Lawyers' wage clash

👋 G’day

Today’s brief:

• OPP lawyer fights for $1 wage increase ruling – seriously.

• Top law firms are doubling down on DEI initiatives.

• ASIC disqualifies Perth developer for governance failures.

Here’s the latest to close out your week 👇

PRACTICE POINTS

New bill demands gender goals

• The Gender Equality Bill 2024 is shaking things up. If passed, it’ll be the first law forcing employers with over 500 staff to set and work toward three workplace equality targets over three years. The Law Council of Australia has given it a thumbs-up but wants more clarity on what counts as a “reasonable excuse” for falling short.

• ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 133 just got a crypto upgrade. The updated guide lays out fresh good practices and expected measures for handling crypto-assets. Here’s the summary.

• Amendments to the Telecommunications Act 1997 are giving ACMA the power to crack down on telcos faster. Right now, the regulator has to issue a formal direction before it can act on industry code breaches. The new rules scrap this two-step process, allowing ACMA to step in immediately to address consumer harm and hold telcos accountable. And with fines increasing from $250k to $10m, telcos will need to be on their best behaviour.

• ASIC disqualified a Perth property developer from managing corporations for four years. ASIC cited governance failures in three land development companies he directed as the catalyst for the ban. That’s on top of the breached tax obligations and inconsistent records. Oh, and he also made false promises to ASIC. Section 206F of the Corps Act allows ASIC to disqualify a person from managing corporations for a maximum period of five years.

WORD ON THE STREET

Lawyer fights for $1

• Andrew Lew, Principal Solicitor, took the saying “every cent matters” to heart. He applied to the Fair Work Commission after the Office of Public Prosecutions refused to reclassify him to a higher employee grade that would’ve earned him an extra $1 per year. The Commission sided with him, but the commissioner found the OPP’s decision to defend itself “bewildering” since the cost of counsel would have been much more than that $1 per annum.

• Clayton Utz is making moves, bringing on Vicki Aron, a real estate partner from Ashurst, to meet the soaring demand for property legal services.

• Jones Day adds 2 corporate partners to its Sydney arm. Charles Bogle and James Wood both joined from Hogan Lovells, which exited the Australian market late last year.

• On the West Coast, Judge Terence Palmer has been appointed to the WA Supreme Court bench.

TALKING POINTS

DEI: Top law firms hold the line

• Trump’s pullback on DEI initiatives is sending ripples through the Australian corporate world, but top law firms aren’t backing down. Clayton Utz, Gilbert + Tobin, and Herbert Smith Freehills are doubling down on their D&I programs, highlighting them as key to attracting top talent and serving diverse clients. HSF partner Tim Stutt summed it up: “DEI is a core aspect of good people management.”

• Following a string of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney, NSW Premier Chris Minns is pushing for changes to the law, making it easier to prosecute those targeting individuals based on their religious beliefs and banning protests outside places of worship. Meanwhile, former Attorney General George Brandis is calling for mandatory sentencing for hate crimes.

• Anthony Albanese is putting $10k cash on the table to get Aussies into construction apprenticeships, hoping to meet Labor’s ambitious goal of building 1.2 million homes by mid-2029. 

• Disney’s Aussie profits took a 22% dive, thanks to strikes and delays like Inside Out 2. The result? A $742 million hole in the books. Ouch. But they do have a brand-new boat – well, cruise ship. It’s its biggest ship yet, aiming to reel in a new crowd. With eyes on India’s growing middle class, Disney is hoping to make waves in Asia.

TREASURY

DEAL ROOM

Takeover tussle

• Bain Capital has sweetened the deal for Insignia Financial, upping its offer to $4.60 per share, matching the latest bid from private equity rival CC Capital. Insignia is now giving Bain a brief window for due diligence, hoping to fuel the bidding war. But CC Capital may not budge further—Insignia sees them as the preferred bidder, as CC plans to leave management in charge, while Bain is expected to break the business up.

• UK sports streamer DAZN has secured a $1.8bn loan to fund its takeover of Foxtel Group, Rupert Murdoch’s pay-TV and streaming giant. The deal, valuing Foxtel at $3.4 billion, marks DAZN’s bold move into the Australian market.

• Myer shareholders have given the green light to the $880m deal to acquire Apparel Brands from Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments, with an overwhelming 96.16% voting in favour.

• Earlypay, the ASX-listed financing business, is officially up for sale. The company has tasked its boutique corporate adviser, Highbury Partnership, with finding buyers after learning that its largest shareholder, COG Financial Services, plans to sell its 21.4% stake.

• Ever dreamed of owning a winery? If you’ve got $12m lying around, CMV Group is looking to sell its 414ha vineyard at Langhorne Creek for that price.

SECTOR SPECIFIC

ASX shrugs off settlement snafu

🚜 DIGGERS

• Santos is weighing up the option of building a second production unit at its Darwin LNG plant, driven by pressure to boost investor returns. Santos also expects see production rise nearly 8% next year, largely thanks to its $5.4bn Barossa development, with the first gas expected to flow in Q3 2025.

• Fortescue has hit a record 97.1 million tonnes of iron ore in the first half of the financial year, but it’s not all smooth sailing. Despite the impressive output, its share price has taken a hit since Trump threatened to impose 10% tariffs on China, the world’s largest iron ore customer.

• The Aussie government is pumping $2bn into the Clean Energy Finance Corp., aiming to spark $6b more from private investors for local energy transition projects.

• Rio Tinto shipments to be affected after record Pilbara rain from Tropical Cyclone Sean.

🏦 FIN

• ASX says the CHESS outage was once-off. But is it time for an overhaul of ASX’s 30-year-old CHESS system? The Australian sharemarket operator revealed that the unprecedented outage on the Friday before Christmas was caused by a computer memory allocation issue, marking the first time in history the settlement process couldn’t be completed. In response, ASX has offered a $1 million credit rebate to those affected. But ASIC is not holding back, with chair Joe Longo hinting that ASX could face regulatory action, saying, “We went after the ASX twice last year, and you know what? It’s probably going to happen again this year.”

• NAB is calling out social media and telcos for not doing enough to stop scams, stating that nearly 100% of scams originate online or through telecoms. The bank stopped $50m in customer funds from going to scammers in the last two months of 2024, but says those industries must do more to prevent criminal content from reaching victims.

🏡 RETAIL & REAL ESTATE

• Rivers, the Aussie clothing brand founded in 1863, is shutting down all 136 stores and making over 600 staff redundant. Its owner, Mosaic Brands, has pulled the plug on most of its womenswear labels, leaving just Noni B and Millers standing.

• The federal government has Rex’s back. It’s taking on $50m of Rex’s debt to keep the regional carrier in the air.

📱 TECH

• ByteDance, the Chinese parent company of TikTok, has allocated over 150bn yuan (A$32bn) for capital expenditure this year, with a large chunk of that aimed at advancing artificial intelligence.

• Trump’s latest executive orders tackle crypto and AI. A new working group will advise the White House on digital asset policies, bringing in key federal agencies to shape the rules.

P.S.

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