Zouki Lawyers

On behalf of Management and Staff at Zouki Lawyers, we wish all a very Merry Christmas and safe and Happy New Year.

Contact Zouki Lawyers in relation to updates to Landlords and Tenants

Zouki Lawyers wishes all a very blessed and happy Eid Al Adha.

HAVE A WORK PLACE QUESTION, CONTACT ZOUKI LAWYERS TODAY

ONE IN FIVE PART-TIME WORKERS WANT MORE HOURS

New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that 20% of Australia’s part-time workers considered themselves underemployed.

28 June 2022
The latest ABS statistics show there were 821,000 part-time workers who preferred and were available to work more hours. Additionally, about half of the underemployed part-time workers preferred to work full-time hours (47.5%).

Most of those part-time underemployed workers wanted just another 10 hours of work while 44.4% had spent a year or more working in a job with insufficient hours.

The ABS said the number of underemployed part-time workers has actually fallen 189,000 from 1,010,000 in February 2021 (which was 24.9% of all part-time workers). That decline was broken down into men, which fell by 95,000 from 421,000 to 326,000 (32.1% to 25.8%) and women which fell by 94,000 from 589,000 to 494,000 (21.4% to 17.6%).

“In February 2022, about half of the underemployed part-time workers preferred to work full-time hours (47.5% or 389,700 underemployed part-time workers),” the ABS said.

“The other half preferred to work more hours but remain working part-time (52.5%, or 431,200 underemployed part-time workers). Of that, it was men aged 25 to 44 years who were most likely to prefer to work full time (73.3%), while women aged 65 years and over were least likely to prefer to work full time (8.1%).

In February 2022, 364,200 underemployed part-time workers spent a year or more working in a job with insufficient hours (44.4% of all underemployed part-time workers), according to the ABS.

Half of all underemployed part-time workers worked with insufficient hours for 39 weeks or less (median duration of insufficient hours).

Additionally, of the 821,000 underemployed part-time workers, just under half (44.6%) took active steps to look for additional hours. More than a quarter of workers had asked the current employer for more work (25.5%).

"For underemployed part-time workers who looked for work or more hours in February 2022, the top five difficulties in finding more work related to challenges associated with the pandemic (14.5%)," the ABS said.

"There were also too many applicants for available jobs (12.1%) (down from 19.6% in February 2021), no vacancies in line of work (10.3%) or insufficient work experience and lacked necessary skills or education (7.7%).

"If a suitable job had been offered, 14.4% were prepared to move interstate, and 17.9% were prepared to move within their state or territory.

"Over half of underemployed part-time workers (53.6%) preferred not to change employers in order to work more hours."

The ABS found there were about 13.6 million employed people in May 2022, with 1,470,500 underemployed. Of these, about 305,100 people had their hours reduced – 115,100 were employed full-time and 190,100 employed part-time

There were also 108,200 people who were in both categories – they had their hours reduced to less than usual and also preferred to work more than usual hours.

In May 2022, there were a total of 16.9 million hours not worked. Of these 14.1 million hours were not worked by people who preferred more hours, and 2.9 million hours were not worked by people who had their hours reduced.

UPDATES OF WAGE INCREASE. CONTACT ZOUKI LAWEYRS FOR MORE INFORAMTION AND YOUR RIGHTS.

FAIR WORK COMMISSION ANNOUNCES 5.2% WAGE INCREASE
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has raised the national minimum wage by 5.2%, with Australia’s lowest paid workers set to receive a $40 a week pay raise from 1 July.

15 June 2022
The minimum wage will be lifted $1.05 an hour from its $20.33 base from July 1, an increase of 5.2%, to $21.38 an hour. It is equivalent to a pay raise of $40 a week and takes the weekly minimum wage to $812.60.

Minimum wages in modern awards will be increased by either:

$40 per week (where the current minimum wage is $869.60 per week or less) or
4.6% (where the current minimum wage is greater than $869.60 per week).
The increases will be delayed for the awards in the aviation, tourism, and hospitality industries until October 1.
For more details on the decision and how it affects your business click here.

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross said economic conditions and the rising cost of inflation were putting too much pressure on low-paid workers to ignore.

“We have concluded that the changes in the economic context are in favour of an increase in the national minimum wages,” Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross said.

"Given the current strength of the labour market, the adjustments we propose to make will not have a significant adverse effect on the performance and competitiveness of the national economy."

Zouki Lawyers were honoured and very proud to have visited Darusalam Society at DarUSaleem Mosque in Preston where Ahmad Lababidi provided legal advice.

Zouki Lawyers wishes all mothers a very happy mothers day.

Wishing all a very happy Eid Al Fitr

Today is Anzac Day. We commemorate those who have fallen. Lest we forget.

On behalf of The Hon Faddy Zouky OAM, Management and Staff at Zouki Lawyers, we wish all Orthodox Christian communities a happy and holy Easter.
Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter on the date from the Julian calender and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed of the Eastern Orthodox Church.

On behalf of Mr Faddy Zouky OAM, Managements and Staff at Zouki Lawyers, we wish all a very safe and Happy Easter.

News
ACCC WARNS OF MONEY RECOVERY SCAMS
Australians are being warned to be aware of uninvited offers of help to recover money for an initial payment, following a spike in reports of money recovery scams.

6 April 2022
These scams target people who have already lost money to a previous scam by promising to help victims recover their losses after paying a fee in advance. Australians have lost more than $270,000 to these scams so far this year, an increase of 301%.

“Scammers will ask for money and personal information before offering to ‘help’ the victim and will then disappear and stop all contact,” ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said.

“Money recovery scams are particularly nasty as they target scam victims again. These scams can lead to significant psychological distress as many of the people have already lost money or identity information.”

This year, Scamwatch has received 66 reports of money recovery scams, a 725% increase compared to the same period in 2021.

Scammers target previous scam victims, contacting them out of the blue, and posing as a trusted organisation such as a law firm, fraud taskforce, or government agency. They may have official-looking websites and use fake testimonials from other victims they have ‘helped’.

IS YOUR BUSINESS CYBER SAFE?
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DISCOVER MORE
As well as an advance payment, they often ask victims to fill out fake paperwork or provide identity documents. Scammers may request remote access to computers or smartphones, enabling them to scam their unsuspecting victims.

Another tactic scammers use is to contact people by phone or email who haven’t actually been a victim of a scam and convince them that they’ve unknowingly been involved in one and are entitled to a settlement refund.

“If you get contacted out of the blue by someone offering to help recover scam losses for a fee, it is a scam. Hang up the phone, delete the email and ignore any further contacts,” Ms Rickard said.

“Don’t give financial details or copies of identity documents to anyone who you’ve never met in person and never give strangers remote access to your devices.”

“Scammers can be very convincing and one way to spot them is to search online for the name of the organisation who contacted you with words like ‘complaint’, ‘scam’ or ‘review’,” Ms Rickard said.

People who have lost money to a scam should contact their bank or financial institution as soon as possible. If they are not happy with the financial institution's response, victims can make a complaint to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) which is a free and independent dispute resolution service.

Financial institutions may be able to find where the money was sent, block the scam accounts and help others to avoid sending money to scammers.

People who are a victim of a scam or identity theft should act quickly to reduce the risk of financial loss or other damages.

Contact Zouki Lawyers for more details.

On behalf of Management and Staff at Zouki Lawyers, we wish all a prosperous and blessed Ramadan.

GOVERNMENT WARNS OF NEW CYBER THREAT TO BUSINESSES
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has highlighted the potential for cybercriminals to impersonate a business by registering a new domain name.


Starting 24 March, anyone with a local connection to Australia including businesses, associations and individuals will be able to register a new category of domain name.

The ACSC said these shorter simpler domain names will end in .au rather than .com.au, .net.au, .org.au, .gov.au or .edu.au.

All Australian businesses will have until 20 September to reserve their .au equivalent domain name, then it becomes available to the general public. While the new category of domain name allows users to register shorter, more memorable online names, it also creates another avenue for cybercriminals to conduct fraudulent cyber activities.

Contact Zouki Lawyers today for more details.

Australia to reopen borders to international travel

Australia implemented some of the world's strictest border controls during the pandemic
Australia has announced the reopening of its borders to vaccinated tourists and other visa holders for the first time in almost two years.

"If you're double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The reopening, on 21 February, will be welcome news for many sectors including international education.

Australia has had some of the world's strictest border controls throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

In March 2020, the government closed the borders. It barred most foreigners from entering the country and put caps on total arrivals to help combat Covid.

Some international students and skilled migrants have been permitted to enter the country since last December.

On Monday, Mr Morrison said those entering Australia when the borders fully reopened would need to provide proof of vaccination: "That's the rule. Everyone is expected to abide by it," he said.

Unvaccinated travellers who have a medical reason for not being jabbed will still need to apply for a travel exemption and, if successful, will be required to quarantine at a hotel.

CONTACT ZOUKI LAWYERS TODAY FOR ANY VISA APPLICATIONS, BRIDGING VISAS AND ANY OTHER VISA INQUIRY

Xin Nian Kuai Le – Happy New Year!

Today we celebrate the beginning of the Lunar New Year. Happy Lunar New Year

Today we celebrate Australia Day

VISA REBATES
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister announced the government would offer international students a visa rebate on their application fees as a way to encourage them to return to Australia.

Please contact Zouki Lawyers for further details.

Zouki Lawyers are very proud of their community service at all times. Congratulations to our Senior Associate Olivia Kalash

We are pleased to introduce our first AACSAN young achiever of 2022, Olivia Kalash.

Olivia has previously completed a Bachelor of Social Science, majoring in Criminal Justice. Olivia has also completed a Bachelor of Laws from and obtained her Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the College of Law.

Olivia is currently an Associate Solicitor at Zouki Lawyers.

Olivia has extensive experience working in the private legal sector, and has a profound knowledge and passion in law.

Olivia has represented and from diverse backgrounds who have engaged Australia’s protection obligations under the Convention. She was a party to the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme (IAAAS), an Australian Government project providing funding to qualified, independent immigration lawyers to deliver immigration advice and primary visa application assistance to people who arrived lawfully in Australia.

Olivia has expressed the following: “throughout my career, I have created strong relationships within our community and as such expanded my experience, knowledge and legal skills by worked across a board range of complex legal areas including family, criminal, immigration, litigation and commercial legal matters.

The AACSAN family is extremely proud of Olivia’s contribution within the legal industry and in particular, her involvement in assisting those unprivileged and unable to attain justice on their own.

On behalf of the Hon Faddy Zouky OAM Principal and all staff at Zouki Lawyers, we wish all a very Merry Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Dear clients and associates,

Please refer to the below updates, in particular the links relating to new recordkeeping obligations for company directors.

Company Directors – new administrative requirement “myGOV Director ID”

Following recent changes to Australian companies law, all company directors are now required to apply for a myGOV Director ID.
When:
• by 30 November 2022 if you were a Director before 30/11/21.
• Within 28 days of appointment if appointed between 1/11/21 and 4/4/22
• before appointment from 5/4/22
How to apply.

Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021

The Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 last month received Royal Assent.

The changes include revenue and tax relief initiatives announced as part of the 2020-21 and 2021-22 Victorian budgets.

Key changes include:
• introduction of a new windfall gains tax which takes effect from 1 July 2023.
• amendments to land tax exemptions for private gender-exclusive clubs and charities.
• the build-to-rent land tax concession.
Find out more about these amendments.

Australian Government Cyber Security Centre Guide

This guide has been developed to help small businesses protect themselves from the most common cyber security incidents (Pdf version). I encourage you to peruse this document if you need a refresher on the perils of cybercrime.

Lastly, together with the team at Zouki Lawyers wish you all the best over the Christmas/New Year’s period.

We will close for the Christmas break 5.00 pm Thursday 23 December 2021, and reopen 9.00 am Monday 10 January 2022.

Zouki Lawyers

Please note that Australia's borders are opening. Please contact Zouki Lawyers in relation to appropriate and relevant visas.

Australia is reopening its border to vaccinated travellers as part of our step by step and safe reopening to the world.
From 1 December 2021, fully vaccinated eligible visa holders can come to Australia without needing to apply for a travel exemption.
Eligible visa holders include skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family visa holders.
Under these arrangements, travellers must:
• Be fully vaccinated with a completed dosage of a vaccine approved or recognised by Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
• Hold a valid visa for one of the eligible visa subclasses
• Provide proof of their vaccination status
• Present a negative COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test taken within three days of departure.
Travellers to Australia must comply with the quarantine requirements in the state or territory of their arrival, and any other state or territory to which they plan to travel.
https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/vaccinated-travellers

Intellectual Property Patents Trademarks and Copyright

Ensure you know the essentials of protecting and exploiting intellectual property, including patenting invention; registering designs and trademarks; copyright and its use in protection of designs and trademarks; trademarks in business; infringement proceedings; domain names and dispute resolution proceedings and a review of conducting searches for patents, trademarks and designs. Contact Zouki Lawyers today for more details.

Do not miss out on this very insightful Legal Seminar. Tonight at 7pm. Follow links below to join.

1 in 4 Aussie SMEs don’t have a data privacy policy

The vast majority of Australia’s 2.4 million small businesses are desperately unprepared for sweeping reforms to the Commonwealth Privacy Act, according to new research by global technology.

The report, released this week, found that just one-third of small businesses currently have a defined and documented data privacy policy.

Ahead of large-scale parliamentary changes that will see many businesses face increased fines and penalties for breaches, the report found that only 35% of small businesses surveyed have a defined, documented and enforced policy regarding personal data collected, used and disclosed through their business.

Presently, only businesses with a turnover of more than $3million, and select other organisations, must be compliant. However, all businesses as a matter of best practice have a duty to protect their businesses and the data of those using it. Those that don’t could be more susceptible to breaches, which are increasing in both regularity and severity.

According to Zoho’s research, one in four (27%) businesses either don’t have a data privacy policy or don’t know if they do. The remaining 38% of businesses have an informal policy, an unenforced policy or have not read their policy.

“Data privacy is one of the defining issues for the business community today. Unfortunately, confusion and uncertainty reign supreme among Australia’s small businesses,” said chief strategy officer.

“Many of those who must be compliant with proposed regulatory changes are desperately unprepared, while the vast majority — whether the Privacy Act applies to them or not — are very vulnerable to a breach that could have significant consequences.”

It is easy for small businesses to overlook their responsibilities when it comes to data privacy, but the threat and the potential cost is real.

“Small businesses cannot be expected to become privacy and cyber-security experts, so the technology industry and policymakers must make awareness, education and action among these businesses a top priority. Otherwise, with regulation becoming more stringent, penalties more severe and attacks more prevalent and damaging, small businesses will be unfairly and disproportionately impacted. For them, a breach could be catastrophic.”

Third-party “cookies” have in many ways come to define the debate around data privacy. However, many small businesses are unaware and ambivalent about their use. One in three (33%) are entirely unaware that tracking occurs via cookies in their business in the first place, and a further 32% are aware that it happens but do not communicate it to their customers.

Slightly fewer than half (43%) are either uncomfortable or very uncomfortable with their customers’ data being used by companies they had no direct relationship with, 32% were ambivalent while 25% are either comfortable or very comfortable with their customers’ data being accessed.

“Australia is a nation of entrepreneurs, and while running a small business should be celebrated and encouraged, there are critical data requirements,” “Operating a business — no matter the industry — in a COVID-normal world will be dependent on collecting more data — for health and safety measures and as a competitive advantage — than ever before. The reforms are designed to protect, but they must allow adequate time to, first, educate small businesses about their requirements and then ensure that they’re compliant.”

Almost half (44%) of the businesses allow tracking on their website to share content on social media sites — some of which have been involved in well-documented privacy breaches. Almost a quarter (21%) use third parties to track advertising activity. Google (30%) and Facebook (25%) are the dominant platforms, garnering over half of all small business advertising activity.

Support needed for education, retail

According to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), the three most common industries to experience and report a data breach are financial services, healthcare and education. While almost half of financial services and healthcare bodies have strong policies and practices, only 22% of educational institutions have a defined, documented and enforced data privacy policy.

Few industries have changed more drastically in the wake of the pandemic than education, with millions of students participating in remote education. Not only do the majority of education providers not have a defined, documented and enforced policy, but they are also three times more likely to say technology vendors had done a bad or unsatisfactory job of explaining data tracking (39%) than those who had done a good job (14%).

With lockdowns closing high streets for prolonged periods, e-commerce sales have reached new heights over the last 18 months. Despite their reliance on online channels, fewer than one in three retailers (31%) have a defined, documented and enforced data privacy policy; a grave figure as the busy retail season approaches.

Zouki Lawyers are comfortable that we have the systems in place to provide the safety and security that our clients deserve. However, hackers are becoming more aggressive and sophisticated, so we have to be smarter and more diligent in safeguarding our business. The safety of our clients and the reputation of our business depends on it.

Contact Zouki Lawyers today to discuss

Economy to return to pre-Delta strength by mid-2022: RBA

The Reserve Bank expects to leave rates on hold until 2024 but anticipates the economy will bounce back once restrictions are lifted.

In its monthly meeting, the RBA noted that while the Delta outbreak has interrupted the recovery of the Australian economy, the setback is expected to be only temporary.

“As vaccination rates increase further and restrictions are eased, the economy is expected to bounce back,” Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe said.

“Many businesses are now planning for the easing of restrictions and confidence has held up reasonably well. There is, however, uncertainty about the timing and pace of the bounce-back and it is likely to be slower than that earlier in the year.”

Mr Lowe added that much will depend on the nature and timing of the easing of restrictions on activity.

“In our central scenario, the economy will be growing again in the December quarter and is expected to be back around its pre-Delta path in the second half of next year,” he said.

Jobs and wage growth

Mr Lowe noted that the restrictions on activity have had a significant effect on the labour market.

“Hours worked — the best indicator of labour market conditions at the moment — declined by nearly 4% in August,” he said.

Wage and price pressures also remain subdued in Australia. In underlying terms, inflation is running at around 1.75% and wages, as measured by the Wage Price Index, are increasing at just 1.7%.

“While disruptions to global supply chains are affecting the prices of some goods, the impact of this on the overall rate of inflation remains limited,” Mr Lowe said.

The RBA will not increase the cash rate until actual inflation is sustainably within the 2% to 3% target range, which is not expected until at least 2024.

Contact Zouki Lawyers for more advice.

Do you own a business? Have you applied for all the available entitlements to support you through this lockdown?
Join our lawyers for A FREE Friday night seminar discussing recent changes in legislation and policy!

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ZOUKI LAWYERS together with the AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND LEBANON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

invite you to attend

FREE INFORMATION SEMINAR: UPDATES FOR BUSINESSES
DURING COVID 19

FRIDAY 1 OCTOBER 2021 AT 7PM

Invite you to attend a Free Information Seminar
Areas covered, but not limited to:
contractual matters leasing matters insolvency matters employment matters updates on Government legislation in relation to rent
relief/rent deferral for both tenants and landlords updates on Government Grants in relation to COVID 19

And so much more
All questions will be answered.
Click here to join the meeting
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Dear clients and associates,

Zouk Lawyers has collated some important links that are relevant to employers. All highlighted mattes are time sensitive.

Changes to casual employment laws

By 27 September 2021, employers (other than small business employers) must have assessed whether any of their existing casual employees employed before 27 March 2021, are eligible to be offered to convert to permanent employment.
Employers must:
• make a written offer to convert their casual employee to permanent employment (this must be done within 21 days after making the assessment), or
• write to their employee explaining why they won’t be making an offer (this needs to be done no later than 27 September 2021).

The Fair Work Ombudsman has summarised how employers must accommodate the new causal employment laws. If you need further clarification, Zouki Lawyers can explain how these changes might affect your business.

Commercial Tenancy Relief Scheme

Under this scheme, eligible business owners can obtain rent relief.

Note that the cut-off date for applications for relief for the period commencing 28 July is 30 September 2021. Counsel Sam Hopper has provided a useful memorandum, where it is recommended that applicants apply for relief for June/July/August only. Relief which captures the September period should be accounted for in a future application.

New ATO “staple super fund” requirements

If you have a new employee from 1 November 2021 and they haven’t nominated a superfund, you may be required to request from the ATO said employee’s ‘staple super fund’ details.

Penalties apply for non-compliance. If you are unsure about these new obligations, I encourage you to contact your accountant to discuss.

Does your insurance policy cover COVID-19 related business interruption?

This article, which appeared in The Australian, reports that corporate regulator ASIC is calling on the insurance industry to reconsider denied claims for losses arising from the pandemic.

The Courts are in the process of determining whether the effects of COVID-19 fall within the ambit of business interruption insurance policies. Policyholders are encouraged to contact their insurers to make a claim where applicable.

Please contact Zouki Lawyers for more details.