Welcome

It’s 2025 – Happy New Year

It is hard to believe that we are already into the working year of 2025! We hope everyone reading this newsletter had a relaxing and enjoyable break.

Our team has enjoyed some time away from the office with family and friends. This has even included some lovely sunshine in Melbourne! Andrew and Roxie both loved watching the Aussies win the Test Series against India (especially the 5-day thriller at the MCG!). Other team members were significantly less invested…

Now we are back working, we are looking forward to continuing to assist our clients and wish everyone a successful 2025. If you need any help and think we can assist, please reach out!

Best Wishes

Andrew, Roxie, Yee, Dani, Ash & Mikayla

Quarter Highlights

Elevating Lives

This quarter we decided to make our Elevating Lives donation a bit closer to home. We were all touched by the tragic loss of best friends Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones in November 2024 from methanol poisoning while holidaying in Laos and Thailand. Their passing was particularly felt by Elevate team member Mikayla, who was a friend and teammate of Holly’s.

We have therefore made a $4,000 donation to the GoFundMe fundraiser in memory of Holly and Bianca. This campaign, organised by the families of Bianca and Holly, aims to raise awareness about the dangers of methanol poisoning — a silent but deadly risk that often claims lives without warning. If you would also like to contribute to the campaign, you can do so here.

The girls were only 19 and had their whole lives ahead of them. Elevate sends our well wishes and thoughts to all of Holly and Bianca’s family and friends.

Celebrating Clients

In this, the first newsletter of the year, we would like to give a special mention to our loyal and long-term clients. The following clients have been with us for five years or more and supported us by subscribing to our Alliance service. It is in part because of them that we are able to make our Elevating Lives commitment each quarter, so a big thank you from the Elevate team to:

Covidence – https://www.covidence.org/

Livewire Markets – https://www.livewiremarkets.com/

The Evolved Group – https://www.theevolvedgroup.com/

Scalene Group – https://www.scalenesolutions.com/

MGA Thermal – https://www.mgathermal.com/

Castlepoint Systems – https://www.castlepoint.systems/

Bueno Analytics – https://buenoanalytics.com/

Camms – https://cammsgroup.com/en_au/

Race Oncology – https://raceoncology.com/

We look forward to continuing to work with the above teams, and all of our clients this year.

Legal briefing

Privacy law amendments

On 10 December 2024 the Privacy and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2024 (Cth) (Act) was enacted into law. The Act amends the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act) and implements the first of the changes that were agreed by the Government in September 2023 (which has been covered in a previous newsletter).

The key reforms include:

• new statutory cause of action for serious invasions of privacy;

• new criminal offence of “doxxing”, meaning the release of personal data in a manner that would reasonably be regarded as menacing or harassing;

• requirement for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) to develop a Children’s Online Privacy Code to address online privacy for children;

• new civil penalties:

• new powers for the OAIC to issue infringement notices and compliance notices;

• new requirement for all privacy policies to include information about automated decision-making (a computer program using personal information to make a decision that ‘could reasonably be expected to significantly affect the rights or interests of an individual’); and

• clarifying that taking ‘reasonable steps’ to protect the security of personal information includes implementing technical and organisational measures.

Since the Bill was introduced, and we last gave an update, there have been some changes:

1. Tort for serious invasion of privacy. This new cause of action allows an individual to sue another person where that person has invaded the individual’s privacy by intruding upon their seclusion or misusing information relating to them. An individual must prove the following elements:

– there has been an invasion of privacy by either intrusion (e.g. physical intrusion into a private space) or misuse of information that belongs to the individual;

– the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the circumstances;

– the invasion of privacy was intentional or reckless rather than just negligent (there must be an element of fault);

– the invasion was serious; and

– the public interest in the individual’s privacy is more important than any countervailing public interest, such as freedom of the media.

2. OAIC compliance notices. Amendments in the Senate now also enable the OAIC to issue compliance notices if they ‘reasonably believe’ that an entity has breached the Privacy Act. Any compliance notice issued by the OAIC must set out the details of the contravention and specify:

– the steps the entity must take to address the contravention and/or to ensure that the conduct constituting resulting in the breach is not repeated or continued; and

– the time period within which the steps must be taken (which must be a reasonable period).

Any entity that complies with a compliance notice is not taken to have admitted to the contravention just by complying with the notice.

The key reforms commenced on 11 December 2024, except for:

• updating privacy policies to include automated decision-making which commences on 11 December 2026; and

• the new tort for the serious invasion of privacy which will commence on a date yet to be fixed (but 10 June 2025 at the latest).

Australia’s first Cyber Security Act

In late November 2024 the Cyber Security Legislative Package (Package) was enacted, meaning the following Acts are now law:

  • Cyber Security Act 2024 (Cth) (Cyber Security Act);
  • Intelligence Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Cyber Security) Act 2024 (Cth); and
  • Security of Critical Infrastructure and Other Legislation Amendment (Enhanced response Prevention Act 2024 (Cth).

The Cyber Security Act is Australia’s first standalone cyber security statute and the other two amend existing legislation.

The Package is intended to address legislative gaps to bring Australia in line with international best practice. This includes:

  • mandating minimum cyber security standards for smart devices;
  • introducing mandatory ransomware reporting obligations for certain businesses to report ransom payments;
  • ntroducing ‘limited use’ obligations for the National Cyber Security Coordinator; and
  • establishing a Cyber Incident Review Board.

There is a lot of information to be communicated about these cyber security laws and we will be sharing further information with our Alliance clients in due course. If you are interested in learning more about our Alliance subscription service, please get in touch.

 

Wage Theft Laws now in force

From 1 January 2025, new wage theft laws have come into force in Australia which mean that intentional underpayment of wages or entitlements can be a criminal offence. This includes failing to pay minimum rates of pay, overtime rates, penalty rates, and superannuation.

Under these new laws, intentional wage theft can result in the following penalties:

  • for individuals: fines of up to $1.56 million (or three times the amount of underpayment, whichever is greater); or ten years imprisonment; and
  • for companies, fines of up to $7.25 million (or three times the amount of underpayment, whichever is greater).

Theoretically, the above penalties apply to each individual breach of the wage theft laws, however under section 557 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) there are ‘grouping’ provisions which can deem multiple breaches to be a single contravention.

If you are an employer, you should take proactive steps to review your payroll processes, any applicable awards (or enterprise agreements) and your employee’s employment contracts to ensure that all employees are being paid in full, on time and in accordance with any external requirements. If you would like a referral to a specialist employment lawyer for advice on your payment obligations, please contact us.

 

Mandatory Merger Regime

On 10 December 2024 the Treasury Laws Amendment (Mergers and Acquisitions Reform) Act (2024) was enacted into law, introducing a mandatory administrative merger regime. The regime will come into effect for transactions that complete on or after 1 January 2026 and will replace the existing merger review framework in Australia.

From 1 January 2026, all acquisitions where the applicable ‘control’ and ‘monetary’ thresholds are met, must be notified to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and these transactions cannot complete without ACCC clearance.

New merger authorisation and informal clearance applications can no longer be made after 30 June 2025 and 31 December 2025, respectively. Businesses conducting acquisition transactions will need to plan their timelines carefully to avoid having to restart the process under the new regime when they are already partway through the transaction. Parties that are merging may make a voluntary notification for an acquisition under the new regime from 1 July 2025.

Below sets out the thresholds for notifying a transaction:

Entities, including, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), may still require clearance, even where the transaction falls below the thresholds. The law still prevents mergers that will likely have the effect of substantially lessening competition, therefore an SME that is making an acquisition in a concentrated industry, or which has a dominant position in a small market, may still require clearance from the ACCC.

Any acquisitions that do not result in gaining control or a change in control are not required to be notified. In this instance, ‘control’ means the capacity to determine the outcome of decisions regarding the target’s financial and operating policies. Obtaining shares in a listed company or other bodies corporate under Chapter 6 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) are also not required to be notified if the voting power of that person in the entity does not increase to more than 20% or between 20% and 100%.

There are still further details to be released about the new regime, and we will keep you updated when these are announced.

Diversions

 

A selection of things taking up time outside work:

  • Everyone Here Is Lying, Shari Lapena. This was one of those easy Summer reads that I flew through in two days. The story centres around the neighbourhood of Stanhope, which until now has been considered very safe. The change comes when 9-year-old Avery is reported missing by her family and everyone on the street, including her father William, becomes a suspect. The secrets of many residents on the street are brought to light as everyone wonders what could have possibly happened to Avery. (Roxie)

  • The Day of the Jackal, Foxtel / Binge. Wow! I loved this series so much. If you like anything in the thriller / spy genre, this is the show for you! The Jackal (played by Eddie Redmayne who is amazing in the role) is an elusive assassin who makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. He soon meets his match in a British intelligence officer who tracks him down and a cat-and-mouse chase across Europe ensues. (Roxie)

  • Spotify 2024 Wrapped: OK, here’s my 2024 data: 77,848 minutes (top 2% of listeners worldwide), 6,106 songs from 3,432 artists. My most played song (77 times) was Ease My Mind by Arlo Mac.  My top artist was No Cigar (top 0.05% fan), then Mako Road, Sticky Fingers, Chet Faker and Lime Cordiale.  According to the magic algorithm, September was my ‘Entertaining Beach House Nu Disco’ phase, and October was ‘Coastal Grandmother Old School Soul Motown’ (I don’t remember seeing those genres in the Brashs vinyl record selection!)  Enjoy your 2025 listening.  (Andrew)

  • Harry Potter series, During the school holidays, our family decided to revisit the magic of Hogwarts. The Harry Potter series remains a timeless classic that captivates audiences of all ages. Each scene brought back fond memories of the first time we watched the series, and it was so much fun sharing the magic with the kids again. With countless hours of entertainment, rewatching this beloved series was the perfect choice for a cozy family movie marathon. (Yee)

  • Victory City (2023), Salman Rushdie: I’m not into fiction, especially if it has supernatural themes, so this was an odd choice for me. But it is also a pretty ambitious attempt to tackle religion, history, power and governance, gender, diversity, human fallibility and the harshness of reality in one incredible tale about the rise and fall of a mythical empire. It has Rushdie’s unique brand of vivid, accessible and witty storytelling, blends myth and history, and is beautifully layered but not cryptic – the parallels between fantasy and reality are many and obvious. It means you can choose to simply enjoy a rich story or analyse something more complex, and neither requires much effort. (Ash)

  • Rabbit Hole (2020), a podcast by the New York Times, uses real life examples to explore how internet media (like YouTube or TikTok) can insidiously condition and distort personal belief systems and change lives. It looks at the link between algorithms and behaviour influence (including radicalisation) and poses some questions about responsibility in this context. A great, accessible look at how the digital world shapes minds and reality. The podcast is now 5 years old but no less relevant – YouTube’s dominance may have waned as other platforms like TikTok gained popularity, but the principles are the same. (Ash)

  • The Formula (2024), Joshua Robinson & Jonathan Clegg. I’ve been too busy moving and renovating to pick up a book so I would listen to audiobooks!  Yee, you have to listen to this. Yes, you may have figured that we love F1.  This book devles into more than just the glamour and aesthetics of the sport.  It goes back to the 1950s in Britain, where postwar ingenuity laid the foundations for a new type of motorcar racing, insight into the Senna/Ecclestone partnership, Spygate, Crashgate, all the gates!  (Dani)

  • Lady Somers Big Camp (2025). I’ve been busy volunteering as a staff member at Lord Somers Camp and Power House’s flagship ‘Big Camp’. As the head of the photography department, I led a team of 7 kind, hard-working women as we were tasked with capturing all the best and most memorable moments from the week on camera. It was super refreshing to disconnect from the outside world with a group of people who thrive on the values of belonging, acceptance and being silly. The support of the other staff in various departments also helped me increasingly believe in my abilities as I took on this new role for the first time! The most rewarding part of camp was seeing how the participants (one hundred 16–18-year-old girls and non-binary people) started the week as complete strangers to each other, and ended the week with so many new friends, many of whom saying they ‘found their people’ and ‘felt like they could truly be themselves’. I can’t wait to go back next January! (Mikki)