Gina’s $2bn gamble

👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

• ASIO’s top spy warns of terrorist threats involving children.

• Gina Rinehart has placed a $2bn bet in Trump and Musk stocks.

• An Aussie start-up received the green light for an orbital test flight.

Enjoy your morning ☕️

PRACTICE POINTS

Anti-Robodebt laws

• The federal government has introduced new legislation to prevent a repeat of the Robodebt scheme. The reforms come after a Royal Commission uncovered serious misconduct including officials misleading the Commonwealth Ombudsman. The new laws introduce a statutory duty for agency heads and public servants to cooperate with the Ombudsman’s investigations and create a new offence for failing to provide reasonable assistance or access to government records: Australasian Lawyer

• ASIC has released new and improved regulatory guides (RG 51 and 108) for ASIC relief applications and no-action letters. Along with a few minor tweaks, RG 108 now refers to content in RG 51, which applicants should consider when requesting a no-action letter. They also make it clear that relief applicants have the right to seek a review of ASIC's decision by the ART.

• Can your personal interests cost you? Well, a Queensland barrister’s fees were wiped to $0 due to his personal interests. Peter Van Eps, barrister and 95% shareholder of Stockingham, saw his $37k counsel fee claim downgraded to $0 in professional costs. Stockingham had won a dispute with Brisbane Angels Nominees, but the Queensland Supreme Court found Van Eps’ personal interest in Stockingham conflicted with the Barrister’s Conduct Rules requiring independence: Lawyers Weekly 

WORD ON THE STREET

Gender pay gap hits the bar

• The gender pay gap is alive and well at the bar. The Law Council of Australia just revealed that female barristers pocketed just 22% of the $1.8bn in briefs last year—while 70% of new solicitors are women: AFR

• Hall & Wilcox bolsters its insurance offering, appointing 3 partners from Holman Webb who will bring along a team of 20. The move reverses some of the damage done by DWF poaching a team of 62 from Hall & Wilcox earlier this year: Insurance Business, Australasian Lawyer

• After 7 years as a judge of appeal handling criminal and civil matters in the Supreme Court’s trial division, Richard Niall has stepped up to the top role as the 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, taking over from CJ Anne Ferguson: Lawyers Weekly

TALKING POINTS

Social media ban doomed to fail?

• An ESafety report has revealed Aussie kids are easily bypassing the age limits set by social media platforms, just as the government gears up for a landmark ban on access for under-16s. While most platforms restrict access for those under 13, the report found a staggering 80% of Australian kids aged 8 to 12 were already on social media in 2024: Reuters

• Australia’s top spy, Mike Burgess, revealed that almost all foiled terrorist attacks over the past year involved the radicalisation of children. In his annual threat assessment, Burgess warned that terrorism and politically motivated violence are on the rise, with children as young as 12 self-radicalising through complex and contradictory belief systems: Bloomberg, ABC

• The Coalition has a new plan to help Aussies get into the housing market by loosening the home loan rules for banks. Right now, banks have to factor in a 3 percentage point buffer to ensure applicants can still afford their mortgage if rates rise. The Coalition wants banks to ease up on that buffer, especially when no major rate hikes are expected: AFR

• Engineering firm Worley’s jumping on the gen AI bandwagon, slashing the time it takes to draft responses to complex customer queries from weeks to just minutes. How? By tapping into its vast database of past technical work to generate quick, accurate replies. Now if only law firms could follow suit and recycle their legal advice... AFR

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

Largest real estate equity raise

• Goodman Group has just smashed records with the largest-ever raised in the Australian real estate investment trust sector, pulling in a cool $4bn. The industrial landlord-turned-digital infrastructure giant has doubling down on its strategy to add 500 megawatts of data centre capacity in construction by mid-2026: The Australian

• Big talk from Honda. They’re ready to revive takeover talks with Nissan—if Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida steps down. Honda says it’ll consider negotiations again with a new boss who can better handle the pushback. That's gotta sting: Financial Times

• Colgate-Palmolive is expanding its empire, snapping up Aussie premium pet food brand Prime100 from Quadrant Private Equity in a deal that’s pegged at nearly $500m: AFR

• Japanese investor Mitsui & Co is making moves in WA, securing a 40% stake in the undeveloped Rhodes Ridge iron ore deposit, owned by a JV between Rio Tinto and Perth’s Bennett and Wright families. The Bennett and Wright families are now $8bn richer, though the Bennetts are hanging on to a 10% share: AFR

SECTOR SPECIFIC

Gina’s $2bn Trump-Musk bet

🚜 DIGGERS

• Gina Rinehart is making a bold move in the US, dropping $2bn on US stocks—including stakes in Murdoch’s News Corp, Musk’s Tesla, and Trump Media & Technology Group (yep, the one behind Truth Social). What’s her play? Getting closer to the Trump-Musk inner circle: AFR

• The Rio Tinto-backed Tomago aluminium smelter is in hot water, with over 500 workers still on strike, refusing to accept the latest pay offer. Australian Workers' Union state secretary Tony Cullinan called out Tomago for undervaluing its workforce while Rio’s share price climbs and “they hold their hands out for their share of billions of dollars in government support". You tell 'em, Tony: The Australian

• Fortescue and the State of WA are facing a hefty $1.8bn native title claim. The Yindjibarndi people are suing over the Solomon iron ore project, which sits on 3/4 of their land. The State is a co-defendant, as it granted Fortescue the mining license and pockets royalties from the ore shipments: AFR

🏦 FIN

• Scyne Advisory, the consulting firm spun off from PwC in the wake of its 2023 tax scandal, is already cashing in on government contracts—$12.1m worth, just this year. Not bad innings for a firm packed with ex-PwC staff, especially when you consider PwC’s now banned from government work: AFR

• NAB’s just became the second bank in 3 days to lower its earnings expectations. With rising competition and higher funding costs, the big banks are feeling the squeeze, crushing the market’s hopes for another year of fat returns: AFR

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Stockland has secured $800m in deals with KKR and M&G Real Estate to expand its logistics operations. KKR will partner on new projects, while M&G will co-invest in a major Sydney facility. The deals involve two open-ended partnerships, including the Stockland M&G Asia Partnership Trust and Stockland Logistics Partnership Trust, with initial assets worth $415m and $388m, respectively: The Australian

• Office attendance in CBDs is on the up:

  • Perth leads the charge at 90% of pre-COVID levels

  • Brisbane saw a significant jump to 88% (thanks to $0.50 public transport fares)

  • Sydney improved from 72% to a 76%

  • Adelaide eased up to 83%.

  • Melbourne, however, remains the weakest, with only 61% attendance, causing concern for major landlords like Dexus, which is facing slow recovery despite the country's overall uptick: AFR

📱 TECH

• Aussie start-up Gilmour Space Technologies has received the regulatory green light for its first orbital test flight, paving the way for Australia’s first locally designed and built orbital rocket launch – massive. The Eris rocket will launch from Bowen Orbital Spaceport in Queensland, using 4 Sirius rocket motors in stage one: Capital Brief

• Stripe is eyeing an employee-share sale that could push its valuation to US$85bn (A$135.4bn), closing in on its 2021 peak. This move follows a series of buybacks, secondary sales, and fundraises that helped the fintech rebound from a dip to US$50bn in March 2023, when rising interest rates hit e-commerce growth: Capital Brief

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