EY Oceania to cut 1% of its workforce

Ashurst’s merger is a tech disruption

Meta wins monopoly battle

EY Oceania has cut around 90 consulting roles, about 1% of its 9,000 staff, as the advisory market stays soft. The cuts hit teams, including Future Friendly, the design firm EY bought in 2023. But don’t worry students, EY is still hiring grads, banking on fresh AI skills to lift performance: AFR

Ashurst’s merger with Perkins Coie may create a US$2.7bn transatlantic giant, but it’s ruffling feathers in Asia. Partners say years of chasing a US deal have come at the expense of China investment, leaving Beijing and Shanghai lean as the firm prioritised its American courtship. Others see upside, arguing Perkins gains a full Asia platform with no overlaps: Law.com

And AFR’s take is the merger isn’t just about scale, it’s a bet on the AI boom reshaping tech, energy and infrastructure. With clients pushing for deeper US and tech capability, both firms’ top dogs say the deal is about seizing AI-driven opportunities, not fearing disruption: AFR

Regulatory: Optus has been hit with an $826k penalty after ACMA found it breached anti-scam rules 44 times on its Coles Mobile service. The telco allowed scammers to hijack customers’ numbers and drain $39k from bank accounts. A vulnerability in a third-party ID-verification system let attackers bypass key checks and port numbers without consent. ACMA said the lapse “directly exposed people to harm” and stressed that Australia’s second-largest telco should have had far stronger controls. Optus blamed a technical fault with its porting provider but accepted the penalty, which is the maximum ACMA can issue. With more than $1.9m in industry penalties this year, the decision underscores regulators’ zero-tolerance stance on mobile-number fraud: ACMA, The Australian

JV: A joint venture can unlock scale, capital and capability, but too many deals jump ahead without the hard legal and structural work, setting the stage for disputes or even liquidation. Holding Redlich has whipped up a JV primer of the must-haves: proper due diligence on parties (and parent guarantees where needed), clear purpose and scope, and the right operating structure. Parties should lock down capital contributions, branding and IP, governance rules (board seats, voting thresholds, reserved matters), and exit mechanics like tag/drag rights and change-of-control triggers. JVs also need tight confidentiality, non-compete provisions, and a handle on regulatory risks. It’s a neat checklist: Holding Redlich

Privilege: Lander & Rogers has made a good primer on legal professional privilege. The firm’s note covers how it protects all confidential communications made for the dominant purpose of giving or receiving legal advice or preparing for litigation. It extends to lawyer work product and even client notes recording advice, but not to documents created for another purpose and later handed to lawyers. Privilege requires confidentiality and can be lost if shared with outsiders or mixed with non-legal advice. It applies to in-house lawyers too, provided they’re acting as lawyers and not wearing mixed roles. There are limits: waiver (intentional or not), inconsistent conduct, and the illegal-purpose exception, as seen in the Uber privilege ruling, where communications were found to have been made “in furtherance” of misconduct: Lander & Rogers

Your doc wants you to party. A growing “social prescribing” movement in the US is seeing doctors send patients not just to physios, but to book clubs, art classes and community events to fight depression and loneliness. Programs like Art Pharmacy link patients to thousands of activities, with early studies showing fewer hospital visits and better mental-health outcomes. Advocates say AI companions can’t fix a social problem, real recovery still happens offline, with people: Business Insider

NSW will introduce laws banning Nazi chants and widening police powers after 60 neo-Nazis marched through Macquarie Street yelling Hitler Youth slogans. Chanting will carry up to 1 year’s jail or an $11k fine, doubled near synagogues or Jewish schools. Michael Daley says police will also be able to order the removal of Nazi symbols, with refusals risking $2.2k fines or 3 months’ jail: The Guardian

New Zealand Stock Exchange: has emerged as a bidder for Cboe Australia, the rival trading venue to the ASX that handles around 20% of local share trades. Cboe’s US parent has kicked off a sale, and ASIC approval will be key. Brokers want a new owner to keep competitive pressure on ASX fees: AFR

Helloworld: has launched a 90c-a-share NBIO for Webjet after quietly building a 17% stake, topping the 80c offer from BGH and Ariadne. Webjet has now opened its books for DD. The move follows Webjet’s earnings slump and a 20% share price dive, while rivals like Qantas and Flight Centre say leisure demand is still strong: AFR

Rio Tinto will cut 180 jobs and slash output at its Yarwun alumina refinery by 40 percent from October 2026 as its tailings dam nears capacity and a new one is too costly to build. The move extends Yarwun’s life to 2035 but delivers another hit to Australia’s refining base, already weakened by Alcoa’s Kwinana closure: The Australian

Gina Rinehart has dumped major lithium holdings and reloaded into rare earths, becoming the largest shareholder in US-backed MP Materials with a $1.5bn stake co-invested with Washington’s Department of War. Gina’s lithium selldown comes as prices recover, signalling a sharp strategic shift toward US-aligned critical minerals: The Australian

Australia’s Future Fund says the world is entering an era of frequent, sharper economic shocks, prompting it to lift holdings in gold, active equities and hedge funds. In a new scenario-testing framework, the $261bn fund warns geopolitics, inflation and fiscal intervention will define markets ahead: Bloomberg

AustralianSuper has thrown its weight behind APRA’s year-long stress test, warning the $4.2tn super sector must lift its liquidity game as it barrels toward $8tn. Chief liquidity officer Chandu Bhindi says FX-hedge risks are rising, buffers must grow, and funds need “more sophisticated” stress testing as regulators tighten the screws on liquidity rules: Capital Brief

Former and current Western Bulldogs players have snapped up the Spotswood Hotel, adding a third venue to their Mona Castle Group as pub deals surge past $1.7bn this year. They’re betting big on Melbourne’s west, aiming to “create country pubs in the city” with old-school service and community focus: AFR

Endeavour Group has narrowly avoided a first strike, with 21.4% of investors voting against its pay report as the board admitted performance is not good enough. With the share price down 40% since demerger and a new CEO not starting until January, shareholders are pushing the BWS-Dan Murphy’s owner to fast-track a board refresh: The Australian

A US judge has thrown out the FTC’s bid to break up Meta, ruling the agency failed to show the tech giant still holds an illegal monopoly. The case sought to unwind its Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, but the court said Meta now faces “fierce competition” from TikTok and YouTube. It’s a major blow to regulators’ Big Tech crackdown: Financial Times

Microsoft and Nvidia will invest up to US$15bn in Anthropic, in a new tie-up that also sees the Claude maker commit US$30bn of spend to Microsoft’s cloud services, Azure. The pact tightens links between Big Tech and one of OpenAI’s fiercest rivals, as both giants look to reduce reliance on OpenAI and fuel demand for their chips and cloud: Reuters