The BLS Report Podcast

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May 2026

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About the show

BLS Report, a series of podcasts available created by the Business Law Section, covering topics of interest arising in our fields or practice. This series is in commemoration of the late Professor Robert (‘Bob’) Baxt. Bob Baxt was the father of the BLS. In 1980, he was one of the signatories to the submission to the Law Council to establish the BLS and played a key role in its initial organisation and subsequent development. He was BLS chair from 2001 to 2003, a member of our executive for more than 30 years right up until his passing in March 2018, and whose presence we still feel at our executive meetings as he was a mentor to so many of us. Bob in fact served on three BLS committees, chairing two of them. He practiced and published extensively in the fields of trade practices, corporate law and taxation law, and had a longstanding commitment to legal education. He was Dean of Law at Monash University from 1980 to 1988, and later a professorial Fellow of the University of Melbourne, Chairman of the Law Committee of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and the founder and general editor of the Australian Business Law Review and the Company and Securities Law Journal.

Listen to episodes

26 recent

May 13, 202637 min

The BLS Report Episode Twenty-five: Regulation and innovation

The relationship between regulation and innovation has always been complicated. Regulation that assumes one way of doing things can stifle innovation; conversely regulation struggles to keep up with rapid technological change. In this episode, Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves unpack that relationship with the 2026 Trinity College visiting Gourlay Professor in business ethics, Professor Gerry George from the International Medical University in Malaysia and the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative at Georgetown University in the USA.

April 21, 202627 min

The BLS Report - Episode Twenty-four: Update on the new Merger Control Regime

In this episode, BLS Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves go through the last-minute revisions to Australia’s new merger control regime with competition law expert Caroline Coops from Mallesons, including when deals involving shares or assets need to be notified to the ACCC.

October 28, 202533 min

The BLS Report - Episode Twenty-three: Fixing the process of business law reform – is CAMAC 2.0 the answer?

Everyone knows that structural reform of Australia’s corporate regulation is needed, but where do we start? In this episode, BLS Chair Pamela Hanrahan and BLS Executive member John Keeves are in conversation with Professor Jason Harris from Sydney Law School and Natasha McHattan from nlmlegal about the recent work of the Productivity Commission on regulatory reform and the CLRA campaign by industry bodies, professional associations and academics for a standing expert body to get modernisation moving.

September 28, 202525 min

The BLS Report Episode Twenty-Two: Australia’s Merger Reform - Meet the New Merger Sledgehammer - Part 2

In this two-part episode of The BLS Report, regular co-host John Keeves and special co-host Peta Stevenson, Chair of the BLS Competition & Consumer Committee are joined by guests Caroline Coops from King & Wood Mallesons and Simon Muys from Gilbert + Tobin, to explore Australia’s new merger regime and what it means for businesses and practitioners. Part 2 Part 2 focuses on the practical implications, covering pre-notification strategies, ACCC review processes and timeframes, Tribunal review, remedies, FIRB interaction, due diligence considerations and more.

September 28, 202530 min

The BLS Report Episode Twenty-Two: Australia’s Merger Reform - Meet the New Merger Sledgehammer - Part 1

In this two-part episode of The BLS Report, regular co-host John Keeves and special co-host Peta Stevenson, Chair of the BLS Competition & Consumer Committee are joined by guests Caroline Coops from King & Wood Mallesons and Simon Muys from Gilbert + Tobin, to explore Australia’s new merger regime and what it means for businesses and practitioners. Part 1 Part 1 examines the foundations of the regime, including key definitions, notification thresholds, targeted industries, filing fees and the requirements of the new notification forms.

July 30, 202537 min

The BLS Report Episode Twenty-One: Protecting Australian Financial consumers

Australia’s financial consumer law was recently described by the Australian Law Reform Commission as “a tangled mess” and a “confusing maze” that is “no longer fit for purpose”. A new approach is needed. In this episode, BLS Chair Dr Pamela Hanrahan and Executive member John Keeves talk to Professor Lauren Willis, Centennial Chair of Consumer Law at Loyola Law School in California and a world-renowned expert on consumer regulation, about an alternative performance-based approach to law design.

June 17, 202539 min

The BLS Report - Episode Twenty: Cybersecurity – A Coordinated Effort

Recorded 6 March 2025 In this episode, BLS Chair Dr Pamela Hanrahan and Executive member John Keeves meet two people at the centre of Australia’s coordinated response to cyber threat. Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness CSC, the National Cyber Security Coordinator and Hamish Hansford, the Deputy Secretary for Cyber & Infrastructure Security in the Department of Home Affairs discuss the national strategy for cyber resilience and the Cyber Security Act 2024 (Cth).

November 7, 202434 min

The BLS Report Episode Nineteen: Sustainability - a management perspective

In this special episode, BLS Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves meet Mette Morsing, Professor of Business Sustainability and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford. Professor Morsing is in Australia as the 2024 Gourlay Visting Professor of ethics in business and talks about how the disciplines of law and management work together in responding to climate change.

July 12, 202441 min

The BLS Report Episode Eighteen: How should we regulate AI?

With the Senate Select Committee on Adopting Artificial Intelligence due to report in September, BLS Chair Professor Pamela Hanrahan and BLS Executive member John Keeves discuss recent developments and likely futures in AI regulation with Peter Leonard, Principal of Data Synergies Pty Ltd and UNSW Business School Professor of Practice.

May 3, 202440 min

The BLS Report Episode Seventeen: Untangling the mess

The Australian Law Reform Commission was charged in 2020 with untangling the mess that is Australia’s financial services law, without altering the policy settings. In this episode, BLS Executive members Pamela Hanrahan and John Keeves discuss the Final Report with Christopher Ash and Ellie Filkin from the ALRC to unpack the Report’s 58 recommendations. We explore what needs to change in our approach to legislating for business regulation in future, to avoid unnecessary complexity and support the rule of law.