Good morning. Spotify's AI DJ is getting an Australian accent, one of seven English voices with their own personalities now rolling out to Premium listeners.
More than 94 million Premium listeners already use the DJ, and they can now also turn off most of its chatter between songs.
Spotify pitches the quieter mode at people hosting a party, who want the music without hearing why each song was picked.
All the headlines and more below...
QANTAS TO CUT 850 AUSTRALIAN JOBS AND SHIFT WORK TO INDIA
Qantas will outsource most of the affected work to Accenture teams in India as part of a multi-year deal to modernise the airline's back-office systems. The first phase will cut roles in finance, procurement, human resources and marketing, with changes expected by mid-2027.
The airline is overhauling more than 1,000 back-end systems as it pushes to cut costs and adopt artificial intelligence across corporate functions. CEO Vanessa Hudson said the scale of change required skills the airline could not hire fast enough on its own. The cuts represent around 3% of Qantas's 28,000-strong Australian workforce.
Qantas last week announced cuts to flight capacity in response to elevated fuel costs linked to conflict in the Middle East. The Australian Services Union is consulting with the airline after previously seeking assurances that Australian roles would not be moved offshore.
AUSTRALIAN NEWS
Real take-home pay fell about 5.5% in real terms since March 2021 and is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until the 2030s as inflation, bracket creep and higher interest rates bite. LINK
ACCC has warned Black Friday shoppers about misleading discount tactics and fake online shopfronts as it expanded its ad sweep and fined 6 retailers $217,800 over 2 years. LINK
Only 10 of more than 130 household costs are cheaper than in mid-2025, led by public transport fares down 10.7% after state fare cuts and vegetables down 5.1%, while overall prices rose 6.1% over the same period. AUS
Australian unit values fell 3.6% since January compared with a 5.9% drop for houses as rising interest rates cut borrowing capacity and push buyers towards cheaper apartments. LINK
Australia will create a new AI safety regulator and impose mandatory security standards and potential criminal penalties on AI companies after a rogue OpenAI agent breached government health websites. LINK
Australian consumer sentiment fell 2.7% to 78.2 in November to a 4-year low as the RBA lifted interest rates to an 18-year high of 4.85% and economic outlook measures slumped. LINK
CANVA STAFF JOIN TECH UNION IN RECORD NUMBERS AFTER 300 ATTEND MEETINGS ON 22% WORKFORCE CUT
Professionals Australia held union meetings for Canva employees in the days after the design software company announced plans to cut 22% of its workforce, drawing around 300 attendees - up to 5 times more than previous meetings. Both staff who kept their jobs and those who received redundancy notices turned up.
The technology department was hit hardest at around 40% of the cuts, with mid-level software engineering roles on the chopping block. Around 180 jobs went from the design department, which builds Canva's mobile app and website, and 100 from the user voice team that handles customer service and feedback.
The union is calling on Canva to extend the 2-week deadline by which employees must choose between relocating to Sydney or taking a redundancy package. Professionals Australia's membership has grown by more than 40% this year as job cuts have rippled across Australia's tech sector.
THE INSIDE TRACK
KPMG shut down its Townsville office and made everyone there redundant in connection with an earlier restructuring. LINK
Cerebral Palsy Alliance is making redundancies across the board amid cost cutting due to ongoing revenue challenges. LINK
Deloitte let around 15 staff go from Deloitte Access Economics last week mainly directors and directors who do not meet targets will automatically be put on a performance improvement plan. LINK
NAB is offshoring more fraud operations roles to India, including those supporting white-label banking partners, with a much larger transition planned for FY28 moving hundreds of Australian fraud roles. LINK
United Rentals is about to make 20% of its salespeople redundant as it moves to AI based selling to compete with Coates and Kennards and hit margin targets. LINK
Ventia announced a company wide business restructure with multiple redundancies from 1 Dec to deliver at least 30 million in annualised cost saving by Dec 2027. LINK
Heard something at work? Redundancies, offshoring, an email that should not have gone out. Tell us what’s happening at your company.
COMPANY NEWS
Aged care residents in Bupa and other providers’ homes are being asked to pay daily charges of up to $42 for cooked breakfasts and $39.75 for in-room TV. LINK
RBC agreed to acquire Yarra Capital Management subject to regulatory approval, adding Yarra’s $18B in assets under management to RBC Global Asset Management’s CAD800B platform. LINK
Domino’s Pizza Enterprises is facing a franchisee crisis as about 400 of its 600 Australian franchised stores fall behind on tax payments amid slumping sales and disputed fees. AFR
Life360 reported a 40% year-on-year jump in third quarter revenue and upgraded the lower end of its consolidated full-year revenue guidance. LINK
Atlassian co-founder Scott Farquhar will sell up to 3.4M shares worth US$526M for diversification and philanthropy as Mike Cannon-Brookes buys up to US$250M of stock. LINK
Qantas will start selling tickets in February 2027 for its Project Sunrise non-stop Sydney-London QF1 and QF2 flights from October 2027, using specially designed A350-1000ULR aircraft. LINK
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ONE MORE SCROLL
Odd Pick: A Chinese university just deployed 116 underwater drones in perfect formation simultaneously.
Editor’s Pick: Most Australian workers ignore the free mental health support their employer already pays for.
Draft Pick: NRL's top ref Adam Gee dumped from World Cup final amid Kevvie's mind games.
Doctor’s Pick: Healthier salt substitute may prevent millions of deaths from heart disease.
TRIVIA
Which country has won the most FIFA World Cup titles?
Answer below
ANSWER
Brazil
