Roussos Legal Advisory in Darwin, Northern Territory | Lawyer & law firm

Roussos Legal Advisory

Locality: Darwin, Northern Territory

Phone: +61 8 8981 8783

Address: Suite 5, no. 9 Swan Crescent 0820 Darwin, NT, Australia

Website: http://www.roussoslegaladvisory.com

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25.01.2022 Here are some images of the NT Safety Symposium 2020 held on Wednesday, 25 November 2020. The Program Speakers were all very interesting and engaging. The Symposium was overall of high educational content. Thank you to Jeff Weldon and the NT Committee and the Australian Institute of Health & Safety.... Roussos Legal Advisory were very pleased to sponsor the event.

24.01.2022 Professor Mike Wilson was recently appointed Provost and Vice-President of Charles Darwin University (CDU), Darwin, Australia. Prof Wilson has a PhD from the University of Cambridge. He has research interests including in computer-aided engineering, applied mathematics, industrial mathematics and astrophysics. What is a Provost? A Provost is a senior position in a University, usually overseeing the internal affairs of the university.... Vice Chancellor (or President / Chief Executive Officer) of CDU, Professor Simon Maddocks completes his term shortly. RLA congratulates Prof Wilson on his appointment to this important role and farewells Professor Maddocks. Professor Maddocks has been a strong advocate for the University ably guiding the Territory's peak Educational Institute over many years. Thank you Prof Maddocks for your service and may you continue to enjoy health and success.

24.01.2022 Everyone loves take away coffee (tea, chai latte). What happens to the disposable cup? Samuel Roussos and Oliver Bateman (from the Swap Cup initiative) explain in this brief article. The authors advise us very 7 minutes Australians throw away 10,000 disposable cups which contrary to popular belief, will not be recycled. A thin layer of polyethylene composing less than five percent of the entire cup will mean they inevitably contribute to the one billion coffee cups Aus...tralians exile to landfill each year. The authors also bring to our attention "the triangular arrow symbol with a number in the middle that appears on most plastic creates the illusion of the wider recyclability but this "does not mean it can be recycled. The authors offer a solution in the swap cup initiative. https://www.melbournemicrofinance.com/new-blog//10/swap-cup See more

22.01.2022 "We like to think we’re rational human beings . But in reality, we are prone to hundreds of proven biases that cause us to think and act irrationally." For example, why do sometimes people not act even when presented with compelling information about an imminent threat? For example, recently, the NPR "On Point" program discussed responses to crises such as 9/11 - you know something is going to happen, but you do not know when or exactly who or exactly how", you need "all the information you would require to authorise target action" ... but "in light of new information they return to old expertise". People bring with them old biases which they need to "unlearn but rarely do". Something to bear in mind in negotiations and advocacy, among other things!

21.01.2022 The Northern Territory Chief Health Officer CHO Directions are made under the Public and Environmental Health Act. Until Covid, most people would not have ever heard of emergency declarations. This is a very powerful function a Minister is given. Originally, the legislation only allowed for emergencies to be declared for 5 days (they had cyclones etc in mind at the time, not year-long Pandemics). Last year when Covid first hit, NT Parliament extended the 5 day period to... 90 day renewal periods. That declaration of public health emergency kept being renewed every 90 days, the latest for 90 days from 21 June 2021. The legislation applies the precautionary principle. If there is a serious public health risk (a public health risk involving significant potential harm to public health that is of a high impact; or is on a wide scale; or is or may be irreversible), lack of full scientific certainty should not be used as a reason for postponing measures to prevent, control or abate the risk. Among other things, the legislation says if an emergency declaration is in force, the CHO may take the actions (including giving oral or written directions) the CHO considers necessary, appropriate or desirable to alleviate the public health emergency stated in the declaration. The is a list of actions the CHO is given power to take, including segregating or isolating persons, preventing persons accessing or entering into an area and a stated thing to be seized or destroyed. A contravention of the declaration or direction is an offence under the legislation and considered to be very serious. This is an example of "Executive power" (ie by Ministers and Civil Servants). The Parliament legislates to hand off power to the Minister, who, in the same legislation, then has power to pass on rule making to someone else, normally in the public service. There are some independent checks and balances in various legislation and, generally, in terms of "judicial review" of government decision making by Courts and Tribunals to make sure decisions are properly made. #health #covid #riskassessment #environmental

21.01.2022 NT WorkSafe (the Northern Territory of Australia Regulator for workplace health and safety) is holding or hosting a number of events in the Northern Territory in October. Here is the link for information: https://worksafe.nt.gov.au///national-safe-work-month-2020

21.01.2022 "Dear Sirs" ... Dear what?? People are often stuck in their ways and it is surprising to see current use of outdated ways. As this article notes about lawyer conduct, "courtesy and civility are fundamental to the practice of the law, and essential to what we as solicitors do." That said, what does the Queensland Law Society author think of this salutation? Use something accurate and more appropriate. "Solicitors have an ethical duty to be courteous in all their dealings ...in legal practice and this includes communication with opponents, colleagues and the community in general. This extends to ensuring that salutations to other members of the profession are accurate and appropriate. This means that a default to ‘dear sirs’ can transgress ethical boundaries, given the likelihood that any given firm these days will have solicitors of different genders as both partners and employees." See more

21.01.2022 As we approach the end of the year, nothing beats quality chocolates! Wishing you well leading to Christmas and the New Year.

19.01.2022 As in the United States, opioid addiction in Australia is an issue, including in relation to workers compensation and motor accidents schemes

19.01.2022 The Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce's "Business at Sunset" series is valuable for learning about the host business (in this case McArthur River Mine) and catching up and learning from many of the Territory's leaders. Face to face conversations are hard to beat. RLA Managing Partner, George Roussos is with Charles Darwin University's Dr Rajeev Sharma, Senior Lecturer - Marketing and Provost, Asia Pacific College of Business and Law (image courtesy of the Chamber of Commerce, thank you).

17.01.2022 From the ACSC (Australia Cyber Security Centre) "This update addresses vulnerabilities that an attacker could exploit to take control of an unpatched system. Google is aware that exploits of CVE-2021-30551 and CVE-2021-30554 exist in the wild. The ACSC is highlighting this reporting to ensure Australian individuals and organisations are informed about the current global threat environment, and are equipped to take proactive measures to improve your organisation’s cyber security posture."

16.01.2022 The NT News reports today, Friday, 18 December, the director of Licensing NT will approve the transfer of the liquor licence to pave the way for the construction of a large Dan Murphy's facility on Darwin Airport land. The pathway to this point involved many steps, legislation and disputation. Could the current outcome (transfer of the licence to a location varied from the proposed original, with an independent panel to review the operations) have been reached via a negotiated or mediated outcome?

13.01.2022 Recently, the US government approved the Pfizer vaccine to be distributed. Dr Albert Bourla, Chief Executive of Pfizer in the United States is a Greek from Thessaloniki of Jewish parents who survived the holocaust. Here is a story of someone who has achieved great success. https://greece.greekreporter.com//a-greek-to-save-the-wor/

11.01.2022 Many businesses can inadvertently fail to pay employees correctly, sometimes confusing their obligations. This news item today from the Fair Work Ombudsman is a reminder to check workplace relations laws (and carry out an audit (independently would be helpful)). The Federal Government recently announced it is planning (in new proposed legislation) giving the ability to, and funding, the Fair Work Ombudsman to provide advisory opinions (similar to the Australian Taxation Office) to help businesses understand their obligations. https://www.fairwork.gov.au//december-2020/20201223-dsa-eu

05.01.2022 The size of business and government fraud in Australia is staggering. We were reminded of this recently in this news item. "Little did anyone know that one inconspicuous referral would result in one of the largest cases of public sector fraud in Australia's history." Frequently, it is something small and innocuous that uncovers everything. From one report, there has been "over $1.2 billion in reported fraud against the Commonwealth from 201014 stemming from 391,831 incidents. The actual cost of fraud, however, is likely to be much greater as this figure does not include undetected, unquantified or unreported incidents." The above underscores the need for strong governance, probity and audit in corporations public and private and for appropriate funding of investigating bodies such as the various state anti-corruption commissions.

05.01.2022 The Darwin, Northern Territory, region has not had a lockdown in a while. Roussos Legal Advisory is operating business as usual through the CHO Emergency Declaration on our normal telephone number (08 8981 8783) and email addresses (including [email protected])

05.01.2022 Roussos Legal Advisory is a sponsor of this years Australian Institute of Health and Safety NT Safety Symposium 2020 to be held on 25 November 2020. The theme of this year’s conference will focus on the topic of Workplace Health & Safety Lessons Learned. There will be presentations including from NT Branch Chair, Jeff Weldon, David Clarke CEO AIHS, Associate Professor Dianne Stephens, NT Chief Medical Officer Quarantine Facilities and Bill Esteves, Northern Territory... Work Health and Safety Regulator, NT WorkSafe. We are looking forward to it! https://www.aihs.org.au/events/nsw-safety-symposium-2020-1

01.01.2022 For anyone interested, the Northern Territory Chief Health Officer directions are at the Coronavirus NT website (coronavirus.nt.gov.au) The list of CHO directions can be found here: https://coronavirus.nt.gov.au/chief-health-officer-directio... The Direction relating to details about essential services is No. 13 of 2021.