Marcel Delany

The advocacy group that's challenging the government's under-16s social media ban has hit back at the Commonwealth’s allegation that it lacks standing, telling the High Court the ban is having “profound” effects on its members. 

Infrastructure fund manager Dexus must pay a total of $30 million in legal costs to Australia Pacific Airports Corporation and fellow APAC shareholders, after losing its case over a default notice that has forced a sale of Dexus' stake in the airport operator.

Hearing a fight over $40 million in costs in a case over the sale of Dexus shares in Australia Pacific Airport Corporation, a judge has said he doubts the airport operator can recover the hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on a media consultant during the dispute.

An activist group can't block the owners of Claravale Station from clearing almost 3,000 hectares of savanna in the Northern Territory, with a judge finding it would be difficult to prove the government’s decision was legally unreasonable.

Super fund trustee REST Nominees is the first of the Dexus bloc of APAC shareholders to challenge a finding that a default notice issued by the board of the airport operator was valid.

The High Court has slashed by 75 per cent the exemplary damages won by former youth detainees in Darwin who were unlawfully sprayed with tear gas, despite finding the conduct was "reprehensible". 

The forced divestiture of Dexus' stake in airport operator APAC will proceed, after a court on Friday discharged injunctions temporarily blocking the sale amid a dispute over the disclosure of confidential information.

Dexus has stood down executives, sacked its advisers and launched a review of its $7 billion infrastructure division, following last week's judgment upholding the validity of a default notice by Melbourne Airport's operator.

Heads may roll after a court on Friday rejected the evidence of key Dexus employees at trial over a breach of APAC's shareholder deed, in a ruling that revealed some insiders suspected the "embarassing blunder" would come back to bite.

Dexus has lost its case over the validity of a default notice issued by Melbourne Aiport's operator, with a judge saying the real estate asset manager breached the company's confidentiality and "irrevocably undermined" its relationship with fellow shareholders.