Australia’s business pages in 2025 were on the spicier side, as controversies across retail, tech, consulting and policy certainly brought out the trust issues in the sector.
Across the year, there were major data breaches, court actions over wage underpayments, startup failures, consumer safety interventions and the closure of long-running business support programs.
Here’s a list of some incidents that raised major eyebrows.
Qantas hack and AI-written apology
Back in July, Qantas disclosed a “significant cyber incident” in which a cybercriminal accessed a third-party customer servicing platform used by one of its airline contact centres, compromising the data of roughly six million customers.
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Public criticism intensified after Qantas confirmed the CEO’s apology email was drafted with help from ChatGPT “for formatting”, a disclosure widely criticised as arguably tone-deaf given the context.
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Coles and Woolworths underpayments
Court decisions and ongoing reporting in 2025 reinforced the scale of historic wage underpayments across Woolworths and Coles, particularly involving salaried store and department managers, as well as the way overtime and penalty entitlements were accounted for.
The combined cost of backpay, remediation and associated expenses across the supermarket sector is expected to exceed $1 billion, keeping wage theft and compliance failures at the centre of the industrial relations debate.
PwC’s lingering tax-leaks shadow
The PwC’s continued tax confidentiality scandal remained a defining feature of the consulting sector in 2025, with ongoing scrutiny of culture, conflicts and government procurement standards dominating headlines throughout the year.
Governments and agencies have taken steps to limit PwC’s access to government work linked to the scandal, and the episode continued to be cited as justification for tighter safeguards in public-sector advisory arrangements.
Deloitte’s AI-written government report
Deloitte Australia faced intense scrutiny after a $440,000 taxpayer-funded report for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations was found to contain apparent AI-generated “hallucinations”, including fabricated citations and errors.
Deloitte agreed to a partial refund and reissued a corrected version of the report. The case became a high-profile example of why consulting firms and government clients are under increased pressure to set clearer disclosure and assurance rules around AI use in official work.
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Sunscreen-gate
In June 2025, Choice reported that 16 of 20 SPF 50/50+ sunscreens it tested did not meet their labelled SPF claims, and called for investigation by the TGA and ACCC.
Brands, including Ultra Violette, pushed back at the time, but the controversy escalated as the TGA confirmed it was investigating the Choice report, and subsequent market actions included products being paused or recalled amid scrutiny of SPF testing and compliance.
Since then, the ATO also clarified its approach to foundations, skin tints, and blemish creams that boast SPF protection, confirming multi-use products could attract GST.
Panda Mart shutdown
Discount megastore Panda Mart was hit with an urgent court injunction obtained by Consumer Affairs Victoria, forcing the closure of its Preston and Cranbourne stores for 72 hours while inspectors conducted a full compliance inspection.
Consumer Affairs Victoria said inspections identified multiple product safety concerns, including toys with unsecured button batteries and choking hazards. While the chain later reopened, the case became a high-profile warning about the risks of ultra-cheap retail stock and the enforcement challenge facing regulators.
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Brooki Bakehouse x RecipeTin Eats
In late April 2025, RecipeTin Eats founder Nagi Maehashi publicly accused Brooke Bellamy of the viral Brooki Bakehouse of copying recipes in her cookbook Bake with Brooki, citing close similarities in wording and ingredient lists. US baking star Sally’s Baking Addiction also made similar public claims against Bellamy.
Bellamy rejected the claims, while her publisher Penguin Random House Australia denied wrongdoing. The dispute became a wider discussion over what copyright can realistically protect in recipes.
StrongRoom AI collapse
Pharmacy software startup StrongRoom AI entered administration in 2025, with investor EVP even getting the police and forensic accounting experts involved in an attempt to recover its investment.
The startup later became the subject of liquidation and court scrutiny.
Court proceedings raised questions about unpaid tax liabilities and the company’s position around a major acquisition, with the Pharmacy Guild later announcing it had acquired Member Benefits Australia from StrongRoom AI.
CBA’s AI backflip on job cuts
Commonwealth Bank announced 45 job cuts linked to the rollout of an AI “voice bot”, then reversed the decision and apologised to affected workers, describing it as an “error”.
Just a week before that, SmartCompany broke the story of a CBA employee using ChatGPT to give out a wrong phone number, prompting misdirected calls and raising AI governance concerns.
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Kiki startup crackdown
New Zealand-founded rental startup Kiki has drawn controversy over the past couple of years due to its pivot to a “girls-only” membership club branding. Then, earlier this year, it was hit by New York City enforcement action relating to alleged illegal short-term rentals.
This ultimately forced the startup to close up shop and move its operations to London, where it only made $18,700 in revenue in its first four months. It was also revealed by SmartCompany that Kiki paid a US$152,319.93 ($234,638) settlement to the City of New York following the alleged short-term rental law violations.
Seek vs Employment Hero
Employment Hero launched Federal Court action after Seek moved to terminate an API integration that lets its customers post roles directly to Seek, with the dispute centred on allegations of anti-competitive conduct and data use.
Seek has denied the allegations, and court orders by consent have required the integration to remain in place while the matter proceeds.
Richard White and WiseTech Global
An independent review into WiseTech Global found founder Richard White’s disclosures to the board about personal relationships were “inaccurate” and “incomplete”, prompting renewed governance scrutiny and board-level fallout.
The review found White did not adequately disclose personal relationships with an employee and an external party, resulting in undisclosed conflicts of interest. Following the findings, WiseTech announced governance changes, White stepped down as chief executive before later returning to the company as executive chair, and the board implemented additional oversight measures.
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Business Connect axed
The NSW government confirmed it would end its Business Connect program on September 30, a move that triggered backlash from advisers and business groups concerned about the loss of free, specialist support for small businesses.
Criticism intensified after NSW Minister for Small Business Janelle Saffin defended the program’s closure and suggested that business owners simply use Google as a replacement for the program.
LaunchVic dismantled
The Victorian government accepted recommendations from Helen Silver’s review to wind down LaunchVic as a standalone entity and shift functions across Invest Victoria and Breakthrough Victoria, as part of broader public-sector reforms.
The move sparked widespread ire in the Australian startup community, particularly amongst beneficiaries of LaunchVic’s Alice Anderson Fund, which provides capital to women-founded startups. In a market that is already tough for women founders to get funding, there is concern that even more businesses will now miss out.
