If you were forwarded this email (Hi! Welcome!), you can sign up to the newsletter here.
Good morning, Australia!
Overnight, we won four (4!!) gold (gold!!!) medals.
It’s officially our best-ever Olympics, with a total of 18 gold medals. Our previous best was 17 gold medals, in Tokyo 2020 and Athens 2004.
Plus, there are still four more days of competition, and at least a few more genuine gold medal chances for Team Australia.
Lost for words.
I’ve got 10 seconds
Quote of the day
“We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war”.
X owner Elon Musk announcing he is suing some advertising companies who haven’t published ads on his platform, because he believes they have conspired to make X lose money.
Stat of the day
$253.6m
The total value of parking fines issued in NSW in the 2023/24 financial year. This is a 14% increase on the previous year. The value of ticketless fines increased by 54%, while the value of traditional parking fines decreased by 20%.
Today in history
1908
Wilbur Wright, of the Wright brothers, flew a plane publicly for the first time, in France.
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
A teacher in the south-western Sydney suburb of Lurnea has been arrested and charged with sexual offences. NSW detectives responded to reports that a female teacher had allegedly sexually touched a 17-year-old boy. The 30-year-old woman has appeared in a Liverpool court. A spokesperson for the state’s education department told media a teacher had been stood down without pay.
Protests in the UK have spread across multiple new cities, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer calling out “far-right thuggery”. The protests were sparked by the stabbing of three young girls in the north-western English town of Southport. Far-right protesters have since gathered in several cities across the UK, including in the capital London, where they’ve clashed with police. Counter-protests have also flared up in recent days. Australians have been reminded to exercise “a high degree of caution” when visiting the UK.
🥇 Overnight from Paris ‘24: Australia has secured its best-ever performance at the Olympics, delivering four more gold medals overnight, bringing the total to 18. Nina Kennedy delivered Australia’s first ever women’s gold medal in a field event. Skateboarder Keegan Palmer and sailer Matt Wearn successfully defended their Olympic titles in the men’s park event and the dinghy event respectfully. Plus, Australia won in the men’s pursuit cycling team, defeating Great Britain. Want to know the schedule for tonight’s Olympic events? Click here to sign up to our free sport newsletter!
Recommendation of the day
Transparency: This is a sponsored section of the newsletter. It's the best way we can keep this newsletter free for you.
Who: Stuff That Matters.
What’s happening: NRL’s Kalyn Ponga and AFL’s Bailey Smith have teamed up with the men’s grooming brand to release a new Antiperspirant Deodorant and Body Spray range!
How it works: Each product has 72-hour odour protection, quick-dry, no-stain technology and a range of nourishing ingredients.
Make a difference: Each purchase contributes to funding mental health programs for thousands of young men through leading charity Man Cave.
Where to get it: Find it at your local Woolworths!
I’ve got 1 minute
Early childhood educators will get a 15% pay rise over two years
The Federal Government will fund a 15% pay increase for early childhood education and care workers over two years, in an effort to retain and attract staff across the industry.
Wages for these workers will increase by 10% from December this year, and a further 5% next December.
Childcare centres and preschools that want to access the funding must agree not to raise their fees by more than 4.4% over the next year, to ensure “workers can be fairly paid without the costs being passed on to families”.
Background
The Federal Government committed to increasing wages for early childhood education and care workers in the May Budget.
More than 92% of early childcare workers are women, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The national workplace regulator, the Fair Work Commission, is currently considering wage increases for gendered workforces, including early childhood education and care.
Women
Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly said the pay increase will impact a “highly feminised workforce that has for far too long been neglected and taken for granted“.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese added the pay increase is an investment “in the future and [in] economic equality for women.”
The Government also said the wage increase and price cap will make childcare available to more parents, boosting women’s workforce participation.
Reporting by Harry Sekulich.
I’ve got 2 minutes
Queensland Police have launched an internal review of watch houses across the state to address “end-to-end systemic issues”.
A police watch house is used to hold people for short periods of time.
It follows an investigation published by The Guardian and SBS into the treatment of young people in Queensland Police custody.
Qld Police Commissioner Steve Gollschewski said the review will look at the staffing, training and operations of the state’s facilities.
Watch houses
Watch houses are designed for short-term detainment and are often attached to police stations or local courts. They are different to youth detention centres designed to house young people.
The Qld Human Rights Commission said it’s “long been opposed” to keeping children in watch houses.
According to data given to TDA, 1,500 children were held in a QLD watch house for at least a week from 2018 to 2023. In August 2023, the Queensland Government suspended the state’s Human Rights Act to allow children to be kept in watch houses.
Review
Commissioner Gollschewski said he’d asked for a review “into how we design, provision and operate watch houses with a commitment to ongoing reform.”
He said: “In some instances, our people have got it wrong.”
Gollschewski said Qld Police had received 42 complaints about watch houses in the last financial year and 101 “allegations”. He did not specify what had been alleged.
During the review, police officers at watch houses will be required to wear cameras. A publicly available dashboard will be updated daily showing the number of people in watch houses.
Gollschewski said: “We’d rather have no children in watch houses. But obviously… there’s a community safety consideration...
“What we want to do is move them out of there as quickly as they possibly can.”
Response
Qld Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall said a review into the state’s watch houses is “critical”.
McDougall said the priority of the review should be “to prevent children being detained in watch houses in the first place” and “to establish ways of working that will respect the rights of children”.
“This is critically important given detention centres are full and there is a high likelihood that children will be sent to watch houses for prolonged periods.”
Reporting by Chloe Christie.
A message from our sponsor
Introducing: Betty’s Bowls
Betty’s Burgers is here to satisfy any and all food cravings with their latest menu addition: Betty’s Bowls!
You and your bestie can choose between the all-new gourmet Grilled Salmon Super Bowl or the fresh and tasty Grilled Chicken Avo Bacon Bowl for the ultimate fix. For only $16, Betty’s has you covered for lunch, dinner and anything in between.
Protein-packed and Delish!
Whether you’re looking for an exciting new dinner option, or a way to shake up your weekly lunch order, Betty’s Bowls has you covered.
Head to Betty’s Burgers and try the new Betty’s Bowls or order via the Betty’s app today.
Give me some good news
A crowd has broken a record for the biggest women’s basketball attendance ever recorded in Europe, during Australia’s face off against France in the city of Lille.
The Aussie Opals beat France 79 to 72 in a group phase game of the Olympics that was attended by more than 27,100 people.
The stadium in Lille has hosted record-breaking crowds for the women’s basketball over the past two weeks, topping 26 and a half thousand people for at least five games.
Reporting by Harry Sekulich.
TDA tidbit
When Bluey makes headlines it’s usually for wholesome moments, like being a potential mascot for the Brisbane Olympics.
Not this time.
In June, the Royal Australian Mint announced it would release three types of $1 Bluey coins, selling for $20 each.
Yesterday, NSW Police charged a man with allegedly stealing thousands of those Bluey coins, with a value of more than $600,000.
Maybe Bluey needs to do an episode on theft?
Reporting by Nandini Dhir.
Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!
Student-led protests in Bangladesh have led to political violence and tensions over the past month.
This week, Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country after protesters called for her to step down.
A Nobel Peace Prize winner has now been appointed as the leader of an interim government. In today's deep dive, we’ll look into what the protests were about and how these events led to the overturning of Bangladesh’s Government.
TDA asks
