Good morning. KPMG has admitted a senior audit partner used confidential Lendlease board documents while pitching for a major Westpac contract.

The documents were accessed without authorisation and displayed on screen in front of the KPMG team tendering for the Westpac audit.

Lendlease’s CEO called it “not acceptable” and the firm is now facing a parliamentary investigation.

All the headlines and more below...

COLES BROKE CONSUMER LAW WITH FAKE 'DOWN DOWN' DISCOUNTS, FEDERAL COURT RULES

The Federal Court found Coles misled shoppers by advertising fake discounts under its 'Down Down' campaign. Justice Michael O'Bryan ruled 13 of 14 pricing tickets submitted were misleading because products weren't sold at the higher "was" price for long enough before being discounted.

The ACCC argued Coles applied brief price increases to hundreds of household items, then dropped them back and called it a discount. The court agreed. Products must be sold at the higher price for at least 12 weeks before a discount is genuine.

Coles now faces fines running into the millions per breach. The ACCC is pursuing an identical case against Woolworths over the same tactic.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• Australian household spending has fallen 1.2% in April as Commonwealth Bank data shows a sharp pullback in petrol and recreation outlays, while hospitality spending has risen 6.2% annually. LINK

• The Australian government has lifted the passenger movement charge from $70 to $80 from 1 January 2027, aiming to raise an extra $755M over 5 years as tourism bodies warn it will hurt competitiveness. LINK

AUSSIES ARE SKIPPING HOLIDAYS BUT STILL BUYING ROUNDS AT THE BAR

Commonwealth Bank data shows household spending fell 1.2% in April. The cuts weren't rent or groceries. They were fuel (down after the temporary excise cut) and recreation, which dropped 2.6% in a single month and is now the only category contracting year on year.

Travel bookings, flights, accommodation, ticketing services, are all down annually. Hospitality spending rose 0.2% in April alone. Strip out fuel and household spending still fell 0.2%.

RBA governor Michele Bullock called it in March: confidence has been low for months, but people keep spending anyway. CBA's head of economics says households are "lowering travel-related consumption in the face of higher costs", but not their Friday night plans.

COMPANY NEWS

• ACCC has won a Federal Court ruling that Coles misled shoppers with “Down Down” discounts that followed short term price hikes, while a similar case against Woolworths continues. LINK

• Virgin Australia is removing traditional check in kiosks as it introduces a one-step automated bag drop system that uses advanced camera and barcode recognition to cut processing times by up to half. LINK

• Xero reported a 31% jump in full year revenue to NZ$2.8B while Melio related acquisition costs drove a 27% fall in net profit to NZ$167M. LINK

• Optus has launched a multimillion national advertising campaign fronted by a signed CEO letter accepting accountability for last year’s outage as it seeks to rebuild customer trust. LINK

• Megaport has secured US$182M in GPU, CPU, network and storage contracts via its Latitude subsidiary as it raises FY26 capex guidance by $140.3M requiring US$101M in extra investment. LINK

• ANZ has overhauled executive bonuses so thousands of Group 2 and above managers have pay tied to a new 5 point performance rating linking behaviour, individual outcomes and bank-wide results. LINK

• GrainCorp reported a 91% fall in net profit to US$5M for the 6 months to 31 March as global oversupply cuts earnings, volumes and core cash. LINK

• Bapcor cut its FY26 underlying EBITDA guidance to $144M-$150M and lease-adjusted earnings to $62M-$68M as deteriorating trading, higher rates and Middle East-driven costs hit sales. LINK

• oOh!media reported a 7% Q1 revenue rise in its Australian segment and 4% group growth as it cuts FY capex guidance to US$45M-US$55M while billboard revenue falls 1%. LINK 

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TRIVIA

1. Which Chess piece can jump over other pieces?

2. In which US State is Silicon Valley?

3. Who plays Lucius Verus in Gladiator II?

4. In ten pin bowling, what's the term for three strikes in a row?

5. What is the capital of Iran

Answer below

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ANSWERS

1. Knight
2. California
3. Paul Mescal
4. Turkey
5. Tehran

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