Today’s News

The Big Picture

• Australians taxed at record levels. New ABS data shows the average Australian paid $30,633 in tax in 2024-25, as government spending grew 7.4%, outpacing revenue growth of 4.5%. The bill is being driven by aged care and disability costs, with total disability spending, including the NDIS, climbing 9.4% to a record $87.3 billion. (AFR)
  
  

• Labor pushed on gas export tax. Advocates will appear at a snap inquiry ahead of the federal budget, accusing energy companies of protecting their profits. Independent Senator David Pocock raised $94,000 in a week to fund billboards backing the 25% tax proposal. Opposition Leader Angus Taylor warns it would wipe out Australia's gas industry entirely. (ABC)
  
  

• Iran ceasefire on borrowed time. Donald Trump says he’s unlikely to extend the truce with Iran, set to expire Wednesday night US time. A US negotiating team is heading to Pakistan for talks, despite Iran not yet committing to attend. An Iranian official told Reuters the country is “positively reviewing” its participation, after previously ruling it out. (ABC)
  
  

• Tokyo unlocks its long-forbidden export. Japan will allow companies to export lethal military equipment for the first time since World War II, marking a major shift from its pacifist stance. The move reflects what Tokyo calls its most severe security environment in decades. Companies like Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Kawasaki can now sell weapons globally, subject to strict conditions. (FT)
  
  

• Gaza devastation sets recovery back decades. A UN report says human development has been pushed back 77 years, with more than $71bn needed to rebuild. About $26bn is required in the first 18 months alone to restore basic services and infrastructure. Nearly 77% of homes are damaged or destroyed, and over half of hospitals are no longer functioning. (SBS)

Companies in the news

• Tim Cook steps down after 15 years at Apple’s helm. The tech giant has announced that John Ternus, currently head of hardware engineering, will take over as CEO from September 1. Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs in 2011, called the role “the greatest privilege of my life.” While many doubted whether Cook could fill Jobs’ shoes, it’s hard to argue with the results — Apple’s market cap has grown more than 20-fold under his leadership, recently reaching around $4 trillion. (BBC)
  
  

• Woolworths finds itself in the hot seat. The ACCC alleges the supermarket giant breached its own guidelines when adding products to its "Prices Dropped" program, mirroring similar proceedings brought against Coles in February, which are awaiting judgment. Both supermarket chains are accused of the same trick: quietly inflating a product's price, then offering a ‘discount’ that left shoppers paying the same or more than before. (ABC)
  
  

• Qantas and Virgin pivot to domestic travel. With fuel costs surging, both airlines are shifting focus closer to home. Qantas is discounting 90 domestic and regional routes across business and economy through to March next year, while Virgin is offering 500,000 discounted seats, including $55 Sydney–Byron Bay flights and $255 Sydney–Perth flights. (SMH)
  
  

• Future Fund spending under scrutiny. The sovereign wealth fund has hired lawyers to review its expenses after concerns over taxpayer money. It spent $460,000 on food and catering last year, more than four times its office equipment bill. Another standout: a $60,000 two-year deal with T2, about $200 per employee. (AFR)
  
  

• Amazon doubles down on Anthropic. Amazon has agreed to invest up to US$25 billion in the AI startup, on top of the $8 billion it has already committed. Anthropic also pledged to spend more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next decade. The move comes only two months after Amazon agreed to spend up to $50 billion in OpenAI, Anthropic's direct competitor. (CNBC)

What the…?

The $70 Japanese daily planner that’s taking over the internet. In an era of AI agents and constant screen time, one of the world's hottest products is a slim Japanese notebook. The Hobonichi Techo, a pocket-sized daily planner, has sold over a million copies within months of its 2026 launch, with one fan flying from Leeds just to visit the flagship store in what she dubbed as her first ‘pilgrimage.’

Its cult following is driven by an obsessive attention to detail: the pages use ultra-thin Tomoe River paper so delicate it's nearly see-through. The irony in the story is that the whole craze is being fuelled almost entirely by TikTok, meaning people are going viral on their screens to convince other people to put down their screens and write things by hand. (Bloomberg | TikTok)

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Today’s Insight

Electric Vehicle ETF Pitch (DRIV)

On a recent episode of Equity Mates Investing episode community member Josh pitched the Betashares Electric Vehicles & Future Mobility ETF (DRIV) (Spotify | Apple | YouTube)

Josh: Today I’m pitching the Betashares ETF, DRIV which is an electric cars and autonomous vehicles focused ETF. People everywhere seem to talk about fuel prices and the availability of petrol. I thought about that through an investment mindset, and you guys spoke a couple of weeks ago about oil stocks and energy companies. I feel I maybe missed the boat on the original uptick there. I certainly noticed a bit of a consumer sentiment change towards electric vehicles. The company I work is 100km from Brisbane. It's quite regional, and even in the office, people are talking about going electric and they don't have city infrastructure nearby. So for me, that just signals a huge mindset change from what we're used to.

Ren: There's a heap of data points that back up that mindset change. Today, the AFR are reporting that secondhand EV sales more than doubled between February and March, up 138%. We've heard stories about wait lists going out from, like, three weeks to three months for some EV dealers. So the demand is definitely there. Then the question becomes, what's the best way to play it? And, you know, you've got Tesla listed in the US, you've got BYD listed, or you've got this ETF. So Josh, of the options we have available, why do you like the ETF?

Josh: For me, I kind of need an ETF to, to be able to do it on the ASX. I'm quite simple in my investing, so that works for me. But I feel like it's diverse enough. There's about 30% US, 30% Asia, 30% Europe. Then you've got Tesla, BYD, and some of the big automotive brands in there, but you've got technology, semiconductor. So it's quite diverse.

Today in Equity Mates