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🗞️ Meta vapes
Australia marked 50 years since it phased out cigarette advertising at the start of this month, and Meta's own ad library carries 460 ads selling a Chinese vape brand that crime gangs import into the country.
Pick & Scroll News
September 29, 2026
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Good morning. Australia marked 50 years since it phased out cigarette advertising at the start of this month, and Meta's own ad library carries 460 ads selling a Chinese vape brand that crime gangs import into the country.
The ads are fronted by AI-generated women and the packaging openly breaches plain packaging laws, while health authorities warn the illegal vapes can contain formaldehyde and antifreeze.
Both Meta and TikTok say tobacco ads are not allowed, and neither would explain how these ones were approved or how much they were paid to run them.
All the headlines and more below...
AVERAGE BORROWER TO PAY $1,440 MORE A YEAR AS RBA PREPARES TO LIFT CASH RATE TO 4.6%
The Reserve Bank is expected to raise the cash rate 0.25 percentage points to its highest level since 2011, with all 4 major banks pricing in an 80-90% probability of a hike. Inflation sits at 3.5% - well above the RBA's 2-3% target - driven by fuel costs, housing construction and dining out expenses, while the trimmed mean measure sits at 3.6%.
The average Australian home loan is $731,000 and currently costs $4,500 to $4,680 per month to service. A 0.25% increase will add $120 per month or $1,440 per year to repayments. NSW borrowers, who hold the highest average loan at $842,000, will pay an additional $138 per month or $1,656 per year, while first home buyers with an average loan of $610,000 face an extra $100 per month or $1,200 per year. Around 1.54M Australians - 29% of mortgage holders - are already classified as at risk of mortgage stress, and servicing a new mortgage now requires around 45% of household income, up from 29.6% in 2020.
Commonwealth Bank and ANZ have both flagged a possible second consecutive rise in November if inflation data remains elevated. A quarterly trimmed mean increase of 1% or more is expected to trigger the follow-up hike.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
New research from Australian Seniors has found cost-of-living pressures have changed retirement plans for about 50% of over-50s, with many now expecting to work years longer. LINK
The federal budget has recorded a $22.3B underlying deficit, $6B better than forecast, as higher tax and superannuation receipts and lower aged care and subsidy costs improved the bottom line. LINK
Victoria’s shopping centres are facing rising retail crime led by under-29 shoplifters, prompting landlords and QIC to demand stronger reforms as Operation Pulse records 1,700+ arrests. AUS
OVER 30,000 VIRGIN AUSTRALIA PASSENGERS HIT BY CANCELLATIONS AS EXHAUSTED CABIN CREW REFUSE EXTRA SHIFTS
Virgin Australia cancelled 50 flights across Saturday and Sunday and delayed 180 more by an average 44 minutes after cabin crew refused to pick up overtime shifts to cover roster gaps. The airline offered crew $250 short-day payments to work Sunday rostered days off but only filled a fraction of the 55 holes it needed to fill by 11am that morning. A crew member who spoke anonymously said the problem was staff exhaustion - "Workloads have been high for a long time and crew are exhausted. Many of us no longer feel it's worth giving up our days off, and this weekend showed what happens when we stop."
The airline blamed Saturday's Melbourne weather for pushing some crew past their maximum duty hours, which created Sunday's shortfall, though the crew member said Sunday's problem was a shortage of cabin crew rather than anything weather-related. The same pattern played out the weekend before, when more than 30 flights were cancelled for the same reason. Melbourne-Perth and Melbourne-Sydney were the worst-hit corridors.
Virgin is negotiating a new enterprise agreement with cabin crew, who want duty hours cut from 10-12 hours to 9 hours 45 minutes and an end to the requirement they clean aircraft between flights.
COMPANY NEWS
CBA has changed its Qantas Frequent Flyer partnership and introduced its own Yello rewards scheme as the RBA's October 1 surcharge ban cuts bank fee revenue. LINK
Mastercard launched its global Dreams platform to reposition its long-running Priceless campaign towards small businesses. AUS
Teachers at Multiverse reported horrendous stress and feeling constantly watched as an AI system analyses online lesson transcripts, scores their performance and flags suspected errors to managers. LINK
Anthropic has declined to attend a Senate hearing into rogue AI agents this Thursday as it instead plans to front a joint parliamentary AI committee next week amid scrutiny over OpenAI’s Medicare breach. LINK
Metrics Credit Partners has cut the value of 3 ASX-listed funds by $168M or 5% after auditors pushed for more conservative valuations as ASIC scrutiny of private credit intensifies. LINK
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ONE MORE SCROLL
Editor’s Pick: Think News Brands has found that standard keyword-blocking tools are excluding 57% of top Australian news articles, putting an estimated $180M in digital news advertising spend at risk each year.
Draft Pick: The Wallabies have beaten world champions Springboks 42-38 in Perth to reclaim the Mandela Challenge Plate, surviving with 11 men after four late yellow cards.
Doctor’s Pick: What 17,000 Australians have to say about money, housing and mental health.
TRIVIA
There is a three-letter word that describes something you do. If you remove the first letter and place it at the end of the word, it becomes the past tense of that same action. What is the word?
Answer below
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