Which states dominate the High Court

Sovereign citizens threaten judges

Banks on notice for job cuts

NSW and VIC have delivered nearly 80% of all High Court justices, while SA and Tassie have never landed one. QLD and WA pop up only sporadically. Want to know which states dominate the bench — and who keeps taking the top job? We’ve broken it down in our full piece: Point Blank

Hogan Lovells has built ELTEMATE, a 100-person tech arm co-led by partner Sebastian Lach, who says every successful law firm will need its own in-house tech shop rather than relying on third-party tools. ELTEMATE’s domain-specific products are already showing 40–70% efficiency gains: NB

The Legal Services Commissioner is pursuing an imposter for allegedly providing legal services without a practising cert. The alleged imposter tried to appeal an interim injunction that bans her from holding herself out as a lawyer, but the Qld Court of Appeal said her bid lacked merit. The case now heads for a final hearing: Lawyers Weekly

Threats against Victorian judges more than doubled this year. Court insiders link the spike to the sovereign citizen movement, whose confrontational tactics have left magistrates feeling unsafe. The judiciary warns wellbeing is “under threat” as security incidents inside courts hit 600+ in a year, up 142% in five years: The Age

Australian Clinical Labs has agreed to a $5.8m penalty after the 2022 Medlab Pathology hack exposed data from 223k Australians, including health records and Medicare details. ASIC alleges ACL failed to put in place adequate safeguards, with the stolen 86GB of data later published on the dark web by the Quantum ransomware group. ACL will also chip in $400k for OAIC’s legal costs. While ACL says the breach was confined to its newly acquired Medlab unit and won’t materially impact its business, the case highlights regulators’ growing appetite to punish poor cyber governance: CyberDaily

The Federal Court has ordered the ABC to pay Antoinette Lattouf $150k after finding it breached s. 772(1) of the Fair Work Act in sacking her over political views on Gaza and s. 50 by flouting its own enterprise agreement. Justice Rangiah said the ABC “surrendered to a lobbyists’ political campaign by sacrificing Ms Lattouf,” calling the conduct serious and damaging to public trust. The ruling follows an earlier order for $70k compensation. With the maximum penalty sitting at $375k, the Court stressed deterrence was key, warning employers not to cave to social media or lobby group pressure when managing staff.

ASIC has slapped Rest with two infringement notices totalling $37.5k after it wrongly activated insurance cover for 2,000+ members who’d opted out. Rest then sent statements and emails telling members they had death, TPD and income protection cover. ASIC says this falsely represented that Rest could activate cover and deduct premiums, when it had no such right. Rest paid up in September. With member services failures a 2025 enforcement priority, ASIC’s warns trustees to tighten systems and act quickly on errors to avoid misleading members and eroding balances: ASIC

Is workplace loyalty still a thing? Apparently not, according to AT&T’s John Stankey — in a blunt memo, he admitted the company had “shifted away” from loyalty, sparking backlash. Many blamed CEOs chasing quarterly profits at the expense of jobs, while others pointed at Gen Z and millennials for being too entitled. Experts say businesses must rebuild loyalty through transparency, respect and investing in growth: Business Insider

Australia’s budget deficit shrinks to just $10bn (0.4% of GDP) for FY25, far better than the $27.9bn forecast. A strong labour market, with unemployment at 4.2%, boosted tax receipts and cut net debt to 19.2% of GDP. Katy Gallagher credited secure jobs and higher wages, while pointing to Labor’s tax cuts, childcare support and energy rebates: Bloomberg

Well, best brush up on your AI skills…Accenture has axed 11,000 staff in three months and says more will go if workers can’t be retrained for the AI era. CEO Julie Sweet says the firm is “investing in upskilling our reinventors”, but too slow to reskill and you’re out: AFR

EA: is set to go private in a record-breaking US$55bn ($84bn) deal with Silver Lake, Saudi’s PIF and Affinity Partners. Shareholders score a 25% premium. PIF rolls its 9.9% stake, while JPMorgan funds US$20bn debt. It’s the biggest all-cash sponsor take-private in history, with Wachtell steering EA and Kirkland repping the consortium: Capital Brief

Singtel: may want out of Optus, but finding a buyer looks grim. Profitability issues, regulatory hurdles and a lack of infrastructure assets make it a tough sell. Brookfield, KKR and Macquarie have all circled before, but talks fizzled. With $3bn+ valuations off the table, Singtel may have to cop a discount if it’s serious about exiting: The Australian

Flight Centre: has tapped Grant Samuel to shop its 47% stake in Pedal Group, the $350m-revenue owner of 99 Bikes. With 69 Aussie stores and 25% market share, Pedal controls the value chain from sourcing to repairs. Buyers are being pitched a big consolidation play: AFR

MinRes will axe 100+ trucking contractors after sinking $230m into repairs on its accident-prone Onslow haul road. With its own 140 jumbo road trains back to full speed, Chris Ellison is banking on smoother shipments to hit iron ore targets: The Australian

Newmont CEO Tom Palmer will retire after nearly 40 years in mining, handing the reins to COO Natascha Viljoen — Newmont’s first woman CEO in 104 years. Shares in the $93bn gold giant jumped to a three-year high on the news. Analysts say the move was expected, with investors still focused on Newmont’s mine plans and chunky buyback program: Northern Miner

AUSTRAC boss Brendan Thomas has warned the big four that job cuts mustn’t gut compliance, or the regulator will step in. Nearly 6000 roles are on the chopping block across ANZ, Westpac, NAB and others, sparking fears non-financial risk teams could be thinned out: AFR

CBA is luring borrowers with up to 300k Qantas points for online loans, as the big four scramble to fend off Macquarie’s surging market share. With rates dipping below 5% and property demand back, CBA wants half of all refinances to be digital: AFR

Hostplus has blasted Lendlease after failing to oust it from managing the $2bn Australian Prime Property Fund platform, accusing the property giant of urging investors to skip a crucial vote. The showdown is just round one in a fight over the $10bn APPF empire, with a $2.8bn retail fund vote set for Wednesday: AFR

ALAND sold 55% of its Walden project in North Sydney within three hours, racking up $103m in pre-sales. Unlike the last boom, offshore buyers are scarce — this time it’s cashed-up locals and downsizers driving demand. With $27k per sqm price tags and harbour views: The Australian

OpenAI has launched parental controls in ChatGPT after a lawsuit tied to a California teen’s suicide. Parents can now set quiet hours, block voice and image tools, and limit sensitive content, though they won’t see transcripts. With 700 million weekly users, regulators are circling as AI firms scramble to add teen safeguards: Reuters

Ex-Alibaba Australia boss Maggie Zhou is leading a $1.3m raise for Liftwomen, a crowdfunding platform backing female founders and tackling a $1.8trn funding gap. Founded by Irene Tsang, Liftwomen has launched 363 projects and 10k+ mentorship hours, helping startups like Ovum and Misti scale fast: The Australian