Good morning. Guzman y Gomez has been importing hundreds of tonnes of Danish pork a year for its burritos and tacos, while advertising its use of Australian produce.
Pig farmers estimate more than 40% of the pork eaten in Australia comes from overseas, and none of it has to be called out on a menu.
Australian Pork Limited wants labelling rules like the ones seafood already has, and its research says 9 in 10 Australians want pork origin on the menu.
All the headlines and more below...
VICTORIA RECORDED 37,398 RETAIL THEFTS IN 12 MONTHS TO JUNE 2026, 102 A DAY
The total marks a 2.3% increase on the year prior and the highest figure on record. Including theft and other crimes at retail locations, 96,008 offences were recorded across the state - 263 a day, or one every 5.5 minutes.
Alcohol is a frequent target, with thieves taking slabs and multipacks from bottle shops. Staff at one Carrum Downs IGA estimated 5 or 6 10-packs had been taken in a single incident through its drive-through liquor section. Staff cannot physically intervene, and repeat offenders have returned to the same stores weeks after CCTV was sent to police. Assaults at retail locations totalled 5,120 during the year, down 6.1%, equivalent to around 14 incidents a day.
The Australian Retail Council has called for a permanent statewide retail crime taskforce. Victoria Police's Operation Pulse has resulted in more than 2,000 arrests and 4,000 charges, but the council says a permanent taskforce would allow better coordination against repeat and organised offending.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
The ABS reported that total dwelling commencements rose 7% in the June quarter and 14.4% annually as completions increased and August approvals fell 6.1%. LINK
Shopify projected Australians would spend an average $346 on Black Friday/Cyber Monday, up 6.8% or $22 per person from last year, while global spending was forecast to fall 3.1%. LINK
Younger and first-home mortgage borrowers in outer-suburban Sydney and Melbourne suffered the sharpest rise in mortgage stress after the RBA lifted rates to 4.6%, pushing arrears in hotspots to 2.99%. AFR
The RBA signalled it is considering regulating Apple Pay after industry submissions flagged Apple’s dominance of mobile wallets and warned nearly 1M payment terminals and 25,000 ATMs need upgrades. CB
CPA Australia warned that tax compliance now costs Australians an estimated $60B a year, up 50% in a decade, and urged government red tape cuts as a national priority. LINK
The Victorian Greens launched their 2026 election platform promising $300M for 10 discounted state-owned supermarkets and $1B over 4 years for community safety initiatives. LINK
Rising housing and living costs in Australia are squeezing single-person households hardest, with renters on Centrelink struggling under a growing “singles tax” that adds about $7,800 a year. LINK
OUTER MELBOURNE AND SYDNEY MORTGAGE ARREARS RUNNING AT 3 TIMES THE NATIONAL AVERAGE
In Pakenham, Melbourne's outer south-east, 2.99% of households are at least a month late on mortgage payments, while in Constitution Hill, western Sydney, 2.4% of mortgages are in arrears and prices are down 10.5% to a median of $1.3M. In Baulkham Hills 2.3% are behind and values are down 13% to $1.7M, compared to a national arrears rate of 0.85%.
S&P Global says younger buyers who purchased at the market peak in 2020, 2021 and early 2022 were assessed at serviceability buffers 3% above the then-cash rate of 0.10%. The RBA's lift to 4.6% in September pushed actual rates past the buffer banks used to test whether they could pay. Falling property values make refinancing harder: the median in Pakenham is down 1.8% to $735,000 over 12 months, and more than half the homes listed in nearby Officer South have sat unsold for over 6 months.
The RBA warned in September that about 5% of mortgages could slip into negative equity, where the loan exceeds the property's sale value. Markets are pricing a 25% chance of a 5th rate rise in November and are certain of one by May. Household spending on interest repayments climbed from 2.6% of income in early 2022 to 5.8% now, matching levels immediately after the global financial crisis.
COMPANY NEWS
Aylo restored explicit P*rnhub content for Australian iPhone and iPad users who pass Apple’s new device-level age verification, after stripping the site back under eSafety’s age-restriction codes. LINK
EY reported that only 37% of Australian CEOs saw AI as their main productivity driver over 12 months, as 42% could not reliably measure AI costs and returns. CB
UNSW approved a contract worth up to $40M for KPMG to oversee a major IT systems overhaul as political scrutiny and government bans over the firm's misconduct intensified. AFR
Metrics flagged potential compensation for investors and a governance review after delayed KPMG audits forced 2 - 12% write-downs across its ASX-listed funds and suspended wholesale redemptions. AFR
Australia Post announced key Christmas sending dates as it prepared for record peak-season parcel volumes after delivering almost 111 million parcels in 2025 and recruiting about 3800 extra staff. LINK
Atlassian unveiled cheaper-to-run AI upgrades including an overhauled model context protocol server and agent-tracking features. AFR
ASOS reported that hackers sent an in-app notification to customers claiming its Snowflake data store was compromised, as it investigated third-party platforms after limited personal data access. LINK
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CHART OF THE DAY
Do political scales tend to tip to the right?
Spain tops the list at 33%, while Japan trails well behind at just 11%, less than half most other countries' share.
ONE MORE SCROLL
Editor’s Pick: CSIRO signed a 5-year partnership with Moderna to create a biosecurity accelerator focused on infectious disease and mRNA research to strengthen Australia's and the Pacific's biosecurity safeguards.
Doctor’s Pick: 'Ageing is not a destructive force': How defying ageism can help you live longer
BRAINTEASER
What number comes next in the above sequence?
Answer below
ANSWER
148
