A Court victory for consumers against one of Australia's biggest banks.

Some hints on communicating with lawyers.

A look at the Personal Property Security Act, particularly as it affects businesses.

The role of trustees in Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs).

The Planning Bills have been tabled and the Minister has delivered the Second Reading Speech. Soon we will have a new planning system. The question is, will it deliver on the Government's promise of 2009 to return planning power to residnents through their elected Councils? Only time will tell.

The idea of the new planning system is to return power to local communities. Yet in a recent article in the SMH the Director General of Planning, Sam Haddad, is quoted as conceding that in the design of the new planning system the draft legislation actually reduces the community's ability to challenge 'bad' decisions more than the government had intended. What chance do we mugs have then to participate in this new planning system and of making a difference? Once in Mordor a ring was forged to rule them all. It seems that the bureaucrats in the Department of Planning have similar ideas.

Planning Matters. It is a simple as that. This is a contribution to the lively academic and professional debate over the best means to achieve the ends of spatial planning policies with reference to the NSW Government's recent White Paper on Planning.