🗞️ Empty gift cards

Good morning. Some of the gift cards hanging on supermarket racks have already been opened, the redemption codes scraped off and the packet resealed, so you pay full price and take home a piece of cardboard.

A Melbourne artist was $2,000 out of pocket on Apple cards bought at Coles before an ABC investigation found tampered cards turning up at the biggest chains, with charges now laid.

Both the federal police and Austrac say gift card fraud is not their department, and the complaints body for financial products barely covers gift cards, so whoever ends up holding the empty card is largely on their own.

All the headlines and more below...

CANVA CUT ITS VALUATION BY $10B AS AI TURNED 200M FREE USERS INTO A COST PROBLEM

Canva slashed its internal valuation from $US40B to $US31B this month after artificial intelligence flipped the economics of its free tier. Co-founder Cliff Obrecht told an August conference that the cost of serving a single user had gone from cents per month to "many, many more cents." The company slowed its biggest-ever product launch to protect margins, cut its revenue growth forecast from 30 to 20 per cent, and has since reduced AI running costs by around 90 per cent through its own image-generation model built in 5 months.

The company has still not IPO’d and its investors are not happy. It ran private share sales in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 to let staff and early investors cash out, but a listing once expected in 2027 has reportedly been shelved. Airtree raised its first fund in 2014 and still has not wound it up; last week it asked investors to extend the fund to July 2028. About 5500 staff hold shares priced off the $US31B figure.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• The Fair Work Commission has backed a new model clause in the Clerks Award giving office-based administrative workers a formal right to request work from home, while rejecting mandatory employer acceptance. LINK

• RBA research has found rising labour and dwelling costs are now the main drivers of consumer price inflation, outstripping import prices and business returns since 2023. AFR

• ASIC found that major home insurers increasingly use cash settlements that often underfund cyclone-related repairs, as 52% of offers relied on a single, mostly preferred-supplier quote. LINK

• Australian grocery prices have risen over the past year and are set for more pain as wages lag and Canstar’s Woolworths comparison shows costs climbing further. LINK

• Business leaders are warning that Australian households face mounting financial strain as house prices fell 0.7% in July and Ray White forecast rents could jump 30%. AUS

• The federal Labor government has overseen a 23% surge in public service headcount towards 200,000 staff, as budget assumptions understate an estimated $34B long‑term cost. AFR

• Australia’s internet advertising market jumped 14% year-on-year to $19.8B as new and overseas advertisers increasingly embraced always-on digital campaigns. AUS 

• Ingham’s chief executive has warned that Australian chicken prices will rise as feed, Middle East disruptions and inflation drive an extra $130M in industry costs. LINK 

ATO FINDS 6,000 PROPERTY SALES THAT MAY HAVE SKIPPED PAYING TAX

The tax office is chasing investment property owners who sold between July 2020 and June 2025 but failed to lodge a tax return disclosing the sale. Based on 2023-24 data showing average capital gains tax of $11,031 per property, the potential outstanding bill is around $66M.

The discrepancies were identified through data matching, where the ATO cross-references property sales records from state land titles offices against lodged tax returns. Profits or losses from investment property sales must be disclosed in the owner's tax return for the year of sale, as any profit triggers capital gains tax. Properties sold as principal places of residence, which are exempt from CGT, were excluded from the compliance sweep.

The ATO is sending letters giving taxpayers until 31 October to lodge a return for the period covering the transaction or dispute the information. Ignore the letter and the ATO can issue a default assessment on its own estimate, which carries a 75% penalty on top of the tax owed, plus interest charges. The taxpayer must then prove not just that the ATO's figure is wrong, but what the correct figure actually is.

COMPANY NEWS

• G8 Education reported a $39M half-year loss as revenue and occupancy plunged following a childcare sex abuse scandal and writedowns from suspending 40 struggling centres. LINK

• Virgin Australia lifted underlying pre-tax earnings to $753M and statutory profit to $501M while avoiding the jet-fuel price shock through full hedging and more efficient planes. LINK

• Illegally sacked Qantas workers are still waiting for $35M in penalties and $120M in compensation, despite the airline paying these amounts into funds in 2025. LINK

• Air New Zealand posted a statutory net loss after tax of NZD242M for the year ended 30 June as soaring jet fuel prices and aviation system costs surged. CB

• Optus has launched a national “We’re On It” advertising campaign using humour and storytelling to rebuild customer trust after network outages, a massive data breach and a fatal triple-0 failure. AUS

• Anthropic won a federal lawsuit overturning the Trump administration’s move to label it a national security risk and blacklist it from US government work, after a judge ruled the decision “illegal and baseless”. LINK

• REA Group has launched a national ad campaign celebrating Australian cultural icons and its 30-year local roots as it seeks to reinforce its property-market leadership and Australian heritage. AUS

• Australia Post lifted pre-tax profit to $31.8M as record $8.01B parcels and services revenue, delivery cuts and stamp price rises offset plunging letter volumes and tight margins. LINK 

• Pexa Group reported a 35% rise in full-year net profit, while its new FY27 guidance is well below consensus as it flags significantly weaker property transaction volumes ahead. CB 

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CHART OF THE DAY

Global youth unemployment and inactivity inch up again

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TRIVIA

Which four letter word can go after "net", "pin" and "gum" to make three other words?

Answer below

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ANSWER

Netball, Pinball, Gumball

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