STRATEGIC CROPPING LAND ACT – HOW WILL IT EFFECT YOUR PROJECT?
The Strategic Cropping of Land Act 2011 (SCL Act) came into effect in January 2012, with the stated focus of achieving a balance between agriculture, mining and urban development.
For Coal Seam Gas and production projects which are on strategic cropping land (SCL) this will mean additional restrictions, assessment costs as they determine the extent to which a proposed project will impact on SCL and possible delays. Executive officers of these companies must inform themselves of the obligations under the SCL Act, as personal liability attaches to a failure of their company to comply with the legislation.
SHAREHOLDER OPPRESSION – WHEN TO VALUE SHARES FOR A COMPULSORY TRANSFER
A contentious issue in shareholder oppression cases is often the date at which the minority shareholders’ shares should be valued where the remedy of the Court orders a compulsory acquisition of the shares of the minority shareholder.
In a recent judgment, the Federal Court has revisited this question and reinforced that in the absence of the Corporations Act fixing the date at which valuation should occur, it is for the judge to fix a price for the shares that represents a fair value in all the circumstances of the case.
EMPLOYERS’ SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES – HAVE YOU GOT ONE?
The need for employers to have a clear social media policy in place and to review it regularly has been highlighted in recent cases where employers have sought to take disciplinary action for what are claimed to be ‘personal posts’ on media such as Facebook and Twitter.
Failure to not only have a policy in place, but also to acquaint employees with those policies may negatively impact on your business’ brand and reputation should an unacceptable comment be published, but also make disciplinary action unsuccessful.