The Morrison-era reforms that introduced a fault element to the continuous disclosure laws should be repealed for civil penalty proceedings launched by ASIC, but retained for class actions by shareholders, a report of an independent review of the changes has recommended.
An appeals court has dismissed an environmental advocacy group’s challenge to the extension of two Mach Energy and Whitehaven Coal mega coal mines in NSW, saying the current environmental laws are “ill-suited” to dealing with the global threat of climate change.
Four insurers have agreed to fork over $1 million to settle an investor class action against lender Axsesstoday over an allegedly misleading prospectus for a bond offering, while claims against PricewaterhouseCoopers will move forward.
Federal police are investigating a large-scale data breach at an unnamed commercial health information organisation, the National Cyber Security Coordinator has revealed.
Billabong founder Gordon Merchant has lost his challenge to a decision by the ATO to increase his tax liability to $31 million, finding that he conducted a “wash sale” of his Billabong shares and engaged in dividend stripping on the sale of bio plastics manufacturer Plantic Technologies.
Pizza Hut has paid $2.5 million in penalties for breaching spam laws when it sent more than 10 million unsolicited marketing messages to customers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expressed concerns that France-based Louis Dreyfus’ proposed acquisition of ASX-traded cotton gin operator Namoi Cotton could substantially lessen competition and lead to higher prices for ginning services.
A judge that tossed two shareholder class actions against the Commonwealth Bank of Australia has found the bank did not have to alert investors to the possibility of AUSTRAC proceedings, saying investors did not expect to be apprised of the “toings and froings” of regulatory investigations.
The High Court has been asked to overturn a NSW Court of Appeal decision finding it had no power to exclude unregistered group members from a settlement, which conflicted with Federal Court precedent, hearing the divergence of the important issue “can only be resolved by the High Court”.
A judge has expressed concerns about the plaintiff’s proposed group costs order rate in a shareholder class action against fleet management company FleetPartners, saying the purpose of the GCO regime was to lower costs to group members.