Citi's latest report has BigLaw revenue up 11.7% in H1 2026, powered by "rare" demand growth as mega M&A roars back. HSF Kramer's Dealmakers report clocked $36bn in private M&A last year, and Mallesons' public M&A report logged $29.3bn across 20 deals in H1 alone: Point Blank

⚖️ AI: South Australia is running Australia's first Royal Commission into AI, announced by Premier Peter Malinauskas on 10 August 2026. It kicks off 1 October 2026, with a final report due to government by 1 July 2027. The Terms of Reference span policy and regulation, education, public services (including healthcare), workforce impacts and AI infrastructure, covering energy and grid implications. Rather than dwelling on legal issues retrospectively, the Commission wants forward-looking solutions, and it's calling for submissions from businesses, unions, academics and creative industries. As the first Commission of its kind, expect its recommendations to become the blueprint for national AI policy: Gadens

⚖️ Corporate: The Federal Court has found McPherson's Limited breached continuous disclosure laws and misled investors over its October 2020 profit forecast, while former CEO Laurence McAllister breached his director's duties. After a rough 11/11 sales event in China, McPherson's knew by 12 November 2020 that its Dr LeWinn earnings guidance no longer stacked up, but sat on that for nearly three weeks before downgrading, tanking the share price by 34.5%. Justice Markovic found the info's materiality was foreseeable, and that McAllister failed to exercise the diligence expected of a CEO. Penalty and relief hearings to follow: ASIC

⚖️ Consumer: The Full Federal Court has dismissed City Beach's appeal against a $14m penalty for selling button battery products that breached mandatory safety standards, in action brought by the ACCC. Between 2022 and 2024, City Beach sold over 60 non-compliant product types, including toys and light-up Crocs accessories, on more than 54,000 occasions. City Beach argued the penalty was too high. The Court disagreed, finding that cheap but dangerous products need serious penalties to deter bad conduct, regardless of the profit made: ACCC

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Australia's national debt crosses $1 trillion for the first time ever, about 34% of GDP. Jim Chalmers points to Australia's AAA credit rating holding. Angus Taylor blames Labor spending. The interest bill alone is $29.5bn this year, headed for $42.2bn by 2030: The Australian

The Coalition wanted a 75% cut to tobacco excise, until Hanson beat them to the same number, so now they're eyeing 80%. The government knocked back Hanson's plan anyway, with Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino pushing tougher enforcement against illegal tobacco shops instead of cutting prices: AFR, Bloomberg

🏗️ Macquarie Asset Management has stacked its bench with Goldman Sachs and UBS, chasing Stack Infrastructure's APAC data centres before the 31 August deadline. It's up against Brookfield and GIP, with bids tipped at US$18bn to US$30bn. That'd make it 2026's biggest Aussie M&A deal: AFR

💰 Alphabet smashed the record books, raising $5.5bn in Australia's biggest ever corporate bond debut on the back of $18bn+ in investor demand. The 20-year note copped a gnarly 6.98% yield, Alphabet's highest borrowing cost on record: Capital Brief

🚗 Smartgroup has bailed on the FleetPartners auction, leaving Orix, PEP's SG Fleet and Element to slug it out. PEP leads at $4 a share (valuing the target at $860m), with Orix and Element at $3.80: AFR