NSW has reported six new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 in the past 24 hours to 8pm last night. Five cases in overseas travellers in hotel quarantine were also diagnosed, bringing the total number of cases in NSW to 4,132. More here.

NSW Health is alerting the public that confirmed cases of COVID-19, which are included in today’s numbers, have attended venues in Western Sydney. Anyone who attended these venues is considered a close contact and must get tested immediately and isolate for a full 14 days from exposure regardless of the result. More here.

Eased restrictions for outdoor hospitality venues and music festivals will come into effect in NSW tomorrow, Friday 16 October 2020. Under the new rules, hospitality venues can allow one person for every two square metres for outdoor areas (previously one person per four square metres) and up to 500 people can attend outdoor seated music performances and rehearsals for venues complying with the four square metre rule. This previously was a total of 20 people. More here.

The option to sign dealings and plans electronically has now been extended to March 2021. Version 2 of the Conveyancing Rules – (COVID-19 Pandemic) Amendment was published on 28 September, extending the operation of the temporary changes. More information here.

Seasonally adjusted employment decreased by 30,000 people (0.2 per cent) between August and September and unemployment increased by 11,000 or 6.9 per cent, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). More here.

On 6 October 2020, as part of the 2020–21 Budget, the government announced a new incentive for businesses to employ additional young job seekers called the JobMaker Hiring Credit. The JobMaker Hiring Credit will be administered by the ATO. More information here.

The JobKeeper scheme has been extended from 28 September 2020 until 28 March 2021. There are two separate extension periods. For each extension period, an additional actual decline in turnover test applies and the rate of the JobKeeper payment is different. More here.

The Federal Government has secured the passage of legislation through the Federal Parliament for its tax relief package for individuals and businesses, as part of its COVID-19 Economic Recovery Plan. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has now updated its tax schedules to reflect the changes, with software payroll companies to update over the coming week. More here.

It has come to the Law Society’s attention that a practitioner received a call from an unknown number with an automated message advising that the practitioner’s  “Law Society practising certificate has been cancelled”. This was not the case.

Although it is not known what the motivation for, or the objective of this type of scam is, please remain vigilant.

We urge practitioners to contact the Manager, Law Society Registry immediately on 02 9926 0372  if they receive any calls of this nature.