Australia news live: Coles blames competitor’s Ooshies for slowing sales; young people the first generation to earn less than their parents at same age | Australia news
Coles blames Ooshies for hurting its sales as it reports $1.09bn profit
Luca Ittimani
Coles reported growing profit from its supermarkets despite a slump in alcohol sales and a delayed hit from Woolworths’ Disney “Ooshie” giveaways.
The company today said it grown supermarket sales by 3.7% and gained market share over the year to June. Growth had continued into July but slumped amid a “competitor’s collectibles campaign” – a reference to the “Ooshie” plastic figurines.
Coles said its digital sales boomed 26.4%, to $5.6bn, helped by a partnership with Uber Eats and improved wait times for store-based click and collect orders. Its own-brand product sales grew 6.1%, with the company singling out its cleaning, baby and ready meal range.
The company said the prices of its supermarket products rose just 1.5% through the year. Supermarkets’ own calculation methods for inflation are not necessarily intuitive.
Its net profit bumped up 1% to $1.09bn as a result. Profit would have been $1.25bn if not for a penalty from a federal court ruling over its payment of managers.
But liquor sales fell 3.3% from the prior year. The company said “subdued consumer sentiment” and cost of living pressures were to blame. Its competitor Endeavour, owner of Dan Murphy’s and BWS, reported a steep fall in annual profit yesterday.
Key events
Cait Kelly
Today’s young people the first generation to earn less than their parents at the same age, report reveals
Today’s young people are the first generation to earn less than the generation before them at the same age, and they’re still behind at 30, a new report reveals.
Young people are also being forced to cut spending on both essentials and luxuries, while older people are increasing spending across the board
Home ownership for 25-34-year-olds is below 40%, back to 1940s levels, and not one of 48,776 rental listings was affordable for someone on Youth Allowance
Young people are more than twice as likely as over-65s to experience serious psychological distress. This is borne out by data from Anglicare Australia services.
Primary repair on Sydney train line finished with normal service to resume this morning
Matt Longland, the chief executive of Sydney Trains, said primary repairs are complete after widespread train cancellations on the North Shore line due to an issue with a counterweight at a major train hub in Chatswood.
Longland told ABC Radio Sydney there is still a bit of secondary work to do before power can be turned back on and trains can be reenergised. Sydney Trains are hoping things will be back to normal later this morning.
Longland said:
We’ve obviously worked very closely with Sydney Metro, who have got extra services in place on the Sydney Metro network to keep passengers flowing towards the city.
Cait Kelly
Number of NSW households in urgent need of priority housing hits highest level in over a year
The number of NSW households in urgent need of priority social housing has reached 13,776, the highest in more than a year.
New data from the NSW government’s social housing register shows the total waitlist climbed back above 70,000 in July, reaching 70,244 households.
Priority cases – which are households at imminent risk of homelessness – rose by 18% in the past 12 months, while general applicants jumped by 3%.
Luke Achterstraat, the CEO of the Community Housing Industry Association NSW, said the figures show a queue that is not only overstretched but is getting more desperate.
The waitlist has sat [at] around 70,000 since May. Anyone reading that as stability should look at what is happening inside that number.
Urgent need is growing six times faster than general need on this register. Every month, a bigger share of the people waiting are people who cannot afford to wait.
Aria bars ‘wholly AI-generated tracks’ from music charts, but allows tech in ‘supporting role’
The Australian Recording Industry Association (Aria) has barred “wholly AI-generated tracks” from eligibility from its music charts, although recordings that use generative AI in a “supporting role” will be eligible.
Aria has updated its codes of practice which will apply to tracks that chart from Monday, 31 August. A recording using generative AI will only be eligible if it is “substantially human-made” and raises “no stream or chart manipulation concerns”. The body’s CEO, Annabelle Herd, said:
These changes reflect our intent to remain dynamic and promote the human nature of artistry in what is – to say the least – a rapidly developing space.
Artists already use AI tools in their work, the Charts can and should evolve to keep room for that, but music generated wholesale by services built on artists’ recordings is a different matter. … This gives everyone who releases music in Australia a clear rule to work to.
You can read more about AI songs here:
Second wave of bee-killing parasite leads to ‘really scary time for beekeepers’
A second incursion of a bee-killing parasite has brought a more chemically-resistant wave of the pests, raising concerns over their impact on Australia’s food security, AAP reports.
Bees play a crucial role in food production, with an estimated $12.9bn of crops in Australia at least partially reliant on them for pollination.
Varroa mite has devastated countless hives across Australia after first being detected in NSW in June 2022 and quickly spread across most states and territories.
A second incursion of the mites which are resistant to synthetic chemical treatments, confirmed in April 2026, has renewed concerns there won’t be enough bees to pollinate crops if the invaders aren’t properly managed.
“It’s definitely a really scary time for beekeepers,” Apiarist and Australian National University PhD candidate Sara Bryant said.
But if you keep that story going, it’s a scary time for pollination and a scary time for food security.
Here’s a disquieting piece from 2024:
Jackson Pollock masterpiece Blue Poles to visit Perth
Tom McIlroy
One of the crown jewels of the National Gallery of Australia’s collection, Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock, will go on display in Western Australia for the first time next year.
During a campaigning swing through electorally sensitive WA, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, will on Tuesday announce a loan of the massive work to the Art Gallery of Western Australia in Perth from April to September 2027. It is the painting’s first interstate tour since it featured at the NGV’s 20th anniversary exhibition in 2003/4.
The painting will be loaned as part of a program designed to share key items from Australia’s national cultural collection and coincides with badly needed upgrade works at the NGA in Canberra.
The Whitlam government sensationally bought the painting in 1973 for $1.4m, but it is now insured for more than $500m. When sold, it was the highest price paid for an American work of art.
“Blue Poles changed our nation, so it makes sense that the nation gets to see it,” Albanese said:
The national collection belongs to every Australian – no matter where they live.
That’s why we’re sending Blue Poles to Perth, making sure the west can enjoy this masterpiece and important part of our national story.
Resources minister defends Albanese’s pledge there will be ’no change’ to WA’s GST share
Madeleine King, the federal resources minister, said she believes the Productivity Commission’s interim report into the GST deal with Western Australia was not a “methodical as it might have been”.
King is on Radio National breakfast this morning, defending Anthony Albanese’s announcement yesterday that there will be “no change” to WA’s share of the GST while he is prime minister.
King said she was troubled the report did not take Western Australia’s concerns or suggestions on the matter with “prominence”:
When you look through the report, you’ll notice there’s zero reference to suggestions made by the WA government. … the report also doesn’t acknowledge that no state has suffered from the current arrangements. No state has had any money taken from them or any less of it. …
It’s my understanding that all states have actually been better off since the 2018 reforms. … But what’s important to know is that states have all benefited because the iron ore royalties that Western Australia has earned for the country have been distributed for the most part, like 90%, all around the country.
And that’s a good thing for the country.
Man charged after alleged attempt to smuggle drugs into Queensland prison
A man has been charged after an alleged attempt to smuggle a million-dollar payload of drugs and associated paraphernalia into prison was intercepted, Australian Associated Press reports.
A drone carrying a package allegedly containing methylamphetamine and GBL (gamma-butyrolactone), a variety of prescription drugs, syringes, a glass pipe, a mobile phone and sim cards was intercepted on 17 May inside Townsville Correctional Complex.
Joint investigations conducted by officers from the Corrective Services investigations unit, the Townsville and Bundaberg CIB and Queensland Corrective Service, resulted in the arrest of a 47-year-old man.
He has been charged with five counts of supplying dangerous drugs into a correctional facility.
He has also been charged with one count each of trafficking dangerous drugs, dealing with a prohibited item in a corrective services facility, supplying a medication and drone-related offences.
Good morning, Nick Visser here. Let’s get to it.
Sydney trains fix expected to be hours away
It the latest update, just minutes ago, Sydney Trains reckons it will be some hours before things are back to normal:
Repair crews are on site and working to restore train services as soon as possible. The repairs are expected to be completed by 10:00am.
The problem is apparently a lack of tension.
The Sydney Trains chief executive, Matt Longland, told the ABC:
We have very heavy weights that hang off to the side that keep the tension, keep the wires held up.
One of those counterweights failed last night.
So crews have been on track through the night. They’re still working through the repairs at the moment, but it’s likely to be later this morning until that work’s completed and they test the wiring system and turn that power back on.
‘Limited’ buses replace trains on Sydney’s north shore
Transport for NSW has put on “limited” buses replacing trains for Sydney’s north shore this morning, with major cancellations and delays across multiple lines.
The problem, we’re told, is “urgent overhead wiring repairs at Chatswood”.
Commuters are warned their morning journey may take 45 minutes longer than usual, and it’s suggested they use the Metro instead if they can. TFNSW says:
Limited buses are replacing trains from Gordon, all stations to Chatswood only due to urgent overhead wiring repairs at Chatswood. An unscheduled rail shuttle service will run between Hornsby and Gordon in both directions.
Trains that normally terminate at North Sydney and Berowra continue as tabled while Train services that normally end/start from Lindfield and Gordan will now end/start from North Sydney. Please note that some services will be cancelled to reduce congestion and avoid longer delays.
The ABC reports crews have been working through the night to fix the problem, but a Sydney Trains spokesperson told local radio:
Those travelling from the north, ie through Hornsby, options are to come by Strathfield as well and also connect with the Metro at Epping.
The north, as you know, for the T1 north shore, is also connected to the western line, so we are going to be running a reduced frequency from the west as well, unfortunately, this morning.
There are also impacts to the T1 western line, intercity services and the central coast line.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.
We begin with a classic “commuter chaos” update: there are widespread train cancellations in Sydney this morning due to problems with overhead wiring at a major hub.
More on that soon.
