'State' of play : Queensland report

A number of recent legislative amendments impact on property law practice in Queensland. Property Law (Mortgagor Protection) Amendment Act 2008 (Qld) Body Corporate and Community Management Amendment Act 2009 (Qld) Residential Tenancies and Rooming Accommodation Act 2008 (Qld) Sustainable Planning Act 2009 (Qld) Vegetation Management and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 (Qld) Property Agents and Motor Dealers Act 2000 (Qld

A changing landscape: the mortgagee's power of sale in Queensland

In Australia, the extent of a mortgagee’s duty when exercising power of sale has long been the subject of conjecture. With the advent of the global financial crisis in the latter part of 2008, there has been some concern to ensure that the interests of mortgagors are adequately protected. In Queensland, concern of this type resulted in the enactment of the Property Law (Mortgagor Protection) Amendment Act 2008 (Qld). This amending legislation operates to both extend and strengthen the operation of s 85 of the Property Law Act 1974 (Qld) which regulates the mortgagee’s power of sale in Queensland. This article examines the impact of this amending legislation which was hastily introduced and passed by the Queensland Parliament without consultation and which introduces a level of prescription in relation to a sale under a prescribed mortgage which is without precedent elsewhere in Australia

Conveyancing and property law: Black v Garnock

What was previously established as a fundamental principle, that a judgment creditor may take no interest beyond what the judgment debtor could give, has now been called into question by the decision of the High Court in Black v Garnock [2007] HCA 31. This article examines the implications of the decision of the High Court for conveyancing practice in Queensland. The relevant facts of Black v Garnock [2007] HCA 31 may be briefly stated: The Garnocks and the Luffs, as purchasers, entered a contract to purchase a rural property from Mrs Smith with settlement due on 24 August 2005. On 23 August 2005, a creditor obtained a writ against Mrs Smith from the District Court of New South Wales. No caveat was lodged on behalf of the purchasers prior to settlement (there being no equivalent, in New South Wales, of the Queensland settlement notice mechanism)

Making further inquiries: policing in context in Brixton and Khayelitsha

Only rarely do inquiries into policing investigate the social context within which it takes place. This article looks at two inquiries which chose to take on this task: Lord Scarman’s into the Brixton Disorders in London in April 1981; and Justice Catherine O’Regan and Advocate Vusumzi Pikoli’s into the current state of policing in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape. It argues that they should be applauded for doing so but draws attention to how difficult it can be to persuade governments to address the deep-rooted social and economic problems associated with crises in policing rather than focus on reforming the police institution, its policies, procedures and practices

Beware Statutory Disclosure Obligations

Great care is needed to ensure strict compliance with statutory disclosure obligations in conveyancing. The types of issues that may arise are well illustrated by the facts before the court in APM Property 3 Pty Ltd v Blondeau [2009] QSC 326, decision of Mullins J

Evaluation of a postgraduate examination for primary care: perceptions and performance of general practitioner trainers in the multiple choice paper of the Membership Examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners

This study aimed to investigate the performance of a sample of general practitioner (GP) trainers in the multiple choice paper (MCP) of the Membership Examination of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) and to obtain their views of the content of the paper and its relevance to general practice using a written knowledge test and self-administered questionnaire. The participants were volunteer GP trainers in the Northern, Wessex, Kent, Education for Primary Care (2007) 18: 165–72 # 2007 Radcliffe Publishing Limited WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN IN THIS AREA . Feedback from GP registrar candidates sitting the multiple choice paper (MCP) suggests that the paper has good face and content validity, although pressure of time is a problem. . Candidates find the questions in the paper challenging but most believe they assess common or important problems in general practice. WHAT THIS WORK ADDS . Most trainers in this study believed that the paper assessed knowledge of common or important topics relevant to general practice, that the majority of questions were appropriate, clear and unambiguous and that time pressure was not a problem. . Trainers in this study performed significantly better overall compared to registrars and did so without making prior preparation. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH . Repeating the study with non-trainer GPs could provide further information on the validity of the MCP as an applied knowledge test appropriate for established GPs taking the MRCGP as well as those nearing completion of training Keywords: attitudes, examination, general practice trainers, MRCGP, Surrey and Sussex (KSS) and Northwest deaneries of the UK. The trainers completed a shortened version of an MRCGP MCP paper under examination conditions and provided feedback immediately afterwards. Of 191 trainers invited to participate, 86 (45%) sat the paper and of these, 81 completed the questionnaire. Most trainers believed that the paper assessed knowledge of common or important topics relevant to general practice, that the majority of questions were appropriate, clear and unambiguous and that time pressure was not a problem. Trainers performed significantly better compared to registrars overall, and in questions on medicine related to general practice and practice administration but not research methodology or critical appraisal. They did so without making prior preparation. The findings from this group of trainers lend support to the face validity and content validity of the MRCGP MCP examination as an assessment of applied knowledge of general practice

Who needs critical friends? Independent advisory groups in the age of the police and crime commissioner

In the early 2000s, many police forces in England and Wales set up independent advisory groups (IAGs) following an inquiry into the flawed investigation of the murder of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, by London's Metropolitan Police. Members of IAGs were to act as critical friends of the police providing independent advice on policies, procedures and practices, thus ensuring that no section of their local community was disadvantaged through a lack of understanding, ignorance or mistaken beliefs. Based on a case study of an IAG in an English police force, this article reviews the operation of IAGs following the radical changes made to police governance by the introduction of directly elected police and crime commissioners (PCCs). Its main argument is that more thought needs to be given to the role of IAGs in this new landscape and urgent steps taken to clarify their relationships with police forces and PCCs

Colonial Confessions: An Autoethnography of Writing Criminology in the New South Africa

This article is an autoethnographic account of a 20-year engagement with South African criminology. It is written from the perspective of someone from the Global North, a beneficiary of Britain’s colonial past and the present dominance of northern ways of thinking and being. The aim is to encourage other criminologists from a similar background to reflect on their histories and the impact of their work in the present, and to be open to ideas from outside the Euro-American mainstream of the discipline. The evolution of South African criminology, and its gradual adoption of a more southern or decolonial sensibility, is traced in the work of the author and others

Conveyancing and property law: Practice issues relating to caveats

The decision of Flanagan J in Miller v Loel [2016] QSC 289 represented the culmination of a considerable saga arising from a joint venture where the relationship between the joint venture parties had markedly deteriorated over time. Among the main issues for consideration in this case was whether a caveat lodged on behalf of one of the parties to the joint venture by their solicitor had been lodged or continued without reasonable cause and, if so, had the plaintiffs established that they suffered loss or damage as a result so as to be entitled to compensation under s 130 of the Land Title Act 1994 (Qld). In the result, Flanagan J held that the caveat had been lodged and continued with reasonable cause and the plaintiffs’ claim was dismissed. The decision is noteworthy in that it raises two (2) issues of considerable practical relevance

Termination for convenience or not?

Termination for convenience clauses continue to be commonly encountered in commercial contracts. To delineate between circumstances where these clauses may be safely relied upon to terminate contracts and circumstances where the invocation of these clauses may be successfully resisted involves a nuanced challenge for commercial parties and their advisors. This article examines the complex matrix of factors likely to impinge on this determination