☕️ Are ambulance wait times too long in Vic?

Have you wished your friends a happy birthday yet?

Chances are, it’s one of their birthdays, because today is the most popular birthday for Australians.

A special happy birthday to Aussie director Baz Luhrmann and NSW Premier Chris Minns!

“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that's what I'm going to do.”
U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance speaking to CNN about his recent allegations about migrants in the city of Springfield in Ohio. The allegations have not been independently verified.

96
How many people died on Australia’s roads last month, according to the latest Government data. This is up slightly on the average for the month of August.

1926
Frida Kahlo was injured in a bus accident and started painting when she was in recovery. She then ditched her plans in medicine and became a painter.

A 69-year-old man died in Melbourne’s east over the weekend after waiting four hours for an ambulance.

The wait time has been attributed to a staff shortage. According to the Victorian Ambulance Union (VAU), 90 crews were working in Melbourne that night, compared to the usual 120.

Ambulance Victoria has launched a review and will refer the case to the Coroner for further inquiries.

The neighbour of a Surrey Hills man contacted Triple Zero on Saturday night.

It took around four hours for an ambulance to arrive at the home in Melbourne’s east.

In that time, the 69-year-old man had passed away.

The VAU attributed Saturday night’s ambulance shortage to high levels of sick leave. It said there were 30 fewer crews available in Melbourne, and 20 fewer in rural Victoria.

The union said: “Multiple crews calling for Intensive Care back up [were] told none are available.”

In one case, the closest ambulance to a patient in Melbourne’s CBD was around 50km away.

An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson confirmed its workforce had been affected by “seasonal illness”.

Ambulance Victoria said its “priority will always be responding to the sickest and most time critical patients.”

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

The Government’s first round of funding for its social and affordable housing plan has been approved.

It means nearly 14,000 homes are officially in the pipeline for construction — including

1,260 homes for people fleeing domestic violence and older women facing homelessness.

However, its other key ‘Help to Buy’ housing reform is expected to fail as it’s debated in the Senate this week.

The proposal has been criticised by the Greens and the Coalition.

In 2023, the Government passed laws to set up the ‘Housing Australia Future Fund’ (HAFF) — a long-term investment program for social and affordable homes.

This week, it announced $9.2 billion worth of HAFF funding has been approved for 13,700 new homes. Around 700 of these homes will be ”ready for tenants to move in” by July 2025.

Housing Australia Chair, Carol Austin said this round of funding will give more Australians access to “affordable, safe and secure housing.”

Around 1,200 approved plans will be used as accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence, and older women at risk of homelessness.

Not-for-profit community housing organisations will oversee the construction and maintenance of the housing projects.

The 13,700 homes will deliver around a third of the Government’s 5-year target of 40,000 social and affordable homes.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil claimed the project will build more homes than nine years of previous Coalition governments combined.

Shadow Skills Minister Sussan Ley said “Australia is short of at least 90,000 skilled workers” to build the homes that have been promised.

Ley attributed this to O’Neil’s management of her previous portfolio of Home Affairs.

Ley said that as Home Affairs Minister, O’Neil failed to prioritise tradies’ visas to meet the current skills shortage in construction.

The Government has tabled two other major housing reforms: It's ‘Build to Rent’ and ‘Help to Buy’ schemes.

However, neither proposal has enough support to pass the Senate yet.

Build to Rent is a tax concession for developers who agree to build multi-unit buildings where the units are rented out, instead of being sold.

Help to Buy is a scheme that would see the Government contribute to the purchase of a home, in exchange for split ownership of the property.

Under the proposal, a person could pay a minimum 2% deposit to purchase a home.

The government would provide ‘equity’ worth up to 30% of the property’s value, or 40% for new builds.

The Government’s ‘Help to Buy’ legislation is before the Senate.

The legislation is expected to fail in a vote later today because it doesn’t have enough support from the Opposition or the Greens.

The Greens have called on the Government to make a series of changes to the legislation in exchange for the party’s support.

This includes reforms on tax concessions for investment property owners and more investment in public housing.

Greens leader Adam Bandt said: “Labor is refusing to negotiate with the Greens to fix the housing and rental crisis”.

The Greens also called on the Government to do more to urge state and territory governments to cap and/or freeze rent increases.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese urged the Greens, Coalition, and Crossbenchers to “get on with it” and stop “trying to block” housing reforms.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Tinder Launches New Consent Course

Tinder’s new Consent Course, with Chanel Contos, WESNET and The Relatables, is now live on School of Swipe!

What you’ll learn:

Why take it: Become a more respectful partner and improve your relationships and intimacy.

Start learning today - visit Tinder’s School of Swipe here!

This is the Aussie actress’ second nomination for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series’, but it’s her first time winning an Emmy for the role.

It’s also the first time an Australian actress has won an Emmy in this category. Debicki called the role of Diana a “great privilege.”

This year, The Crown received 18 Emmy nominations and won three, including Debicki’s win. Shogun also made history with a record 18 Emmy wins at this year's ceremony.

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has become the most recent Australian politician to join TikTok.

What makes this particularly interesting is that members of his party, the Liberals, have opposed the app.

That includes Liberal Senator James Paterson who earlier this year said Australia should follow the U.S. in threatening to ban the app unless its Chinese parent company sells its operations here to a local owner.

However, Dutton said he joined the platform to talk about Australia’s housing crisis.

He said in his first video: “I probably should say something that is or isn’t demure.”

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

On Sunday local time, there appeared to be another assassination attempt on former U.S. President Donald Trump, who is also the current Republican candidate for the presidential election in November.

It was the second time in about two months that a gunman had been in shooting distance of the former president.

Now, questions about how this could happen to a man who is constantly surrounded by security are intensifying.