Tasmanian Raspberries and restraint of trade
Over the Christmas holidays I ate my way around Tasmania. It was a veritable gastronome’s delight. Raspberries handpicked in Ross, fudge from Latrobe, cheese from Bruny Island, mushrooms from Spreyton, salmon from the Huon, trout from Lake Leake, oh, and wine from everywhere. There was necessarily some effort involved in partaking in such a feast and this involved a fair amount of driving, some self-congratulatory discernment and then much enthusiastic devouring. As we meandered through the Apple Isle, I wondered why some towns had enough barbers to shear the collective heads aboard the United States Pacific Fleet, yet others left their townsfolks with little choice but to go the full mullet. Some towns were blessed with an abundance of gift shops whilst other towns apparently supported a no gift policy within the local community. One town had crowded coffee shops producing enough caffeine to jolt Monty Python’s Dead Parrot back to life, whilst another just 30 minutes’ drive South, gave you the choice of servo coffee or servo coffee.
There was no accounting for the economics of it all. As I searched for another piece of hazelnut fudge, I wondered how this came to pass. How could some localities support a concentration of similar services but not others? What did this say for competition?
Did the sole barbers, purveyors of fine gifts and baristas have particularly effective restraint of trade clauses preventing apprentices or employees from setting up within cooee of them?
I had thought the days of restraint of trade were over and the courts were loath to enforce them. I found it quite vexing, particularly when fudge did not refocus my thoughts. I tried to convey this conundrum to my accountant husband, seeking his views on the vagaries of capitalism. However, he had been wrestling with his own quandary about the many small businesses for sale which he had spied along the way. With the property boom fuelled by cashed-up mainlanders, he was pondering the CGT windfall headed Canberra’s way, quite possibly to fund yet another duel citizen High Court challenge.
We both agreed to not think about it anymore for there was still much food to consume. Now that we are seven plus weeks into our broken New Year’s resolutions (more restraint required in the food department) we need a distraction from the guilt. Intellectual pursuits are a good salve when the body lets you down. What better way to feel virtuous (and tell yourself that fudge for breakfast fuels the brain) than to ponder restraint of trade and CGT? How serendipitous then that the QLS Symposium has an entire day dedicated to commercial law and just happens to cover both restraint of trade tips and traps and CGT. A marriage made in law? A marriage of food and law? Come along and see for yourself. Pending sufficient quantities of cake and coffee, I may divulge said vexing towns, but I am well out of hazelnut fudge.
QLS Symposium is the premier event for Queensland’s legal profession. Held on 9–10 March 2018, hear from leading experts as they discuss planning for, embracing and thriving in the complexity of legal practice.
