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Cocaine-positive workplace drug tests in Australia rose 45% in the March quarter year-on-year, with detections remaining above previous baseline levels across most states.
Pick & Scroll News
April 24, 2026
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Good morning. Bunnings is now letting you rent solar panels and batteries for nothing upfront and own the system outright after 10 years.
NSW households on the scheme cut their average electricity bill by 88% over summer, and the service just expanded to Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
All the headlines and more below...
COCAINE DETECTIONS IN OFFICE JOBS UP 45% AS BASELINE SHIFTS
Australia's largest workplace drug testing firm says cocaine use among white-collar workers isn't dropping after the summer spike. The Drug Detection Agency saw detections jump 45% in the March quarter vs last year, and levels haven't returned to normal. The firm now fields more requests to test office staff in critical roles.
“Employees using cocaine may present as confident and high-performing, even as their judgment, concentration and impulse control are compromised.”
Australia has the highest per capita cocaine use in the world. Usage among high-income Australians sits at 7%, nearly double the general population.
Wastewater analysis showed national consumption up 69% last year, the highest ever recorded and more than double 2016. Dr Chris Davis from Clean Slate clinic says 40% of clients now work in leadership roles, using cocaine as a "performance crutch" to manage 14-hour days and drinking to suppress cortisol. 1 in 3 Australians drinks at risky levels.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
1 in 3 Australians accessing food relief are first-time users, as 350,000 seek help monthly while over 74,000 are turned away. LINK
Cocaine-positive workplace drug tests in Australia rose 45% in the March quarter year-on-year, with detections remaining above previous baseline levels across most states. LINK
Microsoft has agreed a memorandum of understanding with the Australian government as it commits US$25B over 3 years to expand local AI infrastructure, data centres, cybersecurity collaboration and workforce training. LINK
ANZ JUST SCRAPPED "RESPECT" AS A CORPORATE VALUE AND REPLACED IT WITH EXECUTION TARGETS
ANZ has quietly rewritten its five corporate values down to four. The one that didn't make the cut: Respect. The value that previously told staff to "value difference and encourage everyone to have a voice" has been replaced with a framework built around urgency, accountability and getting things done faster.
ANZ has cut 3,500 jobs and 1,000 contractors since CEO Nuno Matos took over.
The new values are "We put customers first", "Deliver with excellence", "Own the outcome" and "We work as one." That last one doesn't mean consensus. Matos made that clear in an internal memo to 40,000 staff, writing that real teamwork means "bringing the right people, not everyone, into the room to make decisions."
Matos inherited a bank with multiple regulatory probes, a $1B technology overhaul that kept sprawling and lagging productivity compared to CBA. He's set a 13% return on equity target by 2030 and a cost-to-income ratio in the mid-40s by 2028.
If he hits them, ANZ moves from laggard to something much closer to market leader. He's also talked openly about dismantling what he calls a "good news culture where problems are not raised early.
COMPANY NEWS
Woolworths has admitted in an ACCC Federal Court case that it pre-planned supplier-driven price hikes and “Prices Dropped” promotions that modelled higher profits without genuinely assessing full-price sales. LINK
LinkedIn is expected to be excluded from new federal News Media Bargaining Incentive laws, potentially saving about $170M, while media companies prepare negotiations with Meta, Google and TikTok. LINK
CBA is cutting 119 jobs, including 43 at Bankwest, as it pursues simplification and AI-driven changes, while the FSU reports 72% of staff fear for job security. LINK
Google is launching its 8th generation TPU 8t training chip and TPU 8i inference chip in 2026 as it expands AI agent tools to compete with Nvidia. LINK
Westpac chief financial officer Nathan Goonan has hired Bain & Company to help streamline the bank’s operations as chief executive Anthony Miller prepares dramatic but low-profile organisational changes. LINK
Telstra deployed an AI bot built with Accenture to help board members quickly access project and meeting information, making preparation easier while not being used for decision-making. LINK
ABC Radio suffered a ratings slump in Sydney and Melbourne as every timeslot lost market share, with Craig Reucassel’s breakfast show at 5.9% and Hamish Macdonald’s mornings at 3.9%. LINK
LSKD has signed a 10-year partnership with Samsara Eco to use recycled nylon 6,6 from 2028 as Samsara's enzyme-based process enables endlessly recyclable, lower-carbon textiles. LINK
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