KHQ Lawyers is a boutique top-tier commercial law firm in Melbourne, Australia.  “Top-tier” is a reference to the calibre of our clients, the quality of our lawyers and the services we provide.  The word “boutique” is a reference to our size and, more importantly, to the fact that our size enables us to provide legal services faster, more flexibly and with more cost transparency and certainty than our competitors – with no compromise on quality.

While relatively young in approach and outlook, we have built a solid reputation as a strong team of talented practitioners from top-tier and in-house environments.  We are proud to be the firm of choice for a prestigious list of Australian Stock Exchange listed and multinational clients across Australia.  Our diverse client base also includes high net worth individuals, SMEs, and niche agencies and consultancies.

Australia: an overview

Australia offers a transparent, well-regulated, and politically stable environment for conducting business activities. The Australian economy ranks amongst the top 20 globally in terms of GDP per capita[1] and the judicial system is open, independent and accessible. The country boasts a warm climate, and its residents enjoy high living standards.

Overall, Australia’s workforce boasts a strong educational background, with approximately 69% of Australia's working-age population holding a university degree, diploma, or trade qualification. The population is equally characterized by its cultural diversity, with roughly 30% being born overseas[2].

Legal system

Australia is a federation comprising six states (Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia) and two territories (Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory), along with several small external territories. The Westminster parliamentary model, inherited from the United Kingdom, operates alongside a federal system of governance that resembles the United States model. This entails a division of power between the Commonwealth (Federal) government and the governing bodies of each State and Territory, according to the country’s Constitution.

The Commonwealth government’s scope of governance encompasses areas including taxation, foreign investment, defence, interstate and overseas trade and the financial services sector. The States retain the authority to legislate in domains such as education, health, policing, roads, and traffic. Local governments (or “councils”) operate at the municipal level, and are tasked with developing and implementing planning laws and overseeing local land use.

Foreign investment

Broadly, Australia embraces foreign investment. The government retains scope to prevent some foreign investment propositions should they be judged to clash with Australia’s national interests, including in relation to national security.  The Foreign Investment Review Board is a non-statutory authority which advises the Government on various aspects of the country’s foreign investment policy and its administration, including foreign investment proposals and their national interest implications.

Tax incentives for foreign investors:

The Australian government has instituted several tax policies aimed at enticing foreign investment. Such measures include, for example:

• Capital Gains Tax (CGT) exemption for non-residents who are generally not required to pay CGT upon disposing of company shares;
• Managed Investment Trusts regime;
• R&D tax incentives; and
• Favourable tax treatment for eligible venture capital investments.

Standard of living

Australians enjoy a relatively high standard of living, on average outperforming many other nations on key indicators such as income, jobs, education, health, environmental quality, social connections, civic engagement and life satisfaction[3].

Melbourne ranks in the top three most liveable cities in the world, owing to its cosmopolitan and multicultural nature – the city has outstanding arts, food and wine, great shopping opportunities and a diverse sporting landscape. Melbourne vies with Sydney in terms of population size, with Melbourne’s population growth outstripping Sydney’s to the extent that it has overtaken Sydney as Australia’s most populous city.

[1] World Bank https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD

[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/education/education-and-work-a…

[3] OECD better life index https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/australia/