A court has overturned an Aboriginal heritage protection order stalling the development of a $1 billion gold project, with the mining sector claiming victory and urging greater government transparency.

Federal Court Justice James Stellios on Wednesday set aside the order relating to part of mining giant Regis Resources’ McPhillamys Gold Project near Blayney, in central western NSW.

The rare order had been issued in 2024 by then federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek, rejecting the proposed site of a tailings dam in a move Regis said rendered the project unviable.

The Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation had asked the minister to protect the headwaters and the springs of the Belubula River as a site central to creation stories.

Regis Resources filed a judicial review, with the court hearing the site was linked to several Dreaming narratives including a blue banded bee story.

The Federal Court will publish its reasons on Friday afternoon, while the application for a protection order will be reconsidered by the federal government.

In an announcement to the ASX, Regis Resources said the government’s redetermination could take some time and the company would proceed with existing plans to process mining waste at a different site.

But the court decision was a “significant and welcome” step forward, managing director Jim Beyer said.

“After considerable delay and uncertainty, and more than two years of time lost, we are eager to move forward,” Mr Beyer said in the statement.

The Wiradyuri Traditional Owners corporation said it was disappointed by the decision, but respected the court’s findings.

“The court’s decision does not diminish the cultural significance of these places, nor does it alter our obligation to speak for and care for Country,” the group said in a statement.

Several mining bodies and workers’ groups welcomed the decision, saying it highlighted flaws in the assessment of mining developments.

“Major project decisions must be made through a process that is fair, transparent and lawful,” Australian Resources and Energy Employer Association chief executive Steve Knott said in a statement.

“On McPhillamys, the court has found that standard was not met.”

The last-minute protection order sparked heated debate, as the NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the mine in March 2023.

That process involved consultation with the Orange Local Aboriginal Land Council, which took a neutral position on the mine, but emphasised the importance of protecting culture and heritage.

The NSW government said the state always wanted the project to go ahead to help diversify the economy.

“Protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage and progressing key mining projects should not be a zero-sum proposition,” NSW Natural Resources Minister Courtney Houssos said.

Blayney Mayor Bruce Reynolds said the town of 3000 lost up to $8 million in rates revenue while the project stalled.

The mine has long been controversial in the region, with concerns from farmers and environmentalists about land use, risks of habitat loss, possible pollution, traffic and noise.

Many other locals and community leaders have welcomed the development, in the hopes it would boost the rural economy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has defended the leadership abilities of his treasurer despite a botched ban on credit card use that would have hurt thousands of small businesses.

The Australian Taxation Office recently abruptly announced it would stop taking credit card payments after the Reserve Bank banned passing on surcharges to customers.

That was immediately criticised by business owners and the coalition, which said the changes would hurt families already doing it tough.

It prompted the chief executive of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Andrew McKellar, to contact the prime minister directly and request the government intervene.

”That was an example of a relationship that takes time to develop. That trust, where you can have a discussion and say ‘it is in hand, I agree with what you are saying, and I will get it done’,” Mr Albanese told a commerce industry gala.

Shortly after the text, Treasurer Jim Chalmers fronted the media and confirmed the government would cover surcharge costs while undertaking more consultation.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor on Wednesday called for the prime minister to put Dr Chalmers “out of his misery and sack him”.

But Mr Albanese insisted he had worked closely with the treasurer before making the decision.

“We unanimously, right across the leadership of the government, agreed that the decision by the ATO … needed to be extended,” he told Question Time.

“We completely agreed in a way that was consistent with how we do good government.”

The back-and-forth showed that Mr Albanese had a “kink for punishing small businesses” and a “fetish for humiliating his treasurer”, shadow treasurer Tim Wilson said.

”I see this as a consistent pattern of behaviour where the prime minister constantly goes in, overrides his treasurer, humiliates him in public,” Mr Wilson told News24.

Dr Chalmers insisted he hadn’t been rolled by the prime minister on the issue and said he had already discussed intervening in the ban before Mr Albanese made the call.

“The prime minister and I had the same view,” he said.

Still, Dr Chalmers conceded more research should have occurred before the ban was announced.

“It’s self-evident and it’s clear that more consultation should have happened,” he told reporters.

“That’s the reason we provided we’re providing the resources to the ATO to take more time.”

He would not confirm if the credit card ban was likely to be overturned entirely, saying more conversations were required.

Efforts to get Australia’s largest bank to stop financing forest-clearing activities have failed but activists have managed to put deforestation on the corporate agenda.

Commonwealth Bank shareholders on Wednesday soundly rejected the first of two resolutions put forward by the Australian Conservation Foundation, SIX, Australian Ethical and other groups, with more than 93 per cent of shares cast against it.

The attempt to amend CBA’s constitution meant a second resolution calling on the bank to set out the steps it would take to end the financing of deforestation was never officially put to the meeting.

CBA’s board recommended shareholders reject both resolutions.

“Forest loss can have impacts on nature. But not every instance of land clearing is the same,” chairman Paul O’Malley said in his address.

“Evidence of clearing on a property by itself doesn’t tell you what the appropriate banking response should be.”

Clearing of Australia’s natural forest was destroying critical habitats for threatened species such as koalas and greater gliders, Australian Conservation Foundation head of corporate advocacy Jolene George said.

“Nearly one in every $3 lent to agricultural customers is potentially linked to deforestation,” she said.

Shareholder Martin Mansfield said the bank’s strategic response to deforestation had been woefully inadequate. 

“We cannot continue the way we are. If we do, nature will collapse and, therefore, so will our economy,” he told the meeting.

Mr O’Malley said CBA would continue to engage with the Australian Conservation Foundation, regulators and farmers to learn more about deforestation and get their perspectives. 

“The journey continues,” he said. 

“We take the engagement and feedback very seriously.”

Earlier in the meeting, Mr O’Malley and CBA chief executive Matt Comyn promised the bank would support paper money, which they don’t see ever disappearing as a payment method.

Cash use has stabilised in recent years at about 15 per cent of Australia’s overall payments, or eight per cent by value, according to the Reserve Bank’s triennial Consumer Payments Survey.

About half of Australians use cash in a typical week and it’s particularly important for those who rely on it for budgeting, accessibility or as a backup when electronic payments are unavailable, the RBA says.

“People still use cash infrequently, but still value it,” Mr Comyn said. 

“I cannot foresee a time when cash isn’t being distributed around the country.”

Commonwealth Bank spends about $400 million each year making sure cash is available, Mr O’Malley said.

This year it formed a venture with the other three major banks to establish a joint cash pool to distribute cash to its ATMs, branches and customers.

“We pay a provider, as do a number of other financial institutions and some retailers, for cash to be distributed,” he said. 

“We see it as a service that needs to be provided.”

The coalition wants to strip back Australia’s mandatory emissions reporting requirements for businesses to cut costs.

Deputy opposition leader Jane Hume will introduce a bill on Wednesday to drastically roll back climate reporting requirements she says are hitting family-run companies in the hip pocket. 

Under the government’s mandatory climate and sustainability reporting regime, large companies must disclose direct and indirect electricity greenhouse gas emissions generated in Australia.

The mandate is set to be extended next financial year to capture indirect emissions in supply chains, including coal burnt overseas and energy used by suppliers.

Businesses have criticised the extension, saying it will force them to make complex calculations. 

Treasury has estimated modelling could cost about $245,000 per entity in the first year, and $160,000 each year after that.

Environmental groups have praised the change as being vital for accountability, but the coalition said it would further overload businesses.

“This is an enormous red tape and regulatory burden on businesses,” Senator Hume said.

“It has got to stop because Australia’s businesses deserve a chance to get on and do what it is that they do best, and that is create the prosperity that we all need.”

She said businesses would be forced to work with larger providers that had the staffing resources to track their own emissions under the changes, putting mum-and-dad suppliers at risk. 

Senator Hume also wants the government to scrap mandatory reporting for businesses with revenue from $50 million to $200 million, which are due to be added to the scheme from July 1, 2027. 

The bill comes less than a week after the first climate-change-related High Court decision overturned approval for a coal mine expansion in the Hunter Valley.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said the ruling clouded Australian production in uncertainty. 

On Wednesday, the Federal Court overturned a Commonwealth decision that halted a billion-dollar gold mine near Blayney, in central-west NSW. 

Taiwan has agreed to buy 30 per cent of the ‌liquefied natural gas from a pipeline project in Alaska, US President Donald Trump says, but the ‌deal terms were not immediately clear.

“Taiwan has just agreed to buy 30 per cent of the gas coming off the pipeline for the next 20 years,” Trump said at a rally in Alaska. “That guarantees a success.”

Taiwan has committed to investing $US4.4 billion in the development of the pipeline, said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who also appeared at the rally organised by the Republican National Committee.

Taiwan’s economy ministry, which is in charge of energy policy, had no immediate comment.

Asked about Trump’s comments, Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai told reporters the government’s job is to “stabilise the entire energy supply and build ‌its resilience, like ‌governments everywhere.”

Trump’s remarks come after ⁠Taiwan officials said in February they would ramp up purchases of US natural gas ​to constitute about a third of the island’s imported supply this year, and reduce purchases from other countries.

Taiwan state energy firm CPC Corp signed an agreement with Alaska Gasline Development Corp last year to buy LNG and invest in the pipeline project. Alaska’s governor said last year that Taiwan signed a letter of intent to buy six million metric tonnes of LNG per annum from the project.

The investment would ensure ⁠Taiwan’s energy security, President Lai Ching-te said at the time. 

Trump’s comments ‌did not make ​it clear whether a final deal had been signed.

Last year, Taiwan ​Presidential Office Secretary-General ‌Pan Men-an visited the site of the proposed LNG project in Alaska that the Trump administration has been pushing hard to ​allies in Asia as a supply option.

If built, the Alaska LNG project will export up to 20 million tonnes of the superchilled gas a year.

So far it has lined up agreements covering 13 million tonnes a year from buyers in ​Asia ​and French major TotalEnergies. It needs agreements for another ​three million tonnes and must turn them into binding deals in ‌order to line up financing for the project.

It would open direct access for US-made LNG to Asian markets including Taiwan without having to go through the Panama Canal or around the Horn of Africa, reducing transit time and costs.

Taiwan has pledged to massively ramp up its purchases from the United States, including energy, to reduce a yawning trade surplus that has angered Washington.

Trump said last month that ​South Korea had agreed to invest in the $US54 billion pipeline for the Alaska LNG project, but Seoul said it was not ​yet set in stone.

The head of an influential Pacific nations group has taken a swipe at Australia’s fixation on attendance and cost of this month’s pre-COP event, while urging greater climate investment for the region.

Palau President Surangel Whipps, who took the senior leadership role after hosting the region’s annual summit last month, has spent the week in Canberra on a bilateral visit.

The trip lands between the two central events of annual climate talks: the Fiji and Tuvalu-hosted pre-COP last week and next month’s COP31 in Turkey.

In the lead-up to pre-COP, Australia placed an emphasis on inviting leaders and ministers to the talks.

Not normally attended by such senior politicians, the goal was for the world to witness the impact of climate change on the globe’s most impacted region.

While most of the Pacific’s leaders partook in the summit, few outside the region did so.

In pointed remarks at the Australian National University, Mr Whipps said criticism of the endeavour was short-sighted.

“Some have dismissed the gathering by counting the leaders who were absent … rather than recognising the significance of those who came,” he said.

“I read recently that all the big names were missing so let’s talk about size for a moment.

“Pacific states are custodians of nearly 20 per cent of our Earth’s surface … an area larger than Russia, China, the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Australia, and India combined. 

“There is nothing small about that.

“Humanity actually depends upon the blue Pacific for its food, climate stability and connectivity.”

He said Pacific island nations, often dismissed as small, ought to be redefined as ‘big ocean states’.

“It is true that some of the world’s largest industrialised nations and its largest emitters and polluters were not present at this pre-COP but the big ocean states were,” he said.

Tuvalu’s climate minister Maina Talia, also in Australia this week, said his country – the lowest-lying in the world – was delighted to play host.

“More than 30 ministers were there representing their countries … we’re very happy with the outcome of the pre-COP,” he told the ABC.

However, Dr Talia said he was “alarmed” by Australia’s continued expansion of fossil fuels, given the need rein in emissions to limit global warming.

“We want to see that they will put a stop to opening new coal mines and gasses because that will definitely impact the lives of those living in small low-lying atolls,” he said.

“We want to keep 1.5 (degrees) alive for us to stay in our own countries.”

Mr Whipps, who met Anthony Albanese on Wednesday morning, said it was “a fair question” as to whether the pre-COP was worth the cost, estimated in the tens of millions.

“Here is how I would ask you to answer it: not by who was in the room,  but by the result we collectively achieve at COP next month,” he said.

The Pacific has set four regional priorities for COP31: keeping 1.5 degrees within reach, accelerating the renewables transition, funding, and recognising ocean stewardship.

Australia and Turkey, hosting the larger summit from November 9, are working towards support for the “Antalya Ocean Declaration”, underpinning that fourth goal.

Mr Whipps is also eager to win funding towards the Pacific Resilience Facility to fund the region’s renewables transition, climate adaptation and disaster mitigation.

Pledges from pre-COP to the region’s climate finance body only reached half of the initial $US500 million goal.

Speaking in Fiji, regional leaders including Mr Albanese said this funding was central to the Pacific’s hopes from COP31.

“This is the moment to invest,” Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown said.

“Your investment buys us time.”

A prison chief has been warned against making “value judgements” about women’s fertility rights after a woman won a High Court challenge to freeze her eggs from behind bars.

Rachel Smith is currently serving a 10-year prison term in Queensland for trafficking in a dangerous drug.

She will be 39 when she’s eligible for parole and 41 when her full sentence ends.

To reduce her risk of age-related infertility, Smith applied to the state’s prison authority to undergo egg freezing at her own cost.

However, Queensland Corrective Services (QCS) argued egg extraction and freezing were prohibited as they would be classified as “assisted reproductive technology”, which is banned under the state’s Corrective Services Act 2006.

Smith challenged this, arguing against the state’s interpretation of the law’s wording and said her human rights were being breached.

While she couldn’t convince the Supreme Court or the state’s appeal court, the High Court accepted her appeal and on Wednesday found in Smith’s favour.

It concluded the Queensland courts had “misconstrued” the Corrective Services Act.

“Ms Smith was entitled to apply to participate in egg extraction and freezing to be undertaken by her nominated health practitioner, which is not ‘assisted reproductive technology’,” Justice Jayne Jagot said, in a judgement supported by the other four judges hearing the appeal.

The judges found Smith was “likely to experience a material reduction in her fertility prior to her release on parole” due to her age, and set aside the lower courts’ orders.

The High Court ordered the prison authority to determine the application for egg freezing again according to law.

“The (QCS) chief executive is not to make ‘value judgments’ about prisoners’ decisions to preserve their fertility, much less whether they should be allowed to procreate after they have ceased to be imprisoned,” Acting Chief Justice Michelle Gordon and Justice Robert Beech-Jones noted.

Smith is now 36, and had to await a lengthy legal process for the decision after applying to freeze her eggs three years ago.

Justice Jagot urged Queensland’s prison chief to “decide her application as soon as reasonably possible” and ordered QCS to pay Smith’s legal costs.

The decision could pave the way for other prisoners in Queensland to freeze their eggs while in jail.

Each state has its own corrections legislation, with egg freezing and other fertility procedures permitted in Victoria by a landmark 2010 Supreme Court decision about IVF.

Advocate for women prisoners Tahlia Isaac questioned why Smith had to pursue the matter through various courts in the first place.

“Prison is used as a form of punishment – being removed from your community, having your liberty taken away, that is the punishment,” she told AAP.

“To deny her the right to have children is not part of her sentence. We don’t have to further punish people because they are in prison.”

Ms Isaac, the founder and chief executive of Project:herSELF, has been raising awareness around the lack of support available for women while behind bars.

Women are forced to give birth in handcuffs, receive poor pain management for reproductive conditions and receive no antenatal or postnatal care, she said.

“Prisons aren’t designed for women, or around women’s health, women’s reproductive health,” she said.

“It’s a system designed for men.”

The decision comes as Queensland’s Liberal-National government proposes a law which has been criticised for attacking prisoners’ human rights.

The bill, framed around protecting the community from dangerous prisoners, would exempt authorities from obligations to properly consider and act compatibly with human rights.

“Human rights do not stop at prison walls,” Human Rights Law Centre director of First Nations Justice Maggie Munn said.

“The Crisafulli Government’s plan to strip away human rights protections for people in prison is an unjustified, discriminatory and dehumanising attack on essential, universal freedoms.”

Rio ‌Tinto says it’s on track to release about $US5 billion ($A7.2 billion) in capital by the end of 2026, ‌after strong mine performance helped lift third quarter iron ore sales from its Pilbara operations above market expectations.

The world’s largest iron ore producer sold 85.7 million metric tonnes of the steel-making commodity from Pilbara in the quarter ended on September 30, up two per cent from a year earlier. The result was also ahead of a Visible Alpha ‌consensus estimate of ‌84.41 million ⁠tonnes.

The miner said it had already released more than $US2 billion in ​capital this year under a $US5 billion-$US10 billion optimisation program unveiled at its 2025 Capital Markets Day, aimed at supporting higher-return growth projects.

Copper output was broadly flat at 205,000 ⁠tonnes as a 27 per cent rise at Mongolia’s Oyu Tolgoi ‌mine ​offset lower production at Chile’s Escondida and weaker refined copper output from Kennecott in the United States.

Rio ​maintained its 2026 ‌Pilbara iron ore sales forecast of 323 million to 338 million tonnes.

The company has shipped ​243.4 million tonnes so far this year, implying it needs to ship 79.6 million tonnes in the fourth quarter to reach the lower end of the target range. The fourth ​quarter ​is typically Rio’s strongest period.

In lithium, ​Rio said full-year production was now expected at the ‌lower end of its 61,000-64,000 tonne forecast range, citing a slower-than-anticipated ramp-up at its Sal de Vida project in Argentina.

Rio’s Simandou project in Guinea sold 1.7 million wet metric tonnes of iron ore in the first nine months. To meet the lower end of its full-year sales forecast of ​five million to 10 million tonnes, the project will need to sell about 3.3 million tonnes in ​the December quarter.

Origin Energy’s leadership says there is no evidence hacked customer data has been published on the dark web, after a major breach.

Hackers stole roughly 900,000 customers’ and former customers’ data, including names, addresses and dates of birth, while up to 60 full bank account numbers and around 100 ID document numbers were accessed during the July hack.

Origin had been focused on supporting impacted customers, and had taken steps toward preventing future incidents, chairman Scott Perkins said.

“We have seen no evidence of the information being published on the internet or the dark web to date; however we note this risk remains and affected customers will need to remain vigilant to any suspicious activity or scams,” Mr Perkins told shareholders at Origin’s annual meeting in Sydney on Wednesday. 

“Unfortunately, individuals and businesses, no matter where they are around the world, face a growing threat from this sort of criminally motivated cyber activity.”

Origin previously copped criticism for not taking serious action on the breach or informing affected customers until July 22, despite becoming aware of a possible breach on July 2.

Chief executive Frank Calabria, who has previously said the information did not become credible until the later date, ignored the incident in his shareholder address.

Instead, he focused on the energy transition and major policy reforms, including the domestic gas reservation, the National Electricity Market review and environmental regulation reforms.

“What these reforms need most is durability,” Mr Calabria said.

“Energy and climate policy has too often shifted with the political cycle, and that uncertainty has a price: investment gets deferred, projects stall, and the cost of that delay ultimately lands on customers and on the broader economy.”

Origin’s boss flagged imminent announcements on the domestic gas reservation plan, and said the company wanted to see a “very well-functioning” gas market.

“A gas price that’s conducive to manufacturing and firming electricity, and at the same time, we want that price to provide an incentive for investment in future gas production in Australia,” Mr Calabria said.

Outside the Sydney meeting, protectors rallied against rising bill costs.

“Origin Energy has been making absolutely obscene profits over the past four years while failing to do anything to make bills affordable and provide relief to customers who are trapped in debt,” Stop The Bill Shock campaign spokesperson Kristin O’Connell said.

Origin held its 2027 financial year earnings guidance steady, with an expected operating income range of between $1.55 and $1.85 billion.

Gas production from its Australia Pacific LNG project expected to be 625 to 670 petajoules, down from 668 petajoules in 2026, with increased drilling activity helping to partially offset that natural gas field decline in the coming years.  

Origin’s share price edged slightly lower during the leaders’ addresses, easing 0.2 per cent to $11.53 in early trade.

The treasurer remains upbeat as he tries to sell proposed changes to discretionary trusts, but it will be an uphill battle to appease both the small businesses and the progressive party the government needs onside to legislate the plan.

Jim Chalmers introduced the legislation on Wednesday, telling the lower house it would “better align” the tax treatment of work and asset income.

But the government has no prospect of seeing it passed until at least late 2026, amid a Greens’ push for an inquiry.

Dr Chalmers announced the plan to impose a 30 per cent minimum tax on trusts in the May budget, arguing the rapid growth in the use of legal structures by wealthy Australians was subverting the tax system and placing a greater burden on workers.

Business groups argue trusts are used for legitimate reasons by many employers, including to protect their assets and arrange succession planning. 

The opposition is staunchly against the bill and is unlikely to support it even with changes. 

“(Labor) should get out a bit more and talk to their local cafe owner, their local restaurant owner, their local manufacturing businesses, their local real estate agents,” Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told reporters in Canberra. 

“They’ll never get it.

“These people (business owners) are busting arse every day,” he said. 

The changes would essentially “tax small businesses twice”, Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash said. 

“They (Labor) are slugging the backbone of the Australian community, our small and family businesses, with yet another tax,” she told Seven’s Sunrise. 

The government needs to get the Greens on side to have any hope of passing the legislation in the Senate.

Greens economics spokesman Nick McKim said the minor party would move for a Senate inquiry to examine carve outs for businesses.

The carve outs would prevent the need for discretionary trusts to be restructured by making fixed distributions to pre-nominated beneficiaries instead, but Senator McKim said it would let people with trusts off too lightly.

“In classic Labor fashion, the government has managed to water down its own position before the legislation has even reached parliament,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Greens also have concerns parents who pay private school fees from trust funds could escape the tax.

Dr Chalmers remained upbeat about the bill, downplaying the challenges while fronting media on Wednesday morning. 

“There are legitimate reasons for people to have trusts, but they do mean that a small proportion of Australians can manage their tax affairs in ways that aren’t available to the vast majority of Australian workers,” he told reporters in Canberra.

The treasurer suggested less than 10 per cent of small businesses would be affected by the changes.