers because of issues like communication on costs. If you are unhappy with your present lawyer, and want clarity on costs and process, please get in touch to discuss how we can help. ... 03 8596 8196 https://www.mackayla.com.au/ See more

18.01.2022 Draft legislation for the Small Business Insolvency Reforms was released on 7 October 2020, but it's left us asking more questions than it has provided answers. Like all ambiguous government reform at the moment, it's scant on some very important details but we have been able to extract the key points in our recent blog post! https://www.mackayla.com.au//small-business-insolvency-ref

15.01.2022 The news has moved on, but hundreds of thousands of Australians caught up in the Robodebt fiasco certainly haven't forgotten. It's critical that we learn the lessons and there is some accountability even if the current crisis overshadowed the government's retreat.

15.01.2022 Don't say you weren't warned! Just as predicted the ATO is starting to go hard auditing businesses who are claiming JobKeeper and individuals who have been claiming under the Superannuation early release scheme. You can be sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg. With over 2.4 million Australians applying for early release and hundreds of thousands of businesses on JobKeeper, regulators are going to be scouring the land for potential breaches for years to come. If y...ou run a business and get a notice from any regulatory body about any of these issues please give us a call. 03 8596 8196 https://www.mackayla.com.au/

13.01.2022 Wondering how the government's proposed changes to insolvency laws may affect your business? While the details are still being ironed out, there are significant changes coming to how small businesses manage insolvency. In this piece we outline some of the key details that are being proposed. https://www.mackayla.com.au//xikyqhviuzurjlpsdjnmoaueqb7nub

10.01.2022 Robodebt is officially dead. $721M is to be repaid to around 320,000 people in relation to nearly 470,000 claimed debts. Why? Because the government has conceded four years after the controversial scheme commenced that the debts do not have a proper legal basis. See our views on what enabled this controversial scheme to unfold, its victims and its sudden demise here:https://www.mackayla.com.au/news-arti//robodebt-is-no-more

09.01.2022 Tik tok tik tok... It might not be today, it might not be tomorrow, but at some point in 2021 the governments role in propping up the economy is going to diminish, and with it a veritable flood of insolvency. While regulators stood in and provided a dam wall, the reality of the situation for tens of thousands of businesses is that they have continued to trade in a situation that is not viable. At some point, sooner rather than later, that dam will burst. ... The question for government is how you manage the flood. Swift and brutal to get it all out of the way? There's an argument that propping up zombie businesses is a net negative for business confidence (as you can't trust anyone). Or slow and steady? (and more prolonged) If the GFC and Covid crisis tell us anything it's that governments rarely pull the bandaid off fast, so it's far more likely that a slow and prolonged approach will be most viable (politically and otherwise). So what can you do as a business? Be prepared. Be strategic about your interests. Ensure if you are in a dispute that your lawyers understand your situation and act strategically to further your best interests. https://www.theaustralian.com.au//68960a3543ebfea04f41ea98

09.01.2022 There's no doubt that directors will be under significant scrutiny during the "new normal" phase as the economy either recovers or contracts further. There are certainly some big pot holes that you want to avoid if you are a director, and mitigation that you want to be actively aware of. One simple thing for businesses of all sizes is to ensure they are effectively insured. There's little doubt that for a lot of businesses there will be different levels of risk, so ensurin...g your coverage is appropriate is a practical way to mitigate future issues. https://www.mackayla.com.au/

09.01.2022 We have to admit, when gyms re-opened it was pretty exciting... but how heartbreaking now they have to close because of the present round of lockdown. The fact is, gym owners have been some of the hardest hit during the great lockdown. Having your very service deemed 'illegal' created huge challenges for them. How to keep clients? How to pay the rent? ... How to hold on to staff? These issues have been shared by many businesses, but coming out of this (whenever that actually happens) gyms are going to have to remain vigilant and will no doubt be regulated even more. The good news is that many owners have developed online offerings and new ways to service clients. This fast, strategic thinking needs to continue, especially if owners will still need to negotiated contracts with suppliers, landlords and others over the coming recovery. At Mackay we love helping gyms and other businesses navigate these challenges, even if it's rare to see us in a class! See more

09.01.2022 JobKeeper / Super - don't say you weren't warned!

08.01.2022 Introducing Keagan O'Dwyerthe newest member of our team. Our new senior associate is a highly experienced regulatory, insurance and general litigator. He specialises in regulatory investigations, commissions of inquiry, litigation against ‘insureds’ and bankruptcy and insolvency. ... Keagan's experience ranges from acting for directors and guarantors in insolvency matters at boutique firms through to managing large teams handling complex and high impact compulsory notices and investigations for large organisations. He has worked on large scale ASIC and ACCC investigations and the Hayne Banking and Financial Services Royal Commission. Keagan has a particular interest in complex regulation and litigation in the aged care sector, compulsory investigative processes and professional negligence litigation. Keagan’s approach to solving our clients problems is direct, practical and composedessential in complex disputesand he draws on a wealth of experience in high impact matters to get the job done. Welcome aboard, Keagan! linkedin.com/in/keagan-o-dwyer-a4389760

07.01.2022 Small Business Insolvency Reforms - what's new?

03.01.2022 Worried about your debtors paying? At the heart of a lot of small business' stress is simply being concerned that you are going to get paid for the work you do. It might seem simple, but in difficult financial times a lot of invoices for a lot of businesses go unpaid. With recent changes to the threshold for bankruptcy against a debtor (from $5,000 to $20,000 and from $2,000 to $20,000 for a company debtor) there are less mechanisms in the short term to effectively pursue d...ebts. What does this mean practically? It means you need to be smart and strategic about how you pursue your debts in the short term, because there are certainly ways to do it even with these changes. At Mackay we are problem-solvers who take a strategic approach to help our clients get effective solutions. If you find yourself in need of advice around pursuing potential debtors, please get in touch. https://www.mackayla.com.au/

01.01.2022 Did you know, that the last 6 months the ATO received 8000 tips from the public pointing to businesses or sole traders who may have been rorting the JobKeeper system?