Another worrying sign for the economy, Woolworths to dump alcohol and gaming, and more top news

The news Australian professionals are talking about now, curated by LinkedIn’s editors. Join the conversation in the comments below.

Australians are buying fewer cars, and this is a worrying sign for the economy, which is already sagging enough for the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut rates to a record-low 1%. Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries figures show 117,817 vehicles were sold across Australia in June, down 9.6% from a year earlier. Some 554,466 cars have been sold so far this year — the worst first-half since 2012. In particular, sales of utes and cheap, small passenger vehicles popular with younger people are down: a bad sign for the construction sector, and consumer confidence in general. Here’s what people are saying.

Australia's largest retail group Woolworths wants to get out of pubs and poker machines. Woolworths will combine its bottle shops and pubs businesses and then sell, spin off or float this entity on the stock market. The holding has proved controversial, and Woolworths had been urged by major investors to get out of gaming in recent months to avoid damaging its reputation. Alliance for Gambling Reform spokesman Stephen Mayne said Australians lose $24B each year gambling. Here’s what people are saying.

Female entrepreneurs have to deal with a "despicable" lack of funding, according to tech investor Kim Jackson. This is backed up by research, which shows only 2% of global venture capital funding was awarded to companies led by women last year. According to a Sydney Morning Herald report, Jackson — the principal of Skip Capital — made the comments after accepting the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award, and has pledged the back startups in areas such health, wellness and ageing. Here’s what people are saying.

Twenty years ago, China held the lowest position on the list of the 15 largest markets for outbound travel. Recent data shows that the country has taken the number one spot, totaling over 143 million departures as of 2017. Reports suggest that an increase in leisure time and social media pressure has encouraged the spike in travel among Chinese tourists. According to another estimate, some 1.39 million Chinese tourists visited Australia in the year ended February 28, 2018 — a 13% jump from the previous year. Here’s what people are saying.

More than one in four workers have backed out of a job offer, according to a recent survey. And rather than feeling like celebrating multiple job offers, many dread having to turn companies down and simply don't show up to work. Instead of torpedoing their reputation, The Wall Street Journal suggests people be strategic when accepting job offers. Once a person accepts, they should do everything possible not to back out of that agreement. Here’s what people are saying.

Idea of the Day: Stopping bad ideas is easy, but sometimes good ones need to be put aside too, Etsy CEO Josh Silverman says in an interview with LinkedIn.

“There's a very long list of good ideas. They're strategically aligned, you'd be proud to talk to your customers or your board of directors about them. And if you try to do all of them you'll get absolutely nowhere. So the trick is to say no to most of them in service of the fewest most important.”

What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments.

— Ben Collins