Michael O’Bryan

The competition regulator wants the High Court to hear its challenge to Pacific National’s $205 million acquisition of Aurizon’s Acacia Ridge Terminal in Queensland, saying the deal would entrench the rail freight carrier’s near monopoly on the east coast of Australia.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission formed the view that Dover Financial’s “Orwellian” client protection policy was misleading in 2016 but did not raise its concerns with the now defunct firm until 2018, a court has heard.

The High Court has upheld an appeal by a mortgage broker with a history of run-ins with the law, finding that the Administrative Appeals Tribunal could not take spent convictions into account when reviewing ASIC ban orders.