🗞️ Watch closely

Good morning. Western Australia has become the first police force in the country to run live AI facial recognition on the public, scanning more than 130,000 faces in Perth and Fremantle in the first week alone.

Cameras mounted on police vans compare passers-by against a watchlist of around 4,000 people in real time, and the trial has so far produced 33 alerts and 18 arrests, with faces not on the list pixelated and deleted almost instantly.

Other state police forces are watching closely, with commissioners around the country weighing whether to roll out the same technology.

All the headlines and more below...

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• Westpac has warned that Australian banks face tougher competition in a weaker property market as its mortgage applications have fallen 18% for owner-occupiers and 26% for investors. LINK

STAX BOUGHT OUT OF RECEIVERSHIP - 12,927 CUSTOMERS STILL OWED $1.7M

Australian activewear brand Stax has been acquired by an investor group led by Pushas founders Justin Truong and Sandy Li-Truong. The deal covered Stax's trademarks, design IP, Nandex fabric technology and digital assets. It did not include liability for orders placed before collapse.

Stax entered voluntary administration on 10 July after collapsing in June. Filings from late July showed the brand owed $6.7M to staff, creditors and the Australian Taxation Office, including $1.7M to 12,927 customers across 11,182 completely unfulfilled orders and 1,745 partially incomplete ones. In July, liquidators confirmed those orders would not be filled.

The new ownership said it will provide "alternative solutions" to some affected customers, though the legal obligation to fulfil orders stayed with the liquidated entity. Truong, now chairman, said the group is exploring ways to support affected shoppers as the brand relaunches.

COMPANY NEWS

• Fortescue has appointed law firm MinterEllison to investigate sexual harassment and bullying allegations against a senior executive. LINK

• Airservices Australia stood down 2 workers and faces government criticism as staff shortages, alleged favouritism and training bottlenecks cause “unacceptable” delays and 2 recent near-miss incidents at Sydney Airport. LINK

• AustralianSuper has launched AustralianSuper Advice with a new financial services licence to expand into member wealth planning. LINK 

• KPMG withheld key whistleblower details from Ashurst during a misconduct review into its audit division, leading the law firm to wrongly dismiss protected disclosure claims and accept partners’ denials. LINK

• Car Group reported FY26 revenue up 6% to $1.3B and profit up 14% to $314M as used EV and hybrid listings on its platforms jumped to 24,000. LINK 

• News Corp reported its 4 biggest Australian tabloids losing paying subscribers and hundreds of thousands of readers. LINK 

• Google is using its search infrastructure to closely integrate AI products, which critics say gives it an unfair advantage and fuels automated traffic as a UK regulator starts pushing back. LINK

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CHART OF THE DAY

UNSW's rising academic misconduct

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TRIVIA

What are the 8 countries that border Austria?

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ANSWERS

Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein

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