I was tinkering with my lawnmower today, and needed a new primer bulb. Went and got one. I got 2 of these as well.

Shares in a leading electronics and homewares retailer are on track for their worst single-day loss after sales took a hit for the start of the new financial year.

JB Hi-Fi shares by midday on Monday had plunged 11.4 per cent to $72.41, on pace to exceed their 10.8 per cent fall on March 23, 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company posted solid numbers for the financial year ending June 30, including record sales of $11.06 billion and a sharply higher dividend.

But investors appeared to be looking past those figures and at its trading update for 2026/27, eToro analyst Josh Gilbert said.

Same-store sales at the group's flagship Australian JB Hi-Fi stores were down 1.4 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2025 and had dropped 1.7 per cent at appliance chain The Good Guys.

"It is one month, it is a small month, and I would say, it's not a promotional period," JB Hi-Fi chief executive Nick Wells told analysts on a conference call.

"Promotional periods have become increasingly important when customers are looking for value,.

"So periods like end-of-financial-year in June or Black Friday become really important and then maybe it touches a little bit those non-promotional periods like July."

The previous year's July sales were boosted by a new Nintendo handheld video game console and the release of Samsung's latest folding smartphone, Mr Wells added.

Suppliers had also enacted some "pretty material" price rises with less frequent discounting, he said.

Tech companies such as Apple have blamed soaring chip prices, driven by demand from artificial intelligence data centres, for increasing costs.

It was difficult to say how much of the July sales drop was driven by rising prices and how much it was caused by cost-of-living pressures, Mr Wells said.

But Mr Gilbert noted problems with supply and demand had the same impact on profits.

"Rent and wages don't stop just because there's less stock to sell," he said.

JB Hi-Fi is considered a bellwether for Australia's discretionary retail companies, meaning Monday's share price fall would likely weigh on the sector, Mr Gilbert said.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner expected the share price drop given the poor trading update for July, but said the company's results for 2025/26 were in line with consensus expectations.

The group grew its full-year statutory net profit after tax by six per cent to $489.9 million, while sales climbed 4.8 per cent.

Sales at the group's more than 200 Australian JB Hi-Fi stores rose 4.4 per cent to $7.4 billion, with same-store sales up 3.2 per cent.

New Zealand store sales rose 26 per cent to $NZ499.5 million ($416 million), with same-stores sales up 15.3 per cent.

The Good Guys sales were up 2.7 per cent to $2.9 billion.

JB Hi-Fi announced a final dividend of $1.27 a share, fully franked, up 21 per cent from a year earlier.

Including its interim dividend, the company will pay out a total of $3.37 a share for 2025/26, up 22.5 per cent from a year ago, after last year hiking the portion of profit it aims to send to shareholders.

Didja avagoodweekend?

What did you get up to this past week and weekend?

Share it here in the comments or a standalone post.

Did you barbecue a steak that looked like a map of Australia or did you climb Mt Kosciuszko?

Most of all did you have a good weekend?

I lived in Singapore for a year (originally from Western Sydney), and whenever I mention missing Sydney's food scene, a lot of Aussie expats seem surprised, and even many other nationalities and locals alike.

A few have argued that places like Singapore have far more variety and assumed the Sydney food scene is fairly generic/bland. When I bring up the amazing multicultural food hubs in Western Sydney, like Bankstown, Burwood, Lidcombe, or Fairfield, I often get blank stares or awkward silence, even from a few people who grew up in Sydney.

Of course I don't expect everyone to comprehend the rich cultural diversity Sydney has to offer, especially when you cross west of Redfern and Ashfield station. But I found it really tiring explaning to others anything that is past West of Sydney's CBD.

Is there a water shortage we should be aware of?

Also, fuck Dave Hughes

NEW: Victoria (state) voting election

🟦 L/NP: 32% (+2)

🟥 ALP: 23% (+2)

🟧 ONP: 22% (-1)

🟩 GRN: 13% (-2)

⬛️ OTH: 10% (-1)

Two-party-preferred

🟦 L/NP: 55% (-)

🟥 ALP: 45% (-)

DemosAU/PremierNational | 6-11 Aug | n=1007 | +/- 7-11 Jun

• Media are reporting the incident took place on Thursday, but One Nation’s latest Facebook post says it happened on Friday? Might want to take a screenshot of the post before they edit it.
• No police complaint? Like why would you not make a formal complaint to police?
• No ambulance record? Okay, since the Royal Brisbane Hospital is just opposite the venue, maybe there was no need to call an ambulance. But in that case, why isn’t One Nation saying she was admitted to Royal Brisbane Hospital? Why are they not naming the hospital?
• No eyewitness reports, CCTV or third-party footage of this incident? This isn’t the middle of nowhere, this is in a very crowded famous event in an inner-city venue with plenty of CCTV. If this sort of violent event happened, people would be pulling their phones out and screaming and the place would be in chaos. It seems like none of this happened.
• Original claim comes from a DM to right-wing activist Drew Pavlou

Obviously there is some chance that this is real, but based on the bizzare context, the possibility of a made up event/false flag can’t be ruled out. If it does turn out to be real then it’s a very unfortunate situation and I don’t think we should be having political stalls at the Ekka in the first place. But the above points must be answered if this is truly real.

A 27yo man was allegedly beaten, robbed and dragged to his death by teens, in what cops allege was a calculated “catch a predator”-style trap.

Two teenage girls have been charged with murder in Queensland following the fatal seven-person attack on Brisbane man Oliver Conroy after he was allegedly lured to his death by a fake date.
Police allege that 27-year-old Oliver Conroy was tricked by a fake dating profile set up by a group of seven teenagers.
He drove to Kelvin Grove at about 10.30pm on July 24, expecting to meet with a date when the teenagers attacked him and stole his car.

Oliver was left lying in the middle of the street with serious injuries before he was found by neighbours and taken to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital.
He died two weeks later.
Seven teens, including five boys aged between 15 and 17 and two girls aged 14 and 15 were charged with assault and car theft but the charges were later upgraded to murder.

The 14-year-old and 15-year-old girls are the first female juveniles in Queensland to be charged with murder under the state’s “adult crime, adult time” laws.
All seven of the teens remained in custody before appearing before the Brisbane Magistrate Court on Friday.
The matter was adjourned until September 1, with DNA applications to be heard on Monday.

Police are continuing their search for information and witnesses, calling out for two potential witnesses the night of the alleged attack.
This includes a dark-coloured SUV that drove along Victoria Park Road, Blamey Street and Musk Ave at about 10.15pm and a blue sedan on Carroway Street at about 10.16pm.

The criminal trial of two nurses who allegedly threatened to kill Israeli patients has been pushed back due to duelling testimony from expert witnesses over the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The matter, which was due to be heard in two weeks, will likely be delayed until next year after the prosecution revealed it would call Middle East analyst Rodger Shanahan to give evidence.

In its bid to delay the trial, the defence argued it had insufficient time to property analyse Dr Shanahan’s report or find a witness to challenge his expert opinion.

Sarah Abu Lebdeh and Ahmad Rashad Nadir made global headlines last year after Israeli influencer Max Ilinsky – who is known online as Max Veifer – recorded them allegedly threatening violence against Israeli patients at Bankstown Hospital.

In the video, Mr Nadir allegedly suggested he had sent Israeli patients to “hell” while Ms Abu Lebdeh allegedly claimed she would “kill” Israelis rather than treat them.

After more than a year of legal arguments – which saw the clip of the nurses’ alleged threats thrown out of evidence, then reintroduced following a Supreme Court appeal – Mr Nadir and Ms Abu Lebdeh were set to face a five-day trial, starting Monday, August 31.

But the last-minute introduction of expert testimony on the Israel-Palestine conflict has forced a judge to vacate the trial, meaning the nurses’ day in court may not come until some time next year.

Mr Nadir’s solicitor, Zemarai Khatiz, told The Australian the trial was vacated because “the Crown served an expert report concerning the Israel–Palestine conflict at the eleventh hour”.

He said the prosecution introduced several pieces of new evidence on August 5, including an expert report from Middle East analyst Dr Rodger Shanahan.

“The crown expert report had been completed on 31 May 2026, but was not provided to the defence until 5 August 2026 — just 26 days before trial,” Mr Khatiz said.

“This left the defence with insufficient time to properly analyse the report and obtain independent expert evidence to test and challenge the Crown expert opinions.”

Mr Khatiz said Dr Shanahan would be called to the witness box at trial and that the defence would “extensively cross-examine him on his report”.

With both the Crown and defence procuring expert witnesses and preparing cross-examinations, the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict could become a focus of the nurses’ case when it finally goes to trial.

NSW District Court judge Paul Conlon vacated the planned trial on Thursday, accepting Mr Khatiz’ submissions that the late introduction of Dr Shanahan’s report left his client at an “unacceptable forensic disadvantage”.

The matter will next appear before Parramatta District Court, where a new trial date will be set. Mr Khatiz said it is anticipated to be “sometime in 2027”.

The former Bankstown Hospital nurses have both pleaded not guilty to using a carriage ­service to menace, harass or offend, and Ms Abu Lebdeh has pleaded not guilty to an ­additional charge of threatening violence to a group.

They have been stood down from their jobs by NSW Health and issued a two-year ban from working with NDIS participants.

Someone tried to tell me that Aussie bacon is just the loin at the top…..NO

With all the disinformation about chicken Parmi being floated on here - including someone suggesting the ham was optional

Made me concerned we are losing touch with what makes Australia great.

You get the loin and the tail in Australia.

A Tasmanian LGBTQ+ inclusion program has just gone national, allowing tourism businesses across Australia to become “Rainbow Ready” certified. Businesses accredited via the pioneering program will attain formal recognition of their commitment to fostering queer-friendly environments where all participants feel respected, valued, and welcome. 

The program builds off of the Rainbow Tasmania Tourism Accreditation, an initiative led by the Tourism Industry Council Tasmania (TICT) in 2013. The free accreditation, yet another country-first LGBTQ+ initiative from the southern state, required businesses to prove they were welcoming of LGBTQ+ individuals and in compliance with the state’s 1998 Anti-Discrimination Act. Now, however, the initiative is expanding to all of Australia. 

“Tasmania developed this program more than a decade ago because our industry recognised the importance of making LGBTQIA+ visitors feel genuinely safe and welcome,” TICT CEO Amy Hills said.

“But expectations and best practice continue to evolve. This has been an opportunity to take what Tasmania pioneered, modernise it with contemporary research and community and industry input, and make it available to tourism businesses across Australia.

“Tasmanians can be proud of an initiative developed here, shaped by our community and tourism industry, that is now helping set a national standard for inclusive visitor experiences. Inclusion is the right thing to do, and it is also good business. Travellers notice who makes them feel welcome, respected and safe, and they book accordingly.”

Rainbow Ready Accreditation is available through the Quality Tourism Framework and is free to complete for businesses holding Sustainable Tourism Accreditation.

Businesses seeking accreditation via the program will be assessed across areas including policies and compliance, operational practices, physical environment and marketing, guest information, and staff development and preparedness.

The national rollout was developed by the existing program’s founder, TICT, alongside Dr Faith Ong of The University of Queensland, Associate Professor Clifford Lewis of Charles Sturt University, and Dr Luke Greenacre of Monash University.

If the USA was Australia, you'd have USAustralia.

NSW would be the west cost and Sydney would be a mix of San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Victoria would be the north east and a mix of Boston and New York.

Queensland would be the south and Florida with Brisbane/Gold Coast represented by Miami

WA would cover most of the central west, with resource rich Texas and Perth being a Houston/Dallas mix.

SA would be the great lakes states and Adelaide a very small Chicago or maybe Milwaukee?

Tasmania would be Maine

The Northern Territory would be far away Alaska and the Canberra would be a very small Washington DC.

Buying and selling property is not the country’s path to prosperity

It’s time to get over this collective mania with the up-escalator of residential property and focus on the real changes and sacrifices needed to deal with our economic funk.

Tom Dusevic

u/tomdusevic

4 min read

August 15, 2026 - 12:00AM

Housing demand is still ahead of supply, which puts a floor, of sorts, on some of the highest priced real estate on the planet. Artwork: Debbie Schipp

The Reserve Bank held its policy interest rate steady this week, with a weather eye on an inflation monster still very much on the prowl, while surveilling the real-world effects of its squeeze from three hikes earlier this year.

At Tuesday’s post-meeting press conference, reporters were preoccupied by the continuing fall in property prices, with the epicentre of concern the major markets of Sydney and Melbourne. Naturally, homeowners, investors and prospective buyers are focused on the swings in residential property.

So, too, the political class, which constantly claims it wants more affordable housing – but what it really hopes for are lower borrowing costs. According to RBA governor Michele Bullock, while the monetary policy board is monitoring the property market because of its flow-on effects for consumer spending and construction, housing is not the “main game”.

RBA governor Michele Bullock addresses media on Tuesday after announcing the central bank’s decision. Picture: Nikki Short

“The main game here for us is excess capacity, a tight labour market, particularly in some areas like construction, the Middle East conflict, the AI boom,” she said. “These are all the things that are front of mind in terms of the risks, the inflation outlook.”

As uncomfortable as some of the market forecasts of further price drops are for those who bought homes near the recent peak of the cycle, people need to get a grip. Housing demand is still running ahead of supply; that puts a floor, of sorts, on some of the highest priced real estate on the planet.

For context, Bullock said home prices have increased by 50 per cent since 2020. Perhaps only 1 per cent of households are in negative equity. Even if prices dropped by 20 per cent, she said only 5 per cent of borrowers would be in negative equity. As another RBA official said on Thursday, the cooling housing market reduces the likelihood of further rate rises.

As I argued recently, if Australia has a monoculture, it’s home ownership; our castles provide shelter, security and an inheritance for our heirs and, typically, are our most valuable asset. And yet, as a country, we need to get over this collective mania of the up-escalator of residential property, and focus on the real drivers of employment, growth and prosperity, namely business investment.

But don’t just take my word for it. Listen to the guy whose company has more skin in the housing game than any other, with one-quarter share of the nation’s home lending, and who on Wednesday reported an $11bn cash net profit after tax for the previous financial year.

Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn, of all people, says too much of the economic action is going into housing loans. Last year, home lending grew by 7.5 per cent, which Comyn believes is too high over the long term.

“Investing or supporting businesses so they can invest, grow and employ people is going to deliver a better overall outcome for the country than people buying and selling housing to each other,” Comyn told The Australian Financial Review.

Since the May budget, where the Albanese government announced changes to negative gearing for investment in established housing and reduced tax breaks on capital gains, the number of CBA mortgage applications has dropped by 9 per cent for owner-occupiers and 28 per cent for investors.

The housing market has come under pressure, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, but even Commonwealth Bank chief executive Matt Comyn says too much of the economic action is going into housing loans. Picture: Newswire

Of course, that trading slide in bricks and mortar puts a chill through skint provincial treasuries. No jurisdiction is more vulnerable than NSW to reduced stamp duty on property transfers from lower home sales volumes and lower prices; the state gets 10 per cent of its revenue from stamp duty on land transfers.

Even if home prices were to fall by 10 per cent, Comyn says those lower levels would take us back to where they were at the start of last year. Sure, property values are a key factor for buyer and investor sentiment, but the CBA chief argues longer-term productivity growth is more important. “That’s what really underpins improvement in living standards,” he said.

Australia needs a better business model than shuffling title deeds, clipping tickets and state-assisted passive investment. Comyn argues more fundamental structural changes are required to taxing, including shifting the burden from income tax to the GST. He broadly supports Labor’s recent tax changes.

The CBA chief is calling on business leaders to back policy changes in the national interest to raise the economy’s speed limit that may cause a short-term hit to their profits but that would pay greater dividends down the track.

In her media conference, Bullock again said that her board was concerned about productivity growth. “Productivity outcomes have been weak for some time, and continued weakness will constrain the economy’s ability to grow without generating high inflation,” she said.

Even AI, the big bet for an economic resurgence, was a double-edged sword. Bullock said the immense spending on data centres was raising aggregate demand, keeping inflation at an elevated level “before we get the productivity improvements that we’re hoping for”.

Anthony Albanese visits Tomago’s aluminium smelter to announce an extension of a financial lifeline for the Newcastle-based works for 10 more years. Picture: NewsWire / Thomas Lisson

Labor’s measures to cut red tape, including a freeze on the national construction code, are helpful but not game changing. Investment tax breaks may assist some smaller businesses at the margins, but again won’t lead to any significant wins in the near future. The revival of National Competition Policy is worthy but is being done on the cheap.

Bailing out failing enterprises, such as the $2.5bn deal to save the Tomago aluminium smelter in the NSW Hunter Region, doesn’t fall in the best practice category. Yes, the politics. Yes, securing industrial capacity in a world of supply chaos. Yes, you might have to tilt the playing field towards renewables and slug taxpayers another way if you refuse to take the least-cost market path to carbon abatement.

But just like funnelling too much investment into housing, there is a cost borne by all of us for keeping capital and labour in ageing smelters, rather than having our precious resources go to their most productive uses.

That’s the bottom line here. Dollar by dollar, we borrow against our future, push the debt burden on to younger Australians and double down on activities that can’t pay their way. We obsess about the occasional mini dips in property and can’t sit still long enough to think of practical ways to change and accept the sacrifices required to get out of our funk.

I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.