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Personal Injuries Compensation
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The Queensland Personal Injuries Proceedings Amendment Act was passed on 21 August 2002.

The effect of the original Act which limited personal injury damages awards and legal costs is summarised at http://www.gnl.com.au/2002_07_01_bsnews#79541457

In response to concerns by doctors about continued medical insurance cover, the amendments make the changes retrospective to June 18.

They also exclude personal injuries arising from intentional acts, sexual assaults or other sexual misconduct from the legislation’s limitations on damages and costs.

The Queensland Government has also banned no win-no fee lawyer advertising and stopped jury trials for personal injury claims.

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Safety Switches
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The Queensland Electricity Amendment Regulation (No 3) 2002 requires a seller of a domestic residence to advise the buyer in the contract of sale whether an approved safety switch for the general socket outlets has been installed.

For all transfers where the contract is dated on or after 1 September 2002, the seller must state whether a safety switch has been installed in the premises and whether the buyer has been advised of this.

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Queensland Land Tax
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The Land Tax Amendment Act 2002 amends the Land Tax Act 1915 to give effect to the land tax changes
announced in the 2002-03 State Budget.

The following changes to the exemption threshold and rebates have been made-

The general 15% rebate will no longer be available to companies, trustees and absentees.
The exemption threshold for companies, trustees and absentees will be increased from $100,000 to $150,000.
The phasing-in rebate will now apply to absentees as well as companies and trustees.
The way in which the phasing-in rebate is calculated is also changing. The rebate will be adjusted to a maximum of 36% reducing by .5 percentage points for every $1,000 of taxable value over $150,000, cutting out at $215,000.
These changes apply to assessments for the 2002-03 and later financial years.

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Domain name confusion
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In a recent Queensland court decision, the owner of a highly descriptive company name has been able to stop another company from using that name as a domain name on the World Wide Web.

The Supreme Court of Queensland found that 'Architects Australia', the trading name of a Queensland architectural practice, was 'sufficiently fancy to be distinctive of the plaintiffs business'. The defendants use of the domain name www.architectsaustralia.com.au was found to be likely to deceive or confuse people into thinking the website was connected to the plaintiff.

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New Code of Banking Practice
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The Australian Bankers' Association has released the new Code of Banking Practice. The Code is the banking industry's code of conduct on best banking practice standards.

The new Code will not become operational until August 2003 .

Changes to the Code deal with credit assessment, guarantees and procedures for branch closures. The scope has been extended to cover any small business that employs less than 20 employees is covered, as well as a goods manufacturing business that employs less than 100 employees as well as individuals.

Download the Code

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Management and Creativity Tools
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Management Tools from http://www.netgm.com/
Try the Meeting Pricer at http://www.ninthhouse.com/elearning/tools/
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See How the Right Brain Works http://www.gocreate.com/
Walk into the Enchanted Mind http://www.enchantedmind.com
Get a Whack on the Side of the Head from Roger Van Oech http://www.creativethink.com