In a first for Queensland, Blue Energy’s Sapphire gas project faced a Land Court appeal against its environmental authority (EA) for a petroleum lease. Historically, environmental challenges targeted coal projects, but this case signals a shift towards scrutinising petroleum ventures, which lack the public objection process available for mining leases. The challenge flagged greenhouse gas emissions, groundwater, and flora and fauna concerns. While the parties eventually agreed on amended EA conditions, the case marks a turning point for gas, signalling that petroleum leases are no longer flying under the radar: Hopgood Ganim

The NSW Court of Appeal has handed down a major decision in Sunnya v He, offering guidance on sections 181 and 182 of the Corps Act. After being ousted as directors, Mr He and Ms Lu orchestrated a plan to divert Sunnya’s Neurio business to related entities they controlled, issuing under-value invoices, transferring trademarks, and routing revenue elsewhere. The Court found they breached their duties to act in good faith and for a proper purpose, and observed that:

Some Friday good news (unless you’re a telco). Aussie consumers are set to receive timely updates during network outages, thanks to new rules from ACMA. Telcos must now inform customers about affected areas, causes, service impacts and fix timelines. Off the back of Optus’ Triple Zero fail, the rules also boost confidence that emergency calls will get through during outages. With ACMA’s new penalty powers in play, telcos better tighten up.

Twelve months post-merger, A&O Shearman’s facing heat on all fronts—Trump backlash, culture wars, and partner unrest. The firm folded to a US$125m deal with the Trump admin, scrapping “DEI” and agreeing to defend cops pro bono. Staff were told it was in the firm’s “long-term interest”, though leadership admitted many would “question or disagree” with the decision. Inside, tensions are brewing. Shearman culture is calling the shots, despite London’s bigger numbers, fuelling talk of creeping Americanisation. A recent email warning London staff that bonuses could be cut for skipping office days only added fuel to the fire: Financial Times

Allens has promoted eight new partners across disputes, TMT, finance, competition, employment and funds—effective 1 July. The firm says the promotions build capability in high-demand areas. With Carrie Rogers also also joining earlier this year, female partner rep will hit 41.7%—maintaining Allens' 40:40:20 gender target: Allens

Bird & Bird has named Chris Clarke and Rich Hawkins as co-heads of its Australian office, taking over from long-time leader Shane Barber, who shifts to an APAC coordination role. The duo plans to ramp up growth across sectors like tech, defence, sport and retail, with the plan to expand across Australia and the wider APAC region: Australasian Lawyer

With the TV and radio ad blackout in full swing, the final days of Australia’s election have moved online—hard. Political parties are flooding TikTok and Instagram with so-called ‘brainrot’ ads: low-budget memes, AI-generated Mario clips, Minecraft parodies, and even dubbed Kung Fu Panda scenes accusing Labor of wrecking the economy. Voters are split—some call it cringe, others say it’s the first time politics has actually caught their attention. One respondent said, “I just imagine 40-year-old men behind the computer thinking ‘how can we reach younger audiences?”. While another said “I f*cken love them. I send them to everyone”: Junction Journalism, In Daily

Labor’s long-promised judicial commission is nowhere to be seen this election, despite earlier pledges to follow the National Anti-Corruption Commission with a body to handle complaints against judges. There’s no funding for it, no mention in Labor’s campaign materials, and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus—once its biggest backer—has been missing in action: Capital Brief

It’s the last day before the federal election. And YouGov is tipping a wipeout for the Coalition—its worst result since 1946—with Labor cruising to an 84-seat majority. Dutton denies he's sandbagging his own seat of Dickson, but the pressure’s clearly on, especially after yet another policy backflip. This time, its Dutton walking back plans to overhaul the school curriculum, despite earlier claims kids were being “indoctrinated”: 1News

Meanwhile, across the pond, the US and Ukraine have struck a landmark deal to split profits from Ukraine’s mineral and energy reserves, giving Washington a stake in critical resources like lithium and titanium. Pushed by Trump as a condition for future security support, the 50:50 pact offers Kyiv investment and air defences—while helping the US shore up rare-earth access amid its trade war with China: BBC

WiseTech: is circling US-listed supply chain platform e2open for up to $3.5bn—its biggest deal yet. Backed by Gresham, Macquarie, Rothschild and BofA, the debt-funded buy would nearly double WiseTech’s revenue. But with a myriad of governance dramas, regulators circling, and big investors like AustralianSuper already selling its entire stake, support for the deal is far from guaranteed: AFR

L1 Capital: is set to merge with Platinum Asset Management in a deal that would see L1 own 75% of the combined $18bn funds under management business. That gives L1 a $1bn valuation and a backdoor ASX listing. Platinum, once a market darling, has struggled with outflows and underperformance, and rejected a $530m bid from Regal last year: The Australian

Swoop Aero: once a rising drone delivery startup that claimed to reject a $100m buyout, collapsed into voluntary administration and was sold last month for just $1m. Leadership disputes, product delays and a chaotic sales process left creditors and laid-off staff stunned—especially after higher bids were rejected. Oh, how the mighty have fallen: Capital Brief

Alphabet: CEO Sundar Pichai told a US court he’s aiming to land a deal with Apple to embed Google’s Gemini AI on iPhones by mid-year.Talks with Tim Cook have been ongoing throughout 2024. If sealed, the partnership could be unveiled at Apple’s June developer conference—setting Gemini up as a ChatGPT rival inside iOS 19: Bloomberg

Rio Tinto has shut down Palliser Capital’s push for a review of its dual-listing, with 80% of shareholders voting no across AGMs in London and Perth. TLDR: Palliser wanted Rio to follow BHP’s 2022 unification lead, arguing it’d close the 18% London discount. But Rio says a restructure would cost billions and destroy value—not create it: AFR

A mystery outage knocked out power across Spain, Portugal and southern France, triggering chaos and a political brawl over the risks of a renewables-heavy grid. Theories range from cyber attack to solar overload. With solar now dominating our daytime grid, AEMO’s watching closely—any system slip-up here could spark our own blackout saga: The Australian

Rogo, an AI built to mimic junior investment bankers, just raised $50m at a $350m valuation from Thrive Capital and JPMorgan. It’s already deployed at Moelis, Nomura and Tiger Global, pulling basic valuations and locating SEC filings in minutes. With LLMs creeping into deal work, is AI starting to replace the IBs? Financial Times

ASX will hire more staff and start reporting CHESS issues directly to its board, after the RBA slammed its handling of risks tied to its ageing clearing and settlement system. ASIC’s forcing a tech review by an external expert, and ASX will reassess resourcing again after its new clearing system lands in 2026. Full CHESS replacement? Still not coming till 2029: AFR

Despite back-to-back long weekends and election jitters, national house prices hit a fresh high in April, rising 0.3% to $825k, per Cotality. Analysts tip more gains if rate cuts land May 20, but warn affordability is dire—Sydney buyers now spend 62% of income on mortgages: AFR

Multiplex posted a $122.4m loss for 2024, largely pinned on cost blowouts at Star’s $3.6bn Queen’s Wharf project. Despite plunging into the red, auditors still say it’s a going concern, but with $829m in contingent liabilities and whispers of a failed sale, Brookfield’s builder is under pressure: The Australian

While Robyn Denholm was on stage in Sydney talking leadership with a basketball coach, the WSJ dropped a bombshell: Tesla’s board is allegedly hunting for Musk’s replacement. Denholm, Tesla’s chair, quickly denied it on X. But with Musk distracted by Trumpworld and Washington politics, the WSJ report suggests that the board may be pushing back on its powerful exec: Capital Brief

TikTok’s Aussie revenue soared 80% to $679m in 2024, with advertisers unfazed by US security drama or the looming forced sale deadline. Despite regulatory noise, local brands are still all-in, helping profits nearly triple to $31m. Canberra’s watching closely, but for now, TikTok’s ad machine keeps spinning—Trump or no Trump: Capital Brief