Star Entertainment coughed up $595 million in regulatory and legal costs in the 2023 financial year, as it faces ongoing disputes with ASIC and AUSTRAC and an $80 million class action.
A self-represented aged pensioner has lost his bid to revive a class action against the Department of Social Services over its real estate asset testing for pensions, with a judge saying that a legal practitioner must represent group members.
The federal government has announced a new competition taskforce supported by a former ACCC chair that will look into reforms of the country’s merger laws, market concentration and non-compete employee clauses.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has released guidelines to help businesses avoid greenwashing and greenhushing, calling on general counsel to avoid broad terms like ‘sustainable’ and ensure businesses have research to back up green claims.
Tax advisers and firms promoting tax avoidance could face penalties of up to $780 million, as part of a suite of reforms the government is calling “the biggest crackdown on tax adviser misconduct in Australian history”.
A Coalition MP has urged the government to take action on the regulation of artificial intelligence, flagging “very significant” issues in the intellectual property sphere.
Victorian premier Daniel Andrews has vowed to limit the role of local councils in planning decisions after the state’s anti-corruption board delivered a scathing report finding property developer John Woodman “bought influence” from councillors in Melbourne and two state MP’s.
A senior public servant behind the Robodebt fiasco is one of the first heads to roll following the findings of a royal commission into the illegal debt recovery scheme devised by the previous federal government to claw back welfare overpayments.
Senior EY partners have condemned PwC and attempted to distance the firm from the scandal that has rocked the industry, but its cleanskin claims were met with scepticism by senators, who questioned the failure to provide EY’s partnership deed and remuneration details.
A law firm is considering an ‘unprecedented’ move to reconvene its class action on behalf of Robodebt victims, which can only happen with the Commonwealth’s permission, but the Albanese government might consent as a way to score political points, an expert has told Lawyerly.