Welcome to Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business, an experimental AI podcast by the New Zealand Herald. Each weekday, we bring you five stories, the best of the New Zealand Herald business journalism, summarised and delivered by an AI voice as an easily digestible recap. It's Monday, September 1, 2025, and here are five stories you should know about. Jetstar has been fined 2.25 million dollars for misleading nearly 100,000 customers about flight compensation rights.The Commerce Commission prosecuted the airline on twenty Fair Trading Act charges from January 2022 to March 2024. Judge Brooke Gibson says Jetstar failed to meet legal refund requirements when cancellations were within its control. About 98,000 passengers were affected in New Zealand. Jetstar was ordered to pay after claiming inexperienced staff gave incorrect advice. It's refunded more than one million dollars and donated 860,000 dollars to charity. Consumer NZ's Jon Duffy says the case set an important precedent. In other news, Australian compliance firm Safetrac is under scrutiny for allegedly using staff laptops as covert listening devices while employees worked from home. Workers reported microphones were activated for up to 10 hours daily through software from U.S. company Teramind. Two staff who complained were dismissed, prompting a union complaint. Safetrac says monitoring was for business purposes. Legal experts in New Zealand say covert audio surveillance without clear consent could breach both the Privacy Act and Crimes Act. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner says employee monitoring must be transparent, proportionate, and not unreasonably intrusive. Meanwhile, dairy giant Fonterra has confirmed the four-point-two-two billion dollar sale of its consumer brands, including Anchor and Mainland, to French company Lactalis. The deal includes a 10-year supply agreement for milk and dairy ingredients. Fonterra will return two dollars per share to farmers from the proceeds. Agriculture economics professor Alan Renwick warns the sale means Fonterra is giving up its value-added consumer business to focus on ingredients and food service. He says while the sale price is strong, the ability to build brand loyalty and maintain higher-margin products is being lost. Farmers will receive payments tax-free. In technology, Nelson entrepreneur Tai Ellis has raised three million dollars in venture capital for his marine software company Sea-Flux. The firm provides vessel management tools covering safety checks, crew rosters, and maintenance records. Originally built as a WordPress prototype, the app is now used on more than thirteen hundred vessels by nine thousand users worldwide, including coastguards and superyachts. Sea-Flux has an estimated valuation of 23 million dollars. Ellis developed the system while working as a superyacht captain. The funds will support product development and international expansion. And a dispute over alcohol bans at Condell Retirement Village in Christchurch has been dismissed by an independent panel. Five residents complained after alcohol was permanently prohibited in common areas following a Christmas Day 2023 gathering. The panel reviewed whether the operator breached occupation rights agreements, but found no evidence of inappropriate conduct. The village manager previously notified residents happy hours would be alcohol-free. And a company director says the ban reflected licensing laws and was legally required. The residents were ordered to pay two thousand one hundred dollars in costs. And for those still wanting a tipple, unfortunately, alcohol remains prohibited in all communal spaces. That was Today in Business - Powered by Spark for Business - your NZ Herald daily business summary. For the best in business, subscribe to Herald Premium at nzherald.co.nz.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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