Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act : strike three

The Tourism, Racing and Fair Trading (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 (“the Act”) which was passed on 18 April 2002 contains a number of significant amendments relevant to the operation of the Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000. The main changes relevant to property transactions are: (i) Changes to the process for appointment of a real estate agent and consolidation of the appointment forms; (ii) Additions to the disclosure obligation of agents and property developers; (iii) Simplification of the process for commencing the cooling off period; (iv) Alteration of the common law position concerning when the parties are bound by a contract; (v) Removal of the requirement for a seller’s signature on the warning statement to be witnessed; (vi) Retrospective amendment of s 170 of the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997; (vii) Inclusion of a new power to allow inspectors to enter the place of business of a licensee or a marketeer without consent and without a warrant; and (viii) Inclusion of a new power for inspectors to require documents to be produced by marketeers. The majority of the amendments are effective from the date of assent, 24 April 2002, however, some of the amendments do not commence until a date fixed by proclamation. No proclamation has been made at the time of writing (2 May 2002). Where the amendments have not commenced this will be noted in the article. Before providing clients with advice, practitioners should carefully check proclamation details.

An assessment of timber dwellings typical of the Queenslander era, and constraints associated with their relocation, component and adaptive reuse when considering 'regeneration'

This paper presents an explanation of why the reuse of building components after demolition or deconstruction is critical to the future of the construction industry. An examination of the historical cause and response to climate change sets the scene as to why governance is becoming increasingly focused on the built environment as a mechanism to controlling waste generation associated with the process of demolition, construction and operation. Through an annotated description to the evolving design and construction methodology of a range of timber dwellings (typically 'Queenslanders' during the eras of 1880-1900, 1900-1920 & 1920-1940) the paper offers an evaluation to the variety of materials, which can be used advantageously by those wishing to 'regenerate' a Queenslander. This analysis of 'regeneration' details the constraints when considering relocation and/ or reuse by adaption including deconstruction of building components against the legislative framework requirements of the Queensland Building Act 1975 and the Queensland Sustainable Planning Act 2009, with a specific examination to those of the Building Codes of Australia. The paper concludes with a discussion of these constraints, their impacts on 'regeneration' and the need for further research to seek greater understanding of the practicalities and drivers of relocation, adaptive and building components suitability for reuse after deconstruction.

Government initiative and start-up firms’ eco-innovation : A case study through the ecological modernisation lens

Government programs to finance small firms or start-ups have attracted a little empirical attention. From an economical perspective, the effect of government grants is evaluated by a measure of innovation or firm productivity. Yet, this paper takes a different approach from economical view aiming to address the research question “How do start ups firms view the relationship between government grants and their co-efficient innovation effort?” Semi-structured interviews with grant recipients (start-up business owners revealed that the grants assist firms to leverage their resource limitations but at the same time the grants also act as a major roadblock for their product development success.

Workcover Queensland Act 1996 - award of damages for future care not precluded by s315

In Karanfilov v Inghams Enterprises Pty Ltd interpreted provisions of the Workcover Queensland Act 1996 as it applied to an injury occurring before 1 July 2001, i.e. prior to amendments made by the Workcover Queensland Act 2001. The decision involved the construction, in particular, of sections 312 and 315 of the Act

Air analysis

There are three distinct categories of air environment to be considered in this chapter. These are as follows: (1) The “ambient” or general outdoors atmosphere to which the members of the population are exposed when they venture out of their homes or offices in industrial, urban or rural environments. (2) Indoor air environments, which occur in buildings such as homes, schools, restaurants, public hospitals and office buildings. This category does not cover factories or workplaces which are otherwise subjected to the provisions of various occupational health standards. (3) Workplace atmospheres, which occur in a variety of industries or factories and for which there are numerous atmospheric concentration limits (or exposure standards) promulgated by appropriate bodies or organisations. Since 2009 setting concentration limits for atmospheric contaminants has been administered by Safe Work Australia. A fourth category of air environment which falls outside this chapter is that which is related to upper atmospheric research, global atmospheric effects and concomitant areas of inquiry and/or debate. Such areas include “greenhouse” gas emissions, ozone depletion, and related matters of atmospheric chemistry and physics. This category is not referred to again in this chapter.

Child rights as perceived by the community members in India

Attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions of an individual influence their behavior as well as culture of a society. The objective of the study was to understand the attitudes and knowledge of 584 Indian community members regarding child rights and their perceptions about whether selected child rights were secured in reality. Overall attitudes of vast majority (96 – 98%) of the participants towards child rights were found to be positive i.e., children should have rights in various respects except issue like right to meet others (Article 15 of CRC). Knowledge of majority of the participants about child rights related legislations was moderate and varied across the cities while participants were unanimous about poor lived experiences of child rights in reality. So far as attitude and perception are concerned about child rights, there was a significant difference in the distribution between cities (p<0.01). Overall, the Rights of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 had the highest awareness (91.3%, n=533), followed by the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986 (89.7%, n=523) and the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (89.6%, n=523). Findings of the present study speak in favor of community awareness about child rights and penalties for violation of child rights.

Aligning policy with practice: an evaluation of vocational education and training in the library and information services sector

Vocational education and training for the library and information services (LIS) sector in Australia offers students the career pathway to become library technicians. Library technicians play a valuable role in drawing on sound practical knowledge and skills to support the delivery of library and information services that meet client needs. Over the past forty years, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has monitored the quality of library technician courses. Since 2005, ALIA has run national professional development days for library technician educators with the goal of establishing an alternative model for course recognition focusing on the process of peer review to benchmark good practice and stimulate continuous improvement in library technician education. This initial developmental work has culminated in 2009 with site visits to all library technician courses in Australia. The paper presents a whole-of-industry case study to critically review the work undertaken to date.

Does institutional location protect from political influence? the case of a minimum labour standards enforcement agency in Australia

Among the many factors that influence enforcement agencies, this article examines the role of the institutional location (and independence) of agencies, and an incumbent government's ideology. It is argued that institutional location affects the level of political influence on the agency's operations, while government ideology affects its willingness to resource enforcement agencies and approve regulatory activities. Evidence from the agency regulating minimum labour standards in the Australian federal industrial relations jurisdiction (currently the Fair Work Ombudsman) highlights two divergences from the regulatory enforcement literature generally. First, notions of independence from political interference offered by institutional location are more illusory than real and, second, political need motivates political action to a greater extent than political ideology.

'State' of play : Queensland report

A number of recent legislative amendments impact on property law practice in Queensland. Property Law (Mortgagor Protection) Amendment Act 2008 (Qld) Body Corporate and Community Management Amendment Act 2009 (Qld) Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld) Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 (Qld) Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld)

Charity law

Charity Law - 2nd edition addresses the modern law relating to this sector. Like the first edition, it comes at a time of public concern about the law regulating charitable activity. While concentrating on both legal and practitioner issues, this book also explores the modern concept of charity. It examines and explains the regulatory framework for charity and the need for transparency and public accountability. It gives you a complete understanding of the changes introduced by the Charities Act 2009, giving particular attention to the responsibilities of the new regulatory authority for charities, the importance of the role now statutorily allocated to the public benefit principle, and the significance of a new extended range of charitable purposes.

Regeneration

This presentation relates to a paper presenting an explanation of why the reuse of building components after demolition or deconstruction is critical to the future of the construction industry. An examination of the historical cause and response to climate change sets the scene as to why governance is becoming increasingly focused on the built environment as a mechanism to controlling waste generation associated with the process of demolition, construction and operation. Through an annotated description to the evolving design and construction methodology of a range of timber dwellings (typically 'Queenslanders' during the eras of 1880-1900, 1900-1920 & 1920-1940) the paper offers an evaluation to the variety of materials, which can be used advantageously by those wishing to 'regenerate' a Queenslander. This analysis of 'regeneration' details the constraints when considering relocation and/ or reuse by adaption including deconstruction of building components against the legislative framework requirements of the Queensland Building Act 1975 and the Queensland Sustainable Planning Act 2009, with a specific examination to those of the Building Codes of Australia. The paper concludes with a discussion of these constraints, their impacts on 'regeneration' and the need for further research to seek greater understanding of the practicalities and drivers of relocation, adaptive and building components suitability for reuse after deconstruction.

Phase two of the National Credit Reforms : examining the regulation of payday lenders

This study seeks to analyse the adequacy of the current regulation of the payday lending industry in Australia, and consider whether there is a need for additional regulation to protect consumers of these services. The report examines the different regulatory approaches adopted in comparable OECD countries, and reviews alternative models for payday regulation, in particular, the role played by responsible lending. The study also examines the consumer protection mechanisms now in existence in Australia in the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 (Cth) (NCCP) and the National Credit Code (NCC) contained in Schedule 1 of that Act and in the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (Cth).

Design and design thinking in business and management education and development

Design and design thinking have been identified as making valuable contributions to business and management and the numbers of higher education programs that teach design thinking to business students, managers and executives are growing. However multiple definitions of design thinking and the range of perspectives have created some confusion about potential pathways. This paper examines notions of design and design thinking and uses these definitions to identify themes in higher educational programs. We present the findings from an initial exploratory investigation of design and design thinking in higher education business programs and define four distinct educational approaches around human centred innovation, integrative thinking, design management and design as strategy. Potential directions for management education programs are presented.

Charting the system : the integrated master schedule as a multi-level and poly-temporal boundary object in complex projects

This paper investigates the use of visual artifacts to represent a complex adaptive system (CAS). The integrated master schedule (IMS) is one of those visuals widely used in complex projects for scheduling, budgeting, and project management. In this paper, we discuss how the IMS outperforms the traditional timelines and acts as a ‘multi-level and poly-temporal boundary object’ that visually represents the CAS. We report the findings of a case study project on the way the IMS mapped interactions, interdependencies, constraints and fractal patterns in a complex project. Finally, we discuss how the IMS was utilised as a complex boundary object by eliciting commitment and development of shared mental models, and facilitating negotiation through the layers of multiple interpretations from stakeholders.

Can transfer of learning be enriched by valuing knowledge transformation and co-creation? Exploring new ways to improve training design

This paper argues that a possible cause of issues with management education outcomes is the fact that most training models operate from a limited ‘transfer’ metaphor. This theoretical paper contends that by reconceptualising existing models, specifically Holton’s transfer of learning model, to incorporate multiple processes and acknowledge the importance of educator- or trainer-student interaction in co-creating knowledge, there is potential to improve training design and ultimately achieve more satisfactory training outcomes.