HSF cuts promotions

PRACTICE POINTS

Victoria expands hate speech

• Victoria has passed new laws extending hate speech protections beyond race and religion to include disability, gender identity, sex, sex characteristics and sexual orientation. From 20 September 2025, serious vilification or inciting hatred based on these attributes will carry criminal penalties of up to 5 years’ jail. Corporates—and their officers—can be liable too if they authorised or permitted the conduct or were knowingly concerned in any way with the offence. Organisations should update workplace policies and codes of conduct now to reflect the broader protections: Moores

• APRA has scrapped dedicated supervisors for smaller banks, shifting to a pooled model overseen by a new “Small ADI Supervision Team.” The regulator says the change improves cross-sector insights—but some ADIs call it cost-cutting dressed as efficiency. Critics warn the loss of a direct contact risks slower issue resolution and weaker regulatory relationships—especially as APRA flags rising strategic, credit and fraud risks: Capital Brief

• Just calling it a restructure won’t cut it. Employers wanting to restructure their business, must not overstep their employment obligations. The Full Federal Court confirmed that the dismissals of 22 employees working at a mine weren’t real redundancies because other roles filled by contractors could’ve gone to them. Employers must have a strong business case for restructuring, backed by justifiable analysis. A company must not overlook its redeployment obligations, especially when restructuring. Let’s see if that positions stands, as the decisions remains on appeal to the High Court.

WORD ON THE STREET

PLT fees stay firm

• After copping flak from CJ Bell’s survey, College of Law says it’s open to revamping PLT content—but don’t expect a fee cut. CEO Neville Carter reckons global benchmarks show legal training isn’t cheap, and any change to what’s taught won’t shift the $10k price tag any time soon: Lawyers Weekly

• HSF’s recent partner promotion round was its smallest global round since 2018. Most new partners are based in Australia and London. The smaller pool was likely a product of the $2bn Kramer Levin merger, with a single profit pool kicking in from day one: Global Legal Post

• As 800 staff and 100+ partners were shown the door, Deloitte’s remaining parnters were off to Cairns for a strategy retreat—where the vibes were far from luxe. Partners squabbled over hotel allocations and copped Jetstar jokes from the firm's leaders during a cost-cutting session. The real blow? Partner unit values have tanked to $600, down from $1k in 2018, wiping hundreds of thousands off potential payouts: AFR

• Award-winning innovation lawyer joins Clyde & Co as key cyber partner. Simone Herbert-Lowe has more than 30 years’ experience under her belt, including 8 years in cyber risk. Herbert-Lowe joins the firm’s ‘Cyber One’ team, having founded her own firm back in 2018: Lawyers Weekly

TALKING POINTS

Debate night slip-ups

• In their second leaders' debate, Albanese and Dutton staked out legacy projects—Albo backing cheaper childcare as the next big national reform, and Dutton doubling down on nuclear energy as the fix for Australia’s power prices. But both leaders had awkward moments. Dutton admitted he wrongly claimed Indonesia’s President had approved a Russian air base, walking it back as a mix-up. Albo, meanwhile, flatly denied Labor had asked Treasury to model changes to negative gearing and capital gains—despite it being publicly confirmed last year. Not their finest hour, but hey, it happens to the best of us: AFR, Capital Brief

• Salesforce’s latest survey shows 44% of US consumers would use AI agents as PAs—but it jumps to 70% for Gen Z. Nearly 40% are fine letting agents book appointments, and 34% would rather deal with bots than repeat themselves to humans. The takeaway? Consumer patience is thinning, and businesses slow to automate could lose them fast: Technology Magazine

• YouTube’s tip off. Turns out Communications Minister Michelle Rowland gave a personal guarantee to YouTube’s global boss that it’d be exempt from Australia’s under-16 social media ban—before public consultation even kicked off. The FOI docs raise eyebrows about just how “open” that process really was: Bloomberg

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

Northern Star’s $6bn gold grab

• De Grey shareholders have approved Northern Star’s $6bn takeover, handing Australia’s biggest gold miner control of the flagship Hemi discovery in WA’s Pilbara. The deal lands amid record gold prices above A$5,000/oz. Meet the lawyers behind the deal here.

• Figma’s back in play, quietly filing for a US IPO more than a year after regulators blocked Adobe’s US$20bn (A$31bn) takeover. Now valued at US$12.5bn (A$19.6bn), the AI-powered design platform is betting on public markets despite shaky IPO sentiment and tariff jitters. Co-founded by Dylan Field, Figma counts Google, Uber and Adobe itself among its users: Reuters

• Aristocrat Leisure is circling Vegas-based Interblock in a potential $1bn buyout, with MacCap advising Interblock's owner, Oaktree, on the sale. Interblock’s electronic-table gaming dominance fills a gap in Aristocrat’s global gaming portfolio, even if it sits outside its core igaming focus. It comes as deal activity heats up across the sector—Light & Wonder just snapped up Grover Gaming for US$1.05bn: The Australian

SECTOR SPECIFIC

MinRes mania

🚜 DIGGERS

• Two respected directors—Susie Corlett and Jacqueline McGill—have abruptly quit the MinRes board amid ongoing governance scandals. Corlett’s exit has now spilled over to Iluka, where proxy firm Ownership Matters is urging a vote against her re-election due to her MinRes ties. One scandal-plagued board may be dragging down another: Capital Brief

• Slater and Gordon has launched a class action against Paladin Energy, alleging the miner misled investors by issuing overly optimistic production guidance it couldn’t meet. Shares tanked 22% after Paladin slashed FY25 targets by a million pounds of uranium. The claim covers investors who bought in between June and November 2024: Law Fuel

🏦 FIN

• Patrick Allaway is staying on as BoQ CEO until late 2026 to finish a sweeping digital revamp. He’s slashed costs, axed franchise branches, and shifted focus from home loans to small biz. The strategy’s showing early promise—profit beat expectations, shares jumped 5.5%, and ROE is inching toward that ambitious 8% FY26 target: AFR

• A CoCo swap for the rich. The ASX-listed Income Asset Management is offering wealthy Aussies a new way in—launching managed accounts to replace soon-to-be-scrapped scrapped contingent convertible securities. For $250k a pop, investors get access to a tailored mix of 10–15 corporate loans and bonds: Bloomberg

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• EY’s signed a 10-year renewal at Sydney’s iconic 200 George St, paying $1550/sqm to stay put through 2036. It’s one of the biggest leasing deals this cycle and a bullish signal for premium office space, with supply tightening fast. Construction costs have choked new builds, and top-tier towers are becoming hot property once again: The Australian

• Iconic footwear brand Wittner has collapsed, appointing Deloitte as administrators after rising costs and weak sales proved too much. The 112-year-old retailer, backed by Hilco Capital, runs 20+ stores and 25 concessions. Trading continues for now as a sale or recap is explored—another blow for Aussie fashion after Jeanswest and Mosaic: AFR

📱 TECH & START UP

• A 2018 memo revealed in court shows Zuckerberg seriously floated spinning off Instagram amid fears of antitrust heat—years before the FTC sued Meta to unwind its Insta and WhatsApp buys. He warned they might be forced to split in 5-10 years anyway, predicting a “next Democratic president” could crack down. Fast-forward: that exact FTC trial is now underway. Good crystal ball work from Zuck: Reuters

• Richard White is here to stay, locking in a 10-year deal as executive chair and chief innovation officer at WiseTech. The contro leader will keep his $1m salary and lead product strategy and succession planning. Meanwhile, former exec Zubin Appoo rejoins as chief of staff. A new CEO is due by November, but White has no plans to leave: Capital Brief