Federal court rules no duty of care to Torres Strait Islanders in landmark climate case

By: Amanda Beattie, James Clohesy and Clare McNamara Justice Wigney delivered his judgment in Pabai Pabai v Commonwealth of Australia (Pabai) yesterday, an important decision in the context of climate change litigation in Australia and for government agencies across the country. Pabai was brought as a class action on behalf of all Torres Strait Islanders alleging […]

CPS 230 Operational Risk Management: Industry Survey 2025

Thank you to PFS Consulting for the opportunity to share findings from their CPS 230 Operational Risk Management Industry Survey for 2025. From 1 July 2025, Australia’s financial services sector enters a new era with the commencement of APRA’s CPS 230 – Operational Risk Management. This marks a significant shift in how operational risk, business […]

Is the new tort for serious invasion of privacy relevant to Government?

By: Clare McNamara and John McPherson From 10 June 2025, serious invasions of privacy are actionable as a new statutory tort in Australia. The new tort was introduced by addition of a new Schedule 2 to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Note that Schedule 2 was inserted into the Privacy Act 1988 by the Privacy and Other […]

Privacy Awareness Week 2025: Your privacy and reporting duties following a data breach or cyber incident

By: Kieran Doyle, Nicole Gabryk, Rebecca Wilson and Jordan Chen This Privacy Awareness Week, we’re taking a closer look at the privacy and regulatory reporting obligations businesses must navigate following a data breach or cyber incident. Recent reforms to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), new cyber security legislation, and other regulatory developments have introduced a […]

Thailand’s new law expands cybercrime prevention and enforcement powers

By: Ian Johnston, Sorawat Wongkaweepairot and Nuttida Doungwirote At a glance Expanded reporting requirements now apply to digital asset businesses, aligning them with traditional financial institutions. Banks and service providers must proactively block or close accounts linked to blacklisted individuals. A new central cybercrime authority has broad powers to investigate, suspend transactions, and publish offender […]

New tort of serious invasion of privacy

By: Richard Leder, Georgie Austin, Nicole Gabryk, Zoë Burchill and Isabelle Ferrali At a glance From 10 June 2025, serious invasions of privacy will become legally actionable in Australia. This marks a major reform, introducing a new privacy tort that allows individuals to bring claims for either intrusions upon seclusion (such as unauthorised surveillance) or […]

Unpacking privilege: Can forensic reports after cyber-attacks be shielded from production?

By: Kieran Doyle , Nicole Gabryk and Gavin Davies At a glance The Federal Court rejected Medibank’s claim of legal privilege over Deloitte’s forensic reports, finding they were created primarily for non-legal purposes such as managing ASX disclosures, public relations, and APRA oversight. Privilege was upheld for other materials, including those from CrowdStrike, Threat Intelligence, and […]

High Court of Australia endorses liability cap under Montreal Convention

By: James Cooper, Francois Guillot and Ethan Naylor Evans v Air Canada [2025] HCA 22 At a glance The High Court found Air Canada had not waived its right to limit liability under Article 21(2) of the Montreal Convention, despite language in its Tariff. A waiver of valuable legal rights requires clear, unambiguous wording – […]

The new Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth): What do “responsible persons” and their insurers need to know?

By: Yen Seah and Samantha Younane At a glance The Aged Care Act 2024 (Cth) comes into effect on 1 November 2025. The Act imposes a new statutory duty on directors and other persons responsible for the executive decisions of aged care providers. This includes those who have authority or responsibility for (or significant influence […]

Court of Appeal gives Victoria the “green light” for subrogated cladding recovery actions

By: Sarah Metcalfe State of Victoria (Department of Transport and Planning) v L.U. Simon Builders Pty Ltd & Ors At a glance In the subrogated recovery action brought by the State of Victoria against LU Simon and its directors in the County Court of Victoria (CI-23-03724) LU Simon argued that the State could not be […]