Subway’s slumping Aussie operations, Australia Post's new $1B deal with Qantas, and more top news

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

Subway has shuttered roughly one in ten of its Australian sandwich shops as franchisees grapple with “changing consumer habits and a tough retail environment,” The Sydney Morning Herald reports. The reversal of fortunes for the once-dominant chain has led to a cluster of disgruntled owners putting their stores on the market as they “struggle to break even.” Owners claim cascading bills generated by “expensive store refits” that Head Office insisted on to help “salvage the brand” locally have had a dire impact on finances. Here's what people are saying.

Australia Post has signed a $1B deal with Qantas as it fortifies itself in “the escalating battle to secure faster deliveries” for Amazon and other online retailers. The deal signals the rapid growth of online parcel shopping and its growing importance to Australia Post. It includes three new Airbus A321 freighter planes and also provides “priority access” to cargo space on roughly 1,500 daily Qantas and Jetstar passenger flights. Australia Post is eager to move into new, three-hour delivery windows and grow its overnight delivery capacity. Here's what people are saying.

Australian households are feeling increasingly uneasy about their ability to hold their finances together, a new survey has revealed. Increasingly alarmed by “stagnant wages” and the deteriorating “state of the jobs market” a significant portion of households say they are “barely holding their finances together.” Despite recent federal government tax cuts, “hundreds of thousands” of households are struggling to cover day-to-day bills. Roughly 40% of households say they spend all their monthly income and 20% say they’d be unable to raise $3,000 in an emergency. Here's what people are saying.

Australia’s competition watchdog is investigating the soaring cost of sending foreign currency from Australia. The issue is significant for both small businesses and consumers, as sending money abroad mystifyingly costs 40% more in Australia than it does in the US. The big four banks typically slug consumers with a $32 per transaction fee, according to The Australian. The ACCC is investigating the impact of “barriers to entry in the market” and how best to increase transparency so consumers can compare rates and learn “who is charging what.” Here's what people are saying.

The unemployment rate for Australians with a disability is almost twice as high as it is for the rest of the population. Jarring statistics such as this have led Australian sports star Dylan Alcott to push for change with a new campaign called "Remove the Barrier". Alcott told GQ Australia he is pressing for those with a disability to be not only accommodated, but have a chance to progress their careers. Frustrated that disabled workers are often confined to front desk jobs, Alcott says “unconscious bias and prejudice” remain significant impediments. Here’s what people are saying.

Idea of the Day: More than one in four workers have backed out of a job offer by simply not showing up to work, according to a survey. Andrew Morris from Robert Half tells LinkedIn that by not getting back to an employer "just to say no or thank you very much" you are damaging your brand.

"Your brand is everything in your life. Recruitment and your job life is a people's business."

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

— Andrew Murfett