👋 G’day
Today’s brief:
Banks and energy lead GC pay
Judge calls out “rank incompetence”
Workers claim faith-based AI exemptions
Here’s your latest, PB #{{join_number}} 👇
WORD ON THE STREET
GC pay revealed
Thinking about going in-house? The sector you land in matters more than most lawyers realise. International banks and investment managers are topping the in-house pay ladder, with GC packages hitting $500k plus bonuses up to 70% STI+LTI. Energy is one to keep your eye on, with GCs reaching $300k off the back of Australia's renewables push. Read our full breakdown here: Point Blank
A multibillion-dollar Supreme Court showdown between Dexus and APAC went sideways fast — Justice Hammerschlag sent home a room full of lawyers from Arnold Bloch Leibler, Jones Day, NRF, G+T, Corrs, Baker McKenzie and Ashurst. The sin? Misfiled documents and an unprepared court book. He said, “These are not backyarders here. These are eminent counsel for all parties, large firms of solicitors for the most part. This is rank, rank incompetence”. Yikes: AFR
Corrs has pinched competition partner Eloise Morgan from London's Slaughter and May, where she spent seven years advising on merger control, cartels and regulatory investigations. The timing is apt — Australia's mandatory merger regime is barely off the ground, and Morgan's navigated equivalent regimes in the UK and EU: Point Blank
With Ben Roberts-Smith arrested on war crimes charges, people are asking who’s footing his legal bill. Kerry Stokes is out. Gina Rinehart won't confirm either way. Hugo Law Group appeared at the first hearing, with Gabrielle Bashir and Tim Game SC mentioned as silk contenders. A government scheme could cover costs, though whether it stretches to $30k-a-day barristers remains to be seen: AFR
PRACTICE POINTS
Creditors knocked back
⚖️ Insolvency: Liquidators can knock back a creditor's direction to call a meeting if it's unreasonable, and the NSW Court of Appeal has confirmed the bar for doing so isn't as high as some creditors might hope. In Balamara Resources (In Liquidation), the court confirmed that "good faith" under rule 75-250 of the Insolvency Practice Rules doesn't require the liquidator's opinion to be objectively correct, just genuinely held. The court reviews how the decision was made, not whether it was right: Hall & Wilcox
⚖️ Disclosure: Electro Optic Systems (EOS) has agreed to a $4m penalty after the Federal Court found it breached its continuous disclosure obligations by sitting on a material revenue downgrade for 14 weeks. The counterdrone maker had guided the market to $212.3m in revenue between May and June 2022, before learning in July that it was tracking closer to $164m, with a possible extra $27m upside. That update didn’t hit the ASX until 31 October. Separately, in March 2026, the ASX found that EOS's December 2025 announcement of a conditional high-energy laser contract "failed to adequately describe market-sensitive information". That forced EOS to update its continuous disclosure policy: Capital Brief
⚖️ AI/Regulation: Australia's data centre boom just got a regulatory moment. The federal government released its national interest framework for AI infrastructure, followed almost immediately by NSW's own Data Centre Consultation Paper, a principles-based framework responding to mounting pressure on energy and water resources. Sydney is already one of the region's largest data centre markets, with tens of billions committed to the pipeline. The NSW Investment Delivery Authority is fast-tracking 15 projects, with IDA-endorsed data centres now representing roughly 12% of non-residential building investment in the state. Submissions on the NSW paper close 8 May 2026: Holding Redlich
TALKING POINTS
AI religion clash
Did you hear…
US employees are now claiming religious exemptions from using AI at work, and lawyers are warning employers to take it seriously. The Vatican and the Southern Baptist Church have both issued formal guidance saying AI must respect human dignity and never reduce workers to cogs in a machine, giving employees actual doctrinal cover for objections. And knocking back a religious accommodation request isn’t easy — since Groff v DeJoy, US employers have to show it would result in "substantial increased costs": Bloomberg
Also…
The ink was barely dry on the US-Iran ceasefire when Israel launched its largest coordinated strike on Lebanon since the start of its current campaign, hitting 100 targets in 10 minutes and killing 112 people. Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz again and threatened to walk from peace talks. And the war’s oil shock is landing in Australian industrial tribunals. The United Services Union has applied to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission for emergency award conditions for 55,000 council workers, covering WFH up to five days, a four-day week option, and a 50% jump in fuel subsidies: AFR
DEAL ROOM
Chalmers waves it through
💰 Insignia Financial's $3.3bn takeover by US-based CC Capital has cleared its FIRB hurdle, with Treasurer Chalmers raising no objections nearly nine months after the scheme was first announced. CC Capital is offering $4.80 cash per share. Shareholders vote on 13 April, with the board unanimously backing the deal: Capital Brief
🎨 Canva has snapped up two companies founded by Aussie brothers Chris and Mike Sharkey: agentic AI platform Simtheory and marketing automation business Ortto. Terms weren't disclosed. Canva's focus is owning the full creative workflow, from idea to campaign, betting its 265 million monthly users make it best placed to own the AI workspace: Capital Brief
💸 Australian Payments Plus has offloaded consumer payments app Beem to local fintech Bolt Group for undisclosed terms. Launched in 2018 with over 3 million downloads, the app lets Aussies pay, split and transfer money instantly: FinExtra
SECTOR SNAPSHOT
Miners smashed
DIGGERS
🚜 Australian miners are getting smashed on diesel costs, with mid-tiers paying $3–$3.20/litre after 60% price hikes since the Iran conflict began. Ramelius is paying double its forecast rate, and the government's fuel excise cut has quietly slashed diesel tax credits from 53 cents to 26 cents a litre: The Australian
FIN
🏦 The Federal Government's proposed super reforms have the Financial Services Council crying foul, labelling plans to introduce a five-day switching delay and ban advice fees from super balances as anti-competitive. The move targets Shield and First Guardian-style scandals, but critics say it just protects incumbent funds from competition in a $4.5tn sector already bleeding outflows: The Australian
RETAIL + REAL ESTATE
🏠 Sydney developer Conquest has taken over a controversial $300m hotel and housing precinct at Airlie Beach, joining Blackstone (Hamilton Island, ~$1.2bn) and pub baron Glenn Piper (Port of Airlie, $20.75m) in a rush of capital into the Whitsundays. The 180-room five-star hotel will be Airlie Beach's tallest building once complete: AFR
TECH + STARTUPS
📱 Apple's foldable iPhone is on track for a September launch alongside the iPhone 18 Pro lineup. Priced above US$2,000, Apple claims it's solved the screen durability and crease problems that have plagued rivals. Meanwhile, Meta has launched Muse Spark, its first AI model from the newly formed Meta Superintelligence Labs. In a break from its open-source Llama strategy, it's a closed model, with Meta conceding it's not yet matching ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: Bloomberg, Capital Brief
P.S.
