 EXCLUSIVE
This couple has lost their successful small business after its tax payments were taken by an accountant the ATO was warned about three years ago. Police are expected to charge Coffs Harbour’s Stephen Raymond Douglass as soon as this week over his pilfering of at least $500,000 and possibly $1 million from Warren and Sheenah Whitten’s Woolgoolga-based steel fabrication company, Arc Attack Engineering — money they thought he had remitted to the ATO. In a confession he emailed to the Whittens a month ago, Douglass attempted to elicit sympathy by blaming his actions on a gambling addiction. However, there was no mention of a gambling addiction in 2014 when another Woolgoolga client, Eadie Cabinet Making, discovered a decade’s worth of GST had not been paid to the tax office. John Rolfe The Daily Telegraph  Queensland builders are planning to launch a class action against the state’s construction industry watchdog over what they claim is heavy-handed oversight that has destroyed businesses.
Small to medium-sized building firms are aiming to meet next week in Brisbane as the first step in lobbing the legal grenade at the Queensland Building and Construction Commission. The aggrieved parties will be chasing an unspecified damages bill, certain to run in to the millions of dollars. They also want to see sweeping industry reforms and the reinstatement of licences revoked “unfairly’’. City Beat with Anthony Marx – Courier Mail A SYDNEY-based advocacy group is representing a push for a class action against the Queensland Building and Construction Commission over what it claims to be unfair treatment and bullying. The SR Group, headed by professional advocate Susie Bennell, wants builders, tradesmen, subcontractors and construction workers who believe they have been unjustly treated to join the action. The goal is to drive legislative reform, licence reinstatement, and losses and damages for those affected. A meeting is being planned for October 20 to bring together people who feel they have been adversely affected.
Bill Hoffman Sunshine Coast Daily
Being a director of a company comes with certain privileges and responsibilities, which must be managed with care. If you don’t stay on top of your responsibilities as a director, you can end up in significant financial and judicial trouble as a result. If at any stage, you are unsure about the position of your company or your obligations as a director, seek professional advice immediately.
Mali De Castro |