Insights Sectors: Community

October is Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM). CSAM is an annual reminder for Australians to stay safe online and protect your online information and assets. The theme for CSAM 2023 is ‘be cyber aware – don’t compromise’. CSAM is an opportunity for businesses to review their understanding of ‘cyber security’ as a concept while continuing […]

A childcare provider who receives a Show Cause Notice may face potential suspension or cancellation of their service. In this article, we outline the purpose of a Show Cause Notice, the different instances in which they apply, and how Meridian Lawyers can assist childcare providers to respond. The National Law The Children (Education and Care […]

Key takeaways The Education and Care Regulatory Unit of the Department of Communities (Department) is displaying a stricter approach in implementing compliance actions. Specifically, the Department is seeking penalties under both sections 165(1) and 167(1) of the Education and Care Services National Law (WA) Act 2012 (National Law) in compliance actions involving inadequate supervision and […]

Meridian is increasingly receiving enquiries from both health practitioners and service providers seeking advice regarding negative reviews placed online by members of the public. Sometimes the reviews are thought to be unfair and unreasonable, and sometimes they cross over the line and are abusive and defamatory. With the ever increasing reliance on digital marketing and […]

Brief Context In Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Bergin [2022] VR 4, a registered nurse (Practitioner) was found to have engaged in professional misconduct due to her failure to remain in isolation while awaiting the outcome of a COVID-19 test. Background The Practitioner was employed at a residential aged care facility. By virtue […]

Approved providers and nominated supervisors will be aware that as part of ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of children, a medical conditions policy must be in place which complies with Regulation 90 of the Education and Care National Regulations (National Regulations). This means that the medical conditions policy must set out the practices of […]

We published an article outlining the collective bargaining class exemption for small to medium businesses approved by the ACCC earlier this year. This exemption came into effect on 3 June 2021 and allows eligible small and medium businesses to engage in collective bargaining with their suppliers without being in breach of the Competition and Consumer […]

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Governance Standards require registered charities to remain charitable, operate lawfully, and be run in an accountable and responsible way. For registered charities, complying with the Governance Standards not only ensures charity registration with the ACNC, but also continued Commonwealth charity tax concessions. In recent months, two major changes […]

Small and medium businesses will have the ability to collectively bargain with their suppliers once the first ever class exemption granted by the ACCC commences this month. Background and the ACCC’s class exemption power Since November 2017, the ACCC has had the power to make class exemptions for certain types of conduct which may otherwise […]

The Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme was introduced in February 2018 to improve consumer protection and security relating to personal information. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) recently released its half-yearly Notifiable Data Breaches Report (NDBR) for the period from 1 January to 30 July 2020. The NDBR provides detail around the causes […]

Education and care providers will be aware that they are under a duty to adequately supervise children both when they are awake, and when they are asleep. Providers are also under duty to take every reasonable precaution to protect children from harm and hazard, and to ensure that their policies are being followed. The content […]