It's Tuesday the 9^th of September, 2025. The two big supermarkets – Coles and Woolworths – could owe up to $1 billion in remediation costs for underpaying workers, on top of the more than half a billion they have already paid out. It follows Federal Court Justice Nye Perram delivering his judgement in Coles’ long running underpayments case late last week. Coles, which has so far paid $31 million in remediation, reckons it could be up for another $150 million to $250 million, which includes interest and on-costs. Woolworths, which has already paid a bit less than $500 million in remediation, estimates it could owe another $180 million to $330 million post-tax, plus another $200m in interest, superannuation and payroll tax. 

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News in brief

Anthony Albanese has put ­corporate tax reform on the table and urged business leaders to back Labor’s plans for its 2035 emissions reduction target saying an ongoing era of ­consensus is needed to take advantage of the economic opportunities in a changing world.

Corporate Australia has made a significant shift away from promoting its commitment to progressive social issues, with the latest annual reports of big companies cutting references to policies aimed at bolstering diversity, inclusion and environmental sustainability.

Beijing is upset over what it calls Penny Wong and Richard Marles’ “incomprehensible” decision to “provoke China” at a meeting on Friday with their Japanese counterparts in Tokyo.

Australia’s social media age ban kicks in on December 10 and Australians under 16 will be banned from using major social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. But experts warn the new law could be undermined by VPNs, which allow users to mask their identity and location online. 

South Korea is banning mobile phones in classrooms nationwide. The new law takes effect in March 2026 and aims to tackle rising smartphone addiction among kids and teens. Supporters say phones are disrupting lessons, hurting grades, and even fuelling bullying

Fear-o-meter

It's easy to blast the big supermarkets for underpaying workers. But the ruling in the Federal Court last week is unlikely to result in any improvement when it comes to following the law. And that’s because the law is so grey. There are almost 1,000 different pay rates across the retail sector. That in itself is almost impossible to manage.

Like many retailers Woolworths and Coles took a practical “it-all-works-out-in-the-end” approach, whereby managers got paid a bit more across the year to offset overtime and working in seasonally busy periods. Now all that overtime will have to be accounted for. Imagine the paperwork. If Woolworths and Coles can’t get it right, what chance do other retailers have? 

Last week’s decision might sound like a win for the workers, but I doubt that it is.

Fear & Greed Q+A today

The US Federal Reserve is tipped to interest rates next week. What does this mean for markets, and why do rate expectations have such an impact on bonds?

 

We'll start with bond rates. Why do they matter? Because they are the almost risk-free rate of an investment return. Putting your money in a US government bond is pretty much as safe as it gets, safer than a bank. Same with an Australian government bond, that's safer than the Commonwealth Bank, for example. Because these are the almost risk-free rate of investment returns, all other asset classes, that might be a bank deposit, might be a share in a bank, it might be a higher risk corporate bond, it might be a junk bond. What they return, what they yield for your $100 that you're putting into them or a million dollars that you're putting into them, are all based off the bond rate because there's a risk premium added to each of those. That's why bond rates are so very, very important. So when a bond rate moves, so does everything else. The expectation of return and equity moves. Expectation of corporate bonds move. 

 

Bond rates reflect expectations of future interest rates. If investors think interest rates are going to fall, which they do in the US at the moment, then they tend to buy more bonds because the bond might be yielding 4%. Interest rates are going to fall, so they think they're going to yield less. Therefore, they jump in, they buy more of them now before the yield falls. 

 

So what happens if the Fed cuts interest rates next week? The answer is probably not much. But there's a really good reason for that because the market likes to be informed. And so most of the movement occurs before the action actually happens. So what you've seen is bond yields falling in the US because people think the Fed's going to cut interest rates next week. The action has already occurred.

Greed-o-meter

There are around 200 private jets in Australia. But they're not just used by wealthy owners - The Australian reports an increasing number of people are choosing to charter jets to get greater flexibility on flights, or to move a group of people in luxury. Here's a rough guide to how much a charter flight will set you back:

Source: Navair Jets, reported in The Australian

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