We’re running a survey on the rental crisis to try better understand the impact it’s having on young people. Fair to say it’s…not great news.

80% of respondents have had an increase to their weekly rent rate in the last year, while only 56% are satisfied with the quality of their rental.

We’ve summed it all up in our podcast today, where you can hear directly from some of our listeners about their experiences. You can listen to today’s pod here.

P.S. Yesterday I spent too much time reading all your work f***ups and I could not stop laughing. I’ve included the worst one in the tidbit!

The quote
“If this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong… We want to work with the Government to prevent that from happening.” – Sam Altman, CEO of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, testifying on Capitol Hill about the future of artificial intelligence.

The stat
3.7%
The amount wages in Australia have grown over the past year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. It’s the highest rise in over a decade, since 2012. However, wages are still growing slower than prices.

Today in history
2001: The comedy Shrek had its nationwide release in the U.S. It became the first movie to win the Academy Award for best-animated feature.

Some headlines from this morning:

Discrimination based on a person's weight will be banned in New York City, under legislation passed by its city council this month.

The protections extend to a person's height, and will also provide safeguards for a person's employment and housing.

The laws were brought forward by a councillor who gained 18 kilograms during COVID-19 lockdowns, and said he experienced a shift in how he was treated.

Further details:
The legislation has an exemption for jobs where a person's height or weight is an important factor to perform "essential requirements" in their work. It'll now go to New York City Mayor Eric Adams to be signed into law.

Similar legislation has been passed in the U.S. state of Michigan, while obesity is covered under anti-discrimination law in Washington state.

Australia's federal anti-discrimination laws don't extend to weight. The West Australian newspaper has reported that WA is considering a decision to outlaw discrimination based on weight.

U.S. President Joe Biden has cancelled plans to visit Australia next week.

Biden was due to attend a meeting of the 'Quad' leaders with Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Indian PM Narendra Modi and Japanese PM Fumio Kishida.

The White House said Biden needs to instead attend meetings in the U.S. to avoid a looming crisis over the 'debt ceiling'.

What is the debt ceiling?
The debt ceiling is a legal limit on government borrowing. When the limit is hit, the Government could be forced to cut back on spending and could fail to pay back its debts. That's called a 'default' and has never happened before in the U.S.

The debt ceiling was hit in January, but the U.S. Treasury used special arrangements to avoid default. Now, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned special arrangements have been exhausted and that a default could happen after 1 June without intervention from Congress.

Congress can change the debt ceiling by passing a law and has done so 78 times since 1960 to avoid this situation.

However, the House of Representatives (one of the two houses of Congress which must vote to pass a law) is controlled by Republicans (Biden is a Democrat).

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has so far not agreed to raise the debt ceiling. He initially offered to do so only in return for massive spending cuts, including scrapping Biden's plan to cancel student debt and slashing climate-related funding, which Biden refused. The leaders have been in talks in recent weeks and McCarthy now says a deal is "possible".

The Quad:
At a press conference yesterday, Albanese announced the planned Quad meeting will be postponed to a later date.

The Quad is a series of regular meetings between the leaders of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. to discuss shared interests in the Indo-Pacific region.

Rain check:
Biden has instead invited Albanese to visit the U.S. later this year.

Albanese has also been invited to join a meeting of the G7 in Japan this weekend. The G7 is a meeting of seven major developed countries including U.S. and Japan (but not Australia). Biden will still attend this meeting, and Albanese says the four leaders may speak informally there.

Albanese says Modi may still visit Australia as planned. It is unclear whether Kishida, who visited Australia last October, will still visit.

Get all the news you need to know today in your ears on The Daily Aus podcast!

Same-sex couples in Taiwan will now have the full right to adopt a child together, following the passing of new laws this week.

Only heterosexual couples and single people were legally allowed to adopt children they were not biologically related to in Taiwan, meaning that only one parent in a same-sex couple could formally be the child’s legal parent.

It comes after Taiwan became the first Asian jurisdiction to legalise same-sex marriage in 2019.

Looking to make a positive impact with your purchases? Your answer is right here on Australian soil. Yep, you know that little green triangle with the yellow kangaroo on it? That logo is your ticket to making a real difference in your community. From food to fashion, furniture or skincare, Australian made products are of high quality and ethically produced. Not only that, but you'll be helping to create jobs and support local economies. Together, we can champion Aussie makers and growers this Australian Made Week.

Behold, the winner for the best f***up at work…

“When I first started out in PR as an intern, I took it upon myself to totally re-write a global press release which was covering the launch of an extremely famous celebrity partnership, for a limited edition collection of trainers. I had come in late to PR from an advertising and journalism background, and clearly felt I had something to prove.

Not only did I re-write the release but I also didn't understand the rules of an embargo, which I chose to ignore. Thinking I was being impressive; I shared the release with all of London's leading sneaker and mainstream fashion outlets - including the likes of HypeBeast, Grazia, Vogue - you name it. Naturally it was picked up and published about a week before the global launch. The brand and the celebrity naturally did not respond well to this, and almost pulled the entire range from the 200+ stores that we planned to stock them in. The celebrity and brand contacted our buying team directly, livid, asking what could possibly have gone wrong...

It's almost 10 years ago but I'm still pretty convinced there are some remaining staffers out for my blood *hides under desk*”

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