Zumbo enters voluntary administration, bank fines fund new super centre, and more top news

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Adriano Zumbo’s business has been placed in voluntary administration. The celebrity dessert maker’s company held a creditors meeting and Good Food reported attendees were told debts could reach as high as $10m but assets, including equipment and property, could be worth $8m. The MasterChef regular has eight stores in Sydney and Melbourne selling high-end macarons, cakes and savoury baked goods. In the meantime, all stores were to remain open.

The financial watchdog is funding $2.5m towards a consumer-focused superannuation centre to combat unscrupulous providers. The Superannuation Consumers’ Centre is funded by $1.25m won by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission from the Commonwealth Bank and ANZ over concerns about pushing inferior super products on customers. Chair Rod Stowe said: “It is fitting that this funding has become available through regulatory action against major banks that have sold poor-value superannuation products to people who did not benefit from them.”

Heinz faces a $10m fine over toddler product that’s two thirds sugar. The Little Kids Fruit and Veg Shredz product was labelled as being 99% fruits and vegetables but used a dehydration process that meant they were also two thirds sugar. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission described the labelling as "wilful blindness" and "recklessness" and recommended the $10m fine, saying it should be a warning to the wider industry. The case continues.

Challenger bank Judo Capital has raised $140m from investors to focus on small business lending. The new bank has operated for three months and co-founder Joseph Healy told Fairfax small businesses were looking for alternatives to big banks: "The royal commission has helped enormously but the dissatisfaction with big banks amongst small business has been evident for a long time". Investors included Myer Family Investments, the Ontario Pension Trust, Abu Dhabi Capital Group and Credit Suisse Asset Management.

Restaurants continue to charge Sunday surcharges despite the fact weekend penalty rates have fallen. A July Fair Work Commission ruling changed rules to reduce weekend and public holiday pay rates. Yet an ABC report showed cafes and pizza joints had so far kept charging a full Sunday surcharge to customers. Over two years, casual takeaway workers’ Sunday pay has changed from 175% of a weekday wage to 160% while permanent fast food staff's Sunday pay dropped from 150% to 135%.

Idea of the Day: It’s easy to be swept up by the narrative that high-flying tech firms will deliver world-changing innovations at a breakneck pace. But historian Edward Tenner reminds us that genuine innovations — the kind that save lives and create stable jobs — take considerable time, effort and perseverance.

“It is important to remember that the triumphs of physics, chemistry and engineering ... resulted from years of struggle. Most took decades to become consumer staples. The best things in life are not virtually free and usually can’t move fast.”

— Cayla Dengate