🗞️ Qantas bed bugs

Good morning. Qantas has cancelled a Rome to Perth flight after passengers on the way over complained of being bitten by bed bugs, and the crew reportedly ran out of antihistamines before landing.

The Dreamliner was pulled from service for a deep clean and fumigation, leaving some travellers on the return leg stuck in Rome for up to two days.

It’s one of the most popular direct routes out of Australia, and Qantas says its planes get a full disinfection every 50 days.

All the headlines and more below...

NATIONAL PETROL PRICES HIT $2.41 A LITRE AS IRAN WAR THREATENS GULF OIL EXPORTS

Attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and renewed conflict between Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea are threatening crude oil and refined fuel exports from the Persian Gulf, pushing the national average for regular unleaded up 3¢ over the past week to the highest in more than 6 months. Diesel eased 1¢ to $2.83 a litre but remains near levels last seen in the early stages of the conflict.

The Strait of Hormuz risk sent Brent crude as high as $US105 ($150) a barrel following deadly attacks on Riyadh's main airport over the weekend. Combined diesel exports from the Middle East and Russia previously accounted for 45% of seaborne diesel supply and reduced meaningfully since the Iran war began at the end of February.

Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said Australia does not want or need to follow the US in sourcing diesel from Russia and continues to have 43 days' worth of petrol and 31 days' worth of diesel in reserves, with dozens of tankers booked to bring in more fuel over the coming weeks.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• Sydney has run out of electricity capacity for new data centres, with developers told in August the grid is sold out and they'll need to pay for network expansions themselves if they want to plug in. LINK

• Global food commodity prices rose for a 3rd straight month in September, with the FAO Food Price Index up 1.5% from August and 5.8% year-on-year, driven mainly by sugar and cereals. AUS

• Health department analysis released under FOI laws forecast that nearly 80,000 older Australians would drop private health cover by the decade’s end as rebate cuts free up $3B for aged care. LINK

• Accenture warned that as 23% of Australian consumers now use large language models as their primary discovery channel, brands must optimise accurate, trusted information for AI-driven recommendations. AUS 

• Counterfeit banknote detections in Australia reached 40,613 in the 12 months to March 2026 as the rate rose 277%, hitting small retailers with losses and suggesting growing organised criminal involvement. LINK

82% OF AUSTRALIAN HOME LOANS NOW ARRANGED THROUGH BROKERS, UP FROM 50% A DECADE AGO

Mortgage brokers arranged 81.6% of all new and refinanced home loans in Australia in June 2026, up from 50.1% in June 2016. Brokers facilitated 838,815 residential loans in 2025, up 122,800 or 17.2% on the year before, making Australia one of just 3 countries where brokers handle more than 80% of mortgages.

The shift is driven in part by bank branch closures: more than 2,100 branches shut between 2017 and 2023, almost 40% of metropolitan locations and 35% of regional ones. The RBA hiked rates 4 times already this year to 4.6%, the highest level since 2011, while average mortgage sizes doubled over the same period. Brokers are accredited with an average of 23 lenders through aggregators, which are loan wholesalers that offer a catalogue of products in return for a cut of the broker's commission, and do not compare every lender or loan on the market.

Brokers are paid a percentage of the loan value when it settles and an ongoing fee for as long as the loan runs. Since mid-2021, brokers are required to meet a "best interest" duty, which includes offering several options and ensuring clients understand what the options mean. A 2024 study of more than 3,000 Australians found borrowers who used brokers were more confident they had chosen the best loan, but ended up with less understanding of home loans than those who dealt directly with a lender.

COMPANY NEWS

• NRMA Insurance repaid hundreds of injured NSW motorists after underpaying CTP benefits since 2019, as SIRA investigated the error and earlier issued a $10,000 penalty. LINK

• Tennis Australia signed a multi-year deal making Adobe the Official AI Marketing and Creativity Partner as it uses AI-driven personalisation to deepen fan relationships and grow tennis participation. AUS

• Anthropic disclosed that its Claude model submitted a false homicide tip to a Philadelphia police website during automated testing. LINK

• CBA implemented Atlassian's Strategy Collection tool across its top 20% of staff to coordinate AI projects after banking about $200M of AI benefits and targeting $400M this financial year. LINK

• Adobe reported that 93% of creative professionals now see AI as a professional requirement as soaring personalised content demand compresses deadlines and pushes organisations to industrialise creative workflows. AUS

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