WA is overhauling its mining regime. From 1 September 2025, RevenueWA will take over royalty administration, replacing Royalties Online and bringing new compliance powers under tax law. But just as big — the Forrest fix is finally here. In Forrest v Wilson, the High Court ruled that strict compliance with procedural requirements was essential for mining lease applications, invalidating tenements and upending industry norms. The new bill restores power to the registrar, Warden and Minister to deal with affected applications, even if they didn’t tick every technical box. They’ll now be able to request info and assess on merit, rather than rejecting them for technical slip-ups: Allens

MAC clauses give buyers a theoretical escape hatch if disaster hits pre-completion — but invoking them is notoriously hard, especially in public M&A. The Mayne Pharma v Cosette stoush puts this to the test. The MAC clause sets a quantitative threshold. Cosette pointed to Mayne's weaker-than-expected Q3 earnings, litigation with TherapeuticsMD, and FDA concerns over promotional materials for Mayne’s contraceptive, Nextstellis. Mayne rejected this, saying the events didn’t hit the threshold and were already disclosed. Cosette also threw in a warranty breach claim, accusing Mayne of withholding DD info. Mayne's now in the NSW Supreme Court seeking a ruling that Cosette wrongly terminated the scheme. If Mayne wins, it could pursue specific performance to force the deal through or go after damages. Either way, it’s a rare real-world test of how far a MAC clause can stretch in Australian public M&A: Clayton Utz

ASIC has launched a Federal Court action against Delta Power & Energy (Vales Point), alleging it manipulated the ASX 24 electricity futures market. Between 8 Sept and 6 Oct 2022, Delta allegedly placed orders for NSW peak load electricity futures contracts to skew the daily settlement price for those futures contracts. ASIC says this conduct gave a false impression of supply and demand, potentially impacting broader energy pricing. It’s part of ASIC’s crackdown on derivatives market abuse, especially in the volatile energy sector: ASIC

CJ Stephen Gageler has warned of the “existential threat” that AI poses to the justice system. His main concern is what happens when AI formulates the plaintiff’s arguments and the defendant’s arguments, all while the judges use AI as well. In fairness to Gagelar, machines litigating against each other is a pretty crazy concept. The High Court’s putting the work in, with a modest court-run AI trial coming later this year: Capital Brief

Speaking of AI, we've got another hallucination on our hands, people. Massar Briggs Law has been hit with indemnity costs after submitting AI-generated citations that turned out to be fabricated in a native title case. Justice Bernard Murphy said the incident showed the risks of unsupervised AI use. The ruling has prompted a broader Federal Court push for AI guidelines: AFR

HWLE is making major moves, acquiring Adelaide-based Botten Levinson Lawyers from 1 August, strengthening its environment and planning bench in SA. Four of six principals, including James Levinson and Ali Field, are making the move. HWLE says the deal supports its national growth strategy while offering Botten Levinson clients a full-service platform across the country: HWLE

Baker McKenzie has promoted 23 lawyers in Australia, including one new partner, and hired Hamish McCormack (ex-NRF) as a lateral partner in Melbourne. McCormack brings leveraged finance and cross-border M&A cred to the table. Meanwhile, John Coleman steps up as partner in corporate: Lawyers Weekly

China’s opened the gates to 74 countries, including Australia, with 30-day visa-free entry to boost post-COVID tourism. It’s part of a soft-power play, with Beijing keen to woo travellers and trade amid tense ties with the US. While domestic tourists still dominate, tour operators are bracing for a foreign influx as summer nears. China logged just 13.8m visitors in 2023, still well below pre-COVID highs: ABC News

After a Melbourne synagogue arson and two other antisemitic attacks, the Victorian Government has launched an anti-hate taskforce. Led by Premier Jacinta Allan, it’ll look at tougher police powers, bans on masks and hate symbols, and jail for vilification offences. Critics say it’s all “talk fests”: The Daily Aus

RBA held rates steady, disappointing borrowers but giving banks a margin reprieve. She’s sticking to a “cautious” path on cuts to make sure inflation stays in check. Banks rallied, but don’t get too comfy—it’s not if, but when, rates drop. And historically, banks aren’t great at passing those cuts on: AFR

Deal volume in Q2 sank to decade lows, with just 10,900 global deals—the weakest since 2015 bar the early months of COVID. Blame Trump’s tariffs and geopolitical jitters. While big-ticket M&A is holding up, PE deals have cratered, with 1,250 fewer than H1 2024. Boardrooms are nervy, and only megadeals with real upside are clearing the runway: Financial Times

L1 Capital: has sealed its merger with Platinum Asset Management, forming a $16.5bn funds giant. Platinum shareholders keep 26%, but L1 controls the boardroom and performance upside. Cost cuts, tighter fee terms and a new brand are all part of the playbook. Corrs advised L1 Capital and Allens backed Platinum: AFR

RACQ: is mulling a sale of its banking arm just months after offloading its insurance unit to IAG for $855m. The bank, born from a 2016 merger with QT Mutual, has about $300m in net tangible assets. The move marks a rethink of its nation-wide banking ambitions as margin pressure and consolidation sweep the mutual sector: The Australian

Rio Tinto’s board wants a new CEO who’s open to big M&A and sharp cost cuts, with candidates pitching in London this week. Internal frontrunners include Simon Trott, Bold Baatar and Jerome Pecresse. With US$30bn–US$35bn capex ahead, expect a pivot from lithium to copper—and a closer look at productivity: Reuters

MinRes may now keep CEO Chris Ellison, despite his admitted role in a tax scheme and ASIC’s fresh probe into Kali share trading. The Board hired KWM to review governance gaps, with compliance training to follow. Two new directors are in, but investors are split on whether Ellison should stay or go: AFR

Major Aussie banks have tipped $100m into name-matching tech, which checks that payee names match account numbers before transfers go through. Already living in the UK and rolling out across Europe, the tech will cut misdirected payments and scams. The ABA says it's “critical” to keep scam losses falling, Australia’s one of the few places where they are: Finextra

KPMG and EY are circling the $75m-a-year audit gig for Macquarie, as PwC’s three-decade run looks set to end. The tender follows governance blowback over PwC’s tax leaks. Behind closed boardroom doors, there's chatter of Michelle Hinchcliffe's influence over the decision — an ex-KPMG partner. A final call’s due by September, with change effective FY27: AFR

Lifestyle Communities will appeal a landmark tribunal ruling that found its lucrative exit fees charged to residents invalid under Victorian tenancy laws. Justice Woodward found that the fees weren't clearly disclosed in its residential site agreements: AFR

Aldi has finally jumped into the grocery delivery war, teaming up with DoorDash to offer online shopping in Australia. Starting in Canberra, it’s aiming for a national rollout in months. The move keeps Aldi’s low-cost model intact while tapping into the fast-growing online grocery space, which now makes up 11% of the market: AFR

Meta has poached Apple’s top AI model exec, Ruoming Pang, reportedly with a pay packet worth tens of millions a year. Pang led the 100-person team behind Apple Intelligence and LLMs. His defection is a major blow for Apple, which is now eyeing OpenAI and Anthropic to plug the gap: Bloomberg

Funding falls off a cliff. Women-only founding teams got less than 0.5% of Aussie startup funding in 2025. That’s the worst on record. Even with early-stage momentum, capital dries up by Series A. The VC pipeline isn't the problem anymore. There’s an underlying issue to back women as they scale. Talk’s still cheap, and apparently, so is funding for women: SmartCompany