Elizabeth Bishop

Notional GST payments by local councils under an intergovernmental agreement with the Commonwealth are a voluntary act, not an impermissible tax in breach of the Constitution, the High Court has ruled.

Twenty barristers have risen to the ranks of senior counsel in New South Wales, including a veteran defamation barrister, two counsel with class action expertise and part of the team that saw ASIC’s claims against two Rio Tinto executives dropped.

A judge has criticised the parties in a land sale dispute over Sydney’s Parklea Markets for failing to make progress to bring the case to a close, almost three months after a $4.25 million judgment was awarded to a company owned by local retail personality Con Constantine.