Allan McDougall Lawyer, Sydney

13/05/2024

23/04/2023

A while back brave journalist Maryanne Demasi was sacked by ‘our ABC’ for telling the truth about statins and other things on TV show Catalyst. Can’t rock the Establishment boat.

Commentary In a recent interview, famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson was challenged on his scientific views about COVID-19, and ...

05/12/2022

Never too late to book...

Join us for breakfast to hear our feature presenter, Allan McDougall from Keypoint Law the Commercial Law Consultant of the chapter, speak about ‘𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗜𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧&𝗖’𝘀'.

11/09/2022

Te kind of privacy most lawyers don't talk about

I haven’t received a targeted ad on my computer or mobile phone since 2014. If you care about your privacy or the privacy of your children…

15/03/2022

When updating your Will, someone may say that you also sign an Advance Health Care Directive. What is it, and why should you bother? Basically, signing one now allows you to determine in the future what medical treatment you receive, say if you're seriously ill or have lost your faculties. Perhaps you want to refuse a blood transfusion, or never to be resuscitated. An Advance Health Care Directive may be more suitable later in life. For a younger person making a Will, appointing an enduring guardian with more general medical powers over you, may be a better option.

27/01/2022

The point is not whether you have anything to hide or not, the point is that they are acting arbitrarily and without reasonable suspicion. .

With the reopening of borders, the ABF is back to searching citizens' electronic devices without transparency or accountability.

12/01/2022

Informative coverage as usual from lawyer Sonia Hickey

The NSW Government has made it compulsory to report the outcome of positive rapid antigen tests.

05/01/2022

Most people have some kind of insurance cover - whether as a business owner, as a retail customer, or both. With the current COVID scare, one particular kind of policy is very much in the news - business interruption insurance. Policies are easy enough to sign up to - you get peace of mind after all. But what about making claim? As you might expect, the insurer wont be overly anxious to pay you, and so will carefully check the policy's terms & conditions before doing so. Devil very much in the 'Ts&Cs' detail. However, help is belatedly at hand - sort of. New laws mean that some conditions of standard form insurance policies can be deemed 'unfair' and hence void (which means unenforceable). For example, settling a claim in cash rather than paying repair costs, demanding a large excess before a claim will be considered, demanding direct debit premium payments, restrictive medical definitions, and a mental health exclusion in travel policies. Not terribly wide ranging, but its a start.

26/11/2021

"COVID insurance polices don't work!". That seems to be the message from a recent case in the Federal Court (the second highest court tier). Business interruption insurance policies are largely of no help to SME enterprises seeking compensation for losses suffered as a result of the government restrictions ("lockdowns") in response to the COVID pandemic. In October 2021, the judge ruled that for the SMEs to be covered by their policies, the lockdowns needed to have been caused by disease at the business's premises, or within a specified distance from those premises. The judge said the government health directives - which effectively led to the business closures and losses - came about, basically for other reasons. In other words, because the pandemic started somewhere else, the insurance policies were no help. This may seem like legal hair splitting at its finest, but the case shows the need for insured parties to check the policy wording carefully before signing up. Easy to be wise after the event, true, but it's all you can do. The protection thought to be afforded by insurance policies often proves to be illusory.

20/09/2021

When you set up a company in Australia, the company must have at least one director, and that director must ordinarily reside in Australia. Company law does not give a specific definition of "ordinarily reside", perhaps assuming the meaning is pretty clear. But is it? What if the prospective director resides for 6 months in Australia, and 6 months overseas? Would that be enough for them to qualify? Under the tax law the answer would probably be, yes. Under the company law, the answer would probably be, no. Why the dichotomy? Possibly because the tax authorities are interested in getting in all the money they can, whereas the company regulators are more choosy: they want to see that the company has a definite sentient connection to the jurisdiction. Food for thought.

13/09/2021

If you operate a public page that permits other people to post comments on it you could be liable for any defamatory remarks they make. It doesn't matter whether you had become aware the comments were on the page, or whether you knew the defamer or the victim. By operating the page you are deemed to be its "publisher" and hence risk liability. This is the effect of a recent decision of Australia's highest court. The potential for liability extends equally to content posted on other kinds of web pages, including those outside social media platforms. And this liability spills over into the business sphere as well, if someone posts a particularly derogatory product or service review. The tip is to disable the web page's comments function beforehand. If that's not practicable, be sure to appoint an active and vigilant administrator.