Aussie Lawyer Blog

Author: Simran Bal

  • Aboriginal Legal Service to withdraw its services from Karratha and Roebourne

    Aboriginal Legal Service to withdraw its services from Karratha and Roebourne

    It is quite unusual to come across an incidence where a public legal service discontinues its offerings to common masses. Recently, a service in Australia has been the part of such incidence, leaving the legal-representation seekers helpless. The Aboriginal Legal Service has decided to pull off its legal service out of Karratha and Roebourne.

    Aboriginal Legal Service is an Aboriginal community organization that has been offering legal services in Australia since 1970. The organization supported Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander women, men and children. The agency worked in the legal areas of family law, children law and children’s care and protection law.

    In the recent news published on August 11, 2015, Aboriginal Legal Service officially declared to withdraw their services from Karratha and Roebourne. The withdrawal will take effect from 18th August, 2015. It is the same date on which the Karratha Magistrates Court will increase its sitting days by twice per month. The ALS organization has already started sending letters to existing clients notifying that they can no longer represent them legally.

    Clients approaching other lawyers

    As soon as the news spread, the lawyers in Karratha are reporting that clients of ALS are approaching them for legal aids. General Michael Mischin, the state attorney, addressed media that this move of ALS will put extra pressure on Legal Aid.

    Adam Oswald, a renowned Kerratha lawyer said that various people have approached him complaining that they have recently received letters from ALS about the discontinuation of their service. In a statement, the lawyer said “it is a stressful period of time for people who found out that they are going for a trial and now all of a sudden will need to hire another legal representation”. While Adam managed to sort out the problems of the clients that approached him, he still remains concerned about other helpless legal-representation seekers. He also showed his concern saying that people who used to be looked after by ALS will be in deep trouble. He addressed the move as a regrettable one.

    Needless to say, the move is supposed to place pressure on Legal Aid. WA will have to use its state-funds to represent clients who were seeking legal help from ALS earlier. If facts are to be believed, around 80 percent of Legal Aid WA’s clients in Pilbara constitute Aboriginal people.

    ALS questions people’s approach to legal help

    The chief executive of Aboriginal Law Service, Mary Cowley has questioned whether people will be ready to access Legal Aid or not. She said that the question is significant given the number of Aboriginal people being incarnated.

    The ALS constitutes of 3 lawyers based in South Hedland who cover the areas of Pilbara. They also cover the circuit of Magistrate Dean Potter, with a court list describing as much as 100 people per day. The withdrawal of ALS will not be perfectly able to cover Potter’s circuit and the extra sittings week of Kerratha at the same time.

    Mischin also said that the ALS funding has eroded in the last few years. She feels that now, the state does not have the capacity to take responsibility of this Commonwealth.

    Response of Aboriginals

    Aboriginal people expressed their concern on this move. They felt bad as indigenous people would no longer be able to receive specialized legal representation. This move will also allow aboriginal people to explore legal services around them, rather than going to ALS for legal aid.

    However, since they never looked around, they might not feel comfortable in going to private services or Legal Aid. An Ngarluma native Belinda Chernside from Roebourne area expressed her grief saying that it is a time of crisis and the service should have been continued for longer. As a supportive gesture, ALS declared that they will always be ready to help clients as their lawyers know the backgrounds of the clients.

    About ALS

    The ALS is totally-funded organization of Federal Government. The organization achieved milestones in serving Aboriginal people throughout Australia. Working through 23 offices and 185 staff (constituting both Aboriginal and non-aboriginal people). The service area covers NSW and AST. It worked towards the goal of brining justice to Aboriginal people and community.

    Each region covered by ASL was managed by a Regional Manager reporting directly to Regional Manager. The protection law and family law practice used to be operated with Principal Legal officer who also used to report to Regional Manager. The executive staff of ASL included a Senior Management Team of ASL along with Chief legal officer, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

  • Gina Rinehart fined $130,000 by ASIC due to late accounts filing

    Gina Rinehart fined $130,000 by ASIC due to late accounts filing

    Georgina Gina Rinehart, the Australian mining tycoon is the chairman of Hancock prospecting group. She is the daughter of Lang Hancock and was reported as Australia’s wealthiest person in 2011 by Forbes Asia and Business Review Weekly. According to sources, the flagship private company of Gina Rinehart has been fined $130,000 for failing to lodge financial reports in a timely manner.

    The company was ordered to pay the penalties after pleading guilty to 13 breaching counts of section 319 of corporations’ act 2001. The act stipulates that every corporation must submit their annual report to Australian Securities and Investment Commission within the time period of four months at the end of financial year. Companies governed by Rinehart namely Hancock minerals, Hancock Prospecting and Hope Downs Iron Ore failed to lodge multiple financial reports on timely basis between 2008 and 2012.

    The penalty was declared by magistrate Richard Hudson heard at the Central Law Courts, Perth. The charge was conducted in April, 2015, following an ASIC investigation.

    Rinehart criticizes ‘unnecessary’ claim

    In a statement, a Hancock spokesperson addressed that the prosecution was not necessary as the companies have already paid their taxes on time. He further added that the financial reports were filed before the charges were placed. He supported the company saying that the Hancock Prospecting Group had paid billion of dollars as taxation in the year 2008.

    This fact has raised questions as to why private companies have to pay annual accounts to government when they have already paid tax on time while others do not. The spokesperson from Hancock Group also raised the question saying that ‘when government is attempting to introduce policies that alleviate the decline in the openings of small businesses, decline in investment, decline in explorations, is there a need for such government administrative actions?’

    ASIC commissioner defended the decision to prosecute

    In a statement, the ASIC commissioner who was in charge of the ASIC investigation defended the decision of prosecuting the penalty. He said that the financial accounts hold important information especially for creditors, shareholders and public as it helps them make informed decisions. The commissioner of ASIC further supported his defense saying that ASIC will continue taking enforcement action in opposition to companies who fail in meeting their financial reporting obligations.

    It is known that ASIC has prosecuted as much as 17 public companies, charging the same offense in the time period of July 2014 and April 2015. The Hancock prosecution is regarded as one of the most important. The maximum fine ordered in other prosecutions was $27,000.

     

     

    ASIC’s perspective over the issue

    The company has already been subjected to various over-regulation penalties. The owner of the company Gina Rinehart is supposed to be Australia’s richest person with a total wealth of $20 billion in 2014. However her wealth declined in the following year. The billionaire’s fortune was valued at $14.02 billion by BRW Rich List, 2015.

    In this case scenario, each company was initially charged a maximum penalty of $ 13,750. However, magistrate later found that the companies had pleaded guilty and filed the necessary outstanding accounts. This led to the reduction of penalties to $10,000.

    The magistrate addressed the court that this penalty be a reminder to the corporate world of Australia that the filings should be met in a timely and appropriate manner. He also said that high profile companies should be leading the way by meeting terms with relevant regulations.

    The action by ASIC was not a surprise act. The commission acted after a series of articles that appeared in the popular Sydney Morning Herald in 2012. The articles questioned why companies governed by several wealthy Australians like Rinehart, and Clive Palmer were not filing their accounts to the regulator as requisite.

    While government officials support this decision, some other agencies still disapprove it. In news, the Institute of Public Affairs published a note declaring that ASIC has lost its way while hopelessly distorting priorities. The Public Affairs earlier honored Gina Rinehart with ‘Free Enterprise Leader’ award.

    Effect on Rinehart’s projects

    According to some sources, the fine may affect the upcoming project of Rinehart Group of companies. As it happened, 2015 proves to be a landmark year for Gina as her new Roy Hill project is planned to initiate exporting iron or within the next couple months.

    The project was supposed to start exporting iron in September, but chief executive Barry Fitzgerald point that the project could be delayed to be started in October. The Rinehart’s new project Roy Hill is a joint business venture with a Japanese company Marubeni, Taiwan’s China Steel Corporation and Korean Steel giant POSCO.