The Federal Circuit & Family Court has fined Magnium $18.6k for failing to pay a former employee’s final entitlements on their last day, despite Magnium eventually paying in later pay runs. The court held that under the Fair Work Act, payments for notice, annual leave and redundancy must be made on the termination date, not days or weeks later, even if the delay wasn’t deliberate. Courts have reinforced this rule across several recent cases: pay now or pay later, with penalties: Hall & Wilcox

In DD Investment v Infinite Green Energy, the WA Supreme Court granted administrators more time to pursue a potential DOCA, despite them not meeting the s 440A(2) threshold that administration was clearly in creditors’ best interests. The Court exercised its inherent discretion, pointing to creditor backing, ongoing funding, and the prospect of better returns than an immediate winding up.

The ACCC has flagged preliminary concerns over Elders’ proposed buyout of Delta Agribusiness, warning it could substantially lessen competition in the retail supply of rural merchandise and agronomy services across key regions, including North-West Victoria, the WA Wheatbelt, Great Southern and Murray-Mallee. The regulator says the loss of an independent Delta could mean higher prices or reduced service quality for farmers, and it’s testing whether smaller players could still compete if the deal goes ahead.

LexisNexis is teaming up with Harvey in what’s being called a game-changing legal tech alliance. Harvey users will soon tap directly into Lexis’ US case law and research, while both sides co-develop AI-powered workflows. It’s not a merger—yet—but it’s already shaking the market. The big question: Will Thomson Reuters move to counter this legal AI power couple? Artificial Lawyer

Squire Patton Boggs has snapped up Tanvi Mehta Krensel, ex-TikTok privacy lead for APAC, as a partner in Sydney. Formerly at Allens and with UK experience under her belt, Tanvi brings cross-border firepower in privacy, cyber, AI and TMT. With privacy reforms heating up in Australia, she’s a savvy hire for SPB’s data bench: SPB

KPMG has named 67 new partners across consulting, tax, audit and enterprise—but nearly 90 partners exited in the past year. With the local partnership dropping to 657, CEO Andrew Yates says they’re focusing on internal promos. Still, with a 13% partner turnover, the Big 4 partnership is looking more like musical chairs than strategic succession: AFR

Britain’s parliament has backed a move to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales, scrapping a Victorian-era law that could jail women for ending pregnancies after 24 weeks. The reform, passed 379 to 137, aims to stop prosecutions that have surged since COVID-19: ABC News

Say hello to income tax cuts. Chalmers says Labor is willing to overhaul the tax system to reduce reliance on income tax. Win? Not for all. He also said Labor is pushing ahead with its $3m super tax - "we've got a mandate". That's despite criticism over taxing unrealised gains and not indexing the threshold. Critics warn the super changes could hit 1.2 million Aussies and dent confidence in the $4tn system: AFR

Sam Altman says Meta offered OpenAI staff up to $100m to jump ship, as it scrambles to catch up in the AI race. The Facebook owner recently nabbed Scale AI’s CEO to lead its new “superintelligence” team, signalling it’s ready to spend big to close the gap. Damn, we should’ve learnt to code… Reuters

PwC: says global PEs are sitting on US$1tn in unsold assets as M&A dries up under pressure from tariffs, high rates and geopolitical volatility. Limited partner firms are getting restless, with 30% of portfolio assets now held for over five years, well beyond the typical exit window. Deal volumes are flat and returns are lagging—it’s no bull market just yet: Reuters

Canva: is bulking up its enterprise play, snapping up Sydney adtech start-up MagicBrief to supercharge its AI analytics game. The tool helps businesses optimise ad strategies and track what works. It’s Canva’s second Blackbird-backed buy after Leonardo.AI: The Australian

L1 Capital: which holds 2.5% of Santos, has backed ADNOC’s $30bn bid, calling the offer “reasonable” as Santos nears a cashflow inflection point. While Woodside’s scrip-based $80bn merger idea fizzles, ADNOC’s cashed-up bid is gaining ground. Its investment arm XRG says it wants “100% of Santos” — not just the LNG assets — to boost regional energy security and silence break-up rumours: The Australian; AFR

NEXTDC has secured a fresh $2.2bn debt facility, boosting total senior debt to $5.1bn. Backed by a syndicate of top-tier banks, the funds will support new customer contracts and data centre builds. Financial close is tipped for August 2025, giving NEXTDC serious ammo to scale its infrastructure footprint.

Woodside has struck a 15-year deal to supply 1m tonnes of LNG a year to Petronas from 2028, likely tapping its newly approved Louisiana project. The non-binding agreement would mark Woodside’s first long-term LNG sales to Malaysia, and underscores growing buyer interest in its US portfolio: Capital Brief

Chevron is the latest oil major to jump into lithium, grabbing 125,000 acres in Texas and Arkansas. Like ExxonMobil and Occidental, it’s using its oil drilling expertise to extract lithium from brine, helping speed up the US critical minerals push: Mining.com

UBS CEO Sergio Ermotti’s phone number has reportedly landed on the dark web after hackers hit procurement supplier Chain IQ, exposing data on 130k staff. UBS says no client data was compromised, but leaked info includes employee addresses and office floors: Capital Brief

Macquarie Asset Management has closed its latest Americas-focused infrastructure fund at $US6.8bn. It’s just shy of its 2021 predecessor but marks a shift in investor base—half the capital now comes from North America, the highest proportion yet in the series: The Australian

A 50% stake in Bankstown Central is on the market, tipped to fetch ~$300m. Co-owned by Vicinity Centres, the mall’s value could rise as plans for 1300 new apartments and a $541m mixed-use overhaul ramp up. With rezoning approved and rare stock in metro Sydney, developers and institutions are circling fast: The Australian

Singapore’s Keppel is circling Charles Sturt Uni’s North Sydney campus in a $70m play, eyeing expansion of its local education asset empire. The fully leased site sits just 50m from the new metro. Keppel already owns a nearby Reddam campus and is one of several global funds betting big on Sydney’s growing student property sector: The Australian

Optus has admitted to unconscionable conduct, agreeing to a $100m penalty—nearly its full-year profit—for flogging phones and contracts to over 400 vulnerable Aussies, many of them First Nations. Some had no coverage at home. Staff were sacked, and CEO Stephen Rue has promised an overhaul. It’s the largest ever telecoms fine: ABC News, AFR

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has told staff the company will "inevitably" employ fewer people as AI ramps up. With 1,000+ generative AI projects already live, Jassy flagged a changing white-collar workforce and urged employees to upskill or risk being left behind. His memo follows warnings AI could wipe out half of entry-level office jobs by 2030.