Information for the legal profession on
COVID-19 outbreak
We will continue to monitor and update the legal profession with the latest news regarding COVID-19.
Essential Services Factsheet
The Australian Medical Association has worked in partnership with the Law Council to produce a factsheet for essential workers. Read more.
Business Law Section (BLS)
Successful advocating by the BLS as part of the National Tax Liaison Group (NTLG) has resulted in the ACT Government exempting JobKeeper payments from being treated as wages for the purposes of calculating payroll tax in the Territory. Read more.
Updates from the Family Court and
Federal Circuit Court
Parenting-related disputes
The Courts are establishing a court list dedicated to deal exclusively with urgent parenting-related disputes that have arisen due to the COVID-19 pandemic that will commence on 29 April 2020. Read more.
Due to the vast majority of appearances in the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia being conducted electronically, a guide on the technical aspects of these appearances has been developed.
Guide for Practitioners and Litigants to Virtual Hearings and Microsoft Teams
Due to the vast majority of appearances in the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia being conducted electronically, a guide on the technical aspects of these appearances has been developed. Read more.
The Courts have a dedicated page for all COVID-19 related information for the profession at the following:
Updates from the Federal Court
In efforts to address challenges that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Guide to Good Practice on the Use of Video-Link under the Evidence Convention will be made available to the public at no charge on the HCCH website.
A link to the guide is available here.
You can also read the latest updates from the Federal Court here.
Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT)
The AAT have released new special practice directions for COVID 19. Read more.
The National COVID-19 Coordination Commission (NCCC)
The NCCC has written to the Law Council to encourage our members to consider how they can reconfigure or restructure their businesses to enable them and their employees to return to work. Read more.
Foreign Invest Review Board
Temporary measures in response to COVID-19 have been updated and are available here.
COVIDSafe app
The government has released the COVIDSafe app to speed up contacting people exposed to the virus. More information is available here.
Coronavirus app and Whatsapp channel
The Australian Government has also released a Coronavirus app and Whatsapp channel. The app is available on both Android and iPhones. To access the Whatsapp channel, you can go to the website.
Generally for more information on Coronavirus and the government’s response, please visit: www.treasury.gov.au/coronavirus or www.australia.gov.au.
Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Support
The ATO has set up an Emergency Support Infoline - 1800 806 218.
Jobs Hub website
The Federal Government has launched a site – Jobs Hub – which lists all available jobs on the internet, in a bid to help Australians out of work because of coronavirus. Read more.
