☕️ AFL player, 24, retires from concussion

Good morning!

Instead of a riddle, today I’m presenting you with two truths and a lie.

Here are three lines Greens Senator Nick McKim said to the CEO of Woolworths Brad Banducci during a Senate inquiry yesterday about supermarkets’ rising prices and profits.

Two of them are true, and one is false. Your turn to guess!

• "I'm not interested in your spin or your bulls**t."

• “Are you struggling with the ordinary English language meaning of the words that I’m using in my questions?”

• “My daughter now can’t have her crumpets because of your rising prices.”

The answer is in the tidbit.

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“You’d never say that to a man, my friend… Don’t say, ‘show a little leg’.” Actor Hannah Waddingham responding to a photographer at a red-carpet event in London.

Stat of the day

$US620,000 ($AU966,000)
How much President Joe Biden and his wife Dr Jill Biden made in 2023, according to their tax return. The U.S. President’s salary is $US400,000 ($AU623,000), while Dr Biden recorded income from her work as a college professor.

Today in history

2011
The Game of Thrones premiered on HBO in the U.S. The show ran for eight seasons before finishing in May 2019.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• The Prime Minister has offered citizenship to a French man who confronted the knifeman responsible for Saturday’s Bondi Junction attack. Six people were killed during the attack at a Westfield shopping centre. Footage shows Damien Guerot at the top of an escalator, threatening the stabber with a bollard in a bid to stop him from hurting others. The PM described Guerot as “someone who we would welcome becoming an Australian citizen” and mentioned Guerot was “dealing with… visa applications”. The PM said Guerot was “welcome here” and “welcome to stay for as long as [he’d] like.” The attacker died at the scene after he was shot by a NSW police officer.

• Solomon Islands voters will head to the polls for an election today. It’s the first election since the Pacific nation’s Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare signed a security deal with China last year. It’s also the first time the country’s national, provincial, and capital city council elections have been held on the same day. The Australian Government, which has its own security deal with Solomon Islands, expressed concern about the China deal but is expected to provide additional police and defence staff to support the election.

I’ve got 1 minute

A 24-year-old AFL player has retired due to concussion risk

Collingwood defender Nathan Murphy has announced he will retire from the AFL after multiple concussions.

The 24-year-old’s last professional match was the 2023 AFL grand final when his team defeated the Brisbane Lions. During that game, Murphy received a head knock and was diagnosed with the 10th concussion of his life.

Murphy was cleared to return to play in December. However, following expert advice from the AFL’s medical concussion panel, he has now announced he’ll retire from professional football.

Nathan Murphy

Murphy was a key player in Collingwood’s premiership-winning season last year. The 24-year-old played 57 games in the AFL, after being drafted by Collingwood in 2017.

Murphy said it was the “right time” to leave the game, and that his priority was to live a “full and healthy life.”

He said he decided to retire based on medical advice with the support of the AFL.

Concussions

Murphy is the second AFL player to retire due to concussion this year.

Melbourne Demons premiership player Angus Brayshaw retired in February after medical scans found microscopic changes to his brain after a recent concussion.

It comes after a group of former players sued the AFL last year, alleging it failed to take action to prevent player concussions and head injuries.

Safety measures

In a report handed down in December, the Victorian Coroners Court recommended AFL clubs consider stronger safety measures to support players.

This included a limit on contact training. The AFL said it’s consulting clubs as it considers that limit.

It also strengthened its concussion guidelines ahead of the 2023 season the same week the class action lawsuit was launched.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Gender-affirming care for young people has been blocked in the U.S. state of Idaho. Here’s what that means.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in favour of banning under-18-year-olds in Idaho from accessing gender-affirming care.

It will be illegal for medical practitioners in Idaho to provide hormone medication or surgeries to young non-binary and transgender people.

The decision by the highest court in the U.S. goes against multiple rulings by lower courts to stop the ban.

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups say the decision threatens the wellbeing of Idaho’s transgender youth.

Idaho law

Last year, Idaho made it illegal for medical professionals to provide numerous forms of gender-affirming care to kids and teens, with penalties of up to 10 years’ jail.

The law blocks access to:

hormone medications including testosterone and oestrogen

puberty blockers, which temporarily stop or delay sexual development

surgeries like mastectomies for gender-affirming purposes. Under U.S. medical guidelines, these surgeries are almost never performed on under 18s.

Legal challenge

Two transgender Idaho teenagers and their parents launched legal action in 2023, after Idaho Governor Brad Little signed it into law.

They argued the teenagers were at risk of mental health issues if they couldn’t access puberty blockers and medication.

A district court agreed to temporarily pause the ban from coming into effect while the legal challenge played out.

Following multiple legal appeals and challenges, the case ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court, the country’s highest court.

It dismissed the rulings by lower courts in a decision that will allow Idaho to enforce its ban on gender-affirming care for young people.

However, the two teenagers at the centre of the initial legal challenge will be exempt from the ban until other legal challenges associated with it are resolved.

U.S. states

U.S. think tank the Williams Institute estimates there are 300,000 high-school-aged students around the country who identify as transgender.

Young people are banned from accessing gender-affirming surgery and medications in several U.S. states.

Ongoing legal challenges in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, and Indiana seek to overturn these bans.

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Give me some good news

One of the rarest primates on Earth has been born in the U.S.

Endangered Bornean orangutan mum Luna gave birth to a healthy girl at a Florida zoo this week, after a successful c-section.

It’s estimated there are around 100,000 endangered Bornean orangutans left in the world, and around 7,500 Sumatran orangutans, which are critically endangered.

Orangutans can live up to 50 years, but the species has a relatively low reproductive rate, with females giving birth once every 5-10 years. According to the Nature Conservancy, orangutan populations have declined by 50% since 1960.

TDA tidbit

Have you heard of Queensland dog Peggy and magpie Molly?

The unlikely friends forged their bond after a Gold Coast couple rescued Molly in 2020. Their owners have made them social media stars, with more than 800,000 followers on Instagram.

But authorities weren’t happy with the owners, accusing them of taking Molly “from the wild” illegally. Earlier this year, the couple had to surrender Molly due to concerns they were also profiting off the magpie.

But the public was outraged by the seperation, and after numerous public pleas for Peggy and Molly to be reunited, the Department of Environment, Science and Innovation has this week approved a licence that would allow the magpie to return home.

However, the couple can no longer profit from “the bird or its image” and must undertake wildlife carer training.

The couple posted to Instagram saying: “We are overwhelmed with emotion… it was a very exciting reunion”.

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Two truths and a lie answer: This quote is a lie: “My daughter now can’t have her crumpets because of your rising prices.” Here’s a short clip of what did happen during the inquiry.

Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!

Just two days after the traumatic events of Saturday’s mass stabbing in Bondi Junction, another major event unfolded in Sydney on Monday night, when a Bishop was stabbed in a church in the city’s west. Yesterday, NSW Police declared the event a terrorist act.

On today’s podcast, we’re unpacking what happened, what constitutes an act of terrorism, and some steps for how to handle such a difficult period in the news.

TDA asks