☕️ Busiest winter day ever for NSW hospitals

For those new to this newsletter, on Wednesdays we do trivia.

Here is today’s trivia question: What is the most consumed fruit in the world?

Answer is in the titbit!

The quote: “It’s not like COVID where you can close the borders and people listen. Birds don’t listen.”
University of Queensland virologist Professor Kirsty Short speaking to ABC Radio National about Australia’s first bird flu mass mortality event.

The stat: 119,949. The number of complaints lodged with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority in 2025-26. It is the highest number on record.

The big question:

Yesterday’s results: 67% of you read comments on social media posts sometimes, 23% always read them, and the rest never read them. Thanks for voting - your responses inform TDA's journalism and research. [2,500 votes].

Together with AAP.

Could your Sunday scroll use more good news and less doom? TDA Good News is a weekly wrap-up of stories that leave you feeling better than when you found them. It's the reset your Sunday inbox has been missing.

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NSW Premier Chris Minns has told residents to only present to an emergency department if they have extreme health needs, due to hospitals reaching capacity.

On Monday, the state saw around 10,000 patients present to emergency departments, the busiest winter day in NSW history, according to Health Minister Ryan Park.

There are 78 public emergency departments (ED) in NSW. EDs are for serious injuries or illnesses, or life-threatening medical events. This includes chest pain, falls, severe burns, serious mental health concerns, breathing difficulties, or paralysis.

In 2024-25, there were 3.2 million presentations in the state.

Across public hospitals, the bed occupancy rate was 94.8%.
A higher rate means more beds are filled, putting a greater strain on hospital staff and resources.

On Tuesday morning, Minns told Sydney radio station 2GB that patients with injuries “that can wait” such as “cuts, abrasions, bruises, things that can wait until the morning” should avoid the ED.

“If you feel or you’ve got any suspicion that your life might be in danger, please go to the emergency department,” he added.

Minns clarified: “No one’s going to yell at you if you turn out to be wrong and it’s some other ailment that’s not life-threatening.”

At a press conference on Tuesday, Park said: “If it isn’t an emergency, make sure you’re accessing those alternative pathways to care.”

Park said NSW Health is “expecting busy periods over the next month or so. Realistically, we are in winter.”

Minns said hospitals are expecting the next few weeks to be the worst of the flu season, which usually begins in May and lasts until September.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane called the messaging “outrageous.”

“To have the Premier on radio saying ‘sure, if it’s life-threatening turn up, and if you get it wrong, by the way, no one’s going to yell at you,’ that is unhelpful and it is a bizarre indictment of the situation that we’re in,” she said.

Sloane said “every winter is a pressure point” that “reveal[s] a weakness in our system”.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, features editor Emma explains the escalating bird flu crisis. Listen or watch on Apple here, Spotify here, or YouTube here.

🎾 Want the latest news from sport in Australia and around the world? Sign up to TDA Sport here for a full run-down in your inbox at 4.30pm.

👓 Specsavers' partnership with The Fred Hollows Foundation turns 15 this year - and in that time, it's helped fund over 20,000 sight-saving surgeries for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Its 2026 limited-edition collection keeps that going, donating $25 a pair. View range here.

🧡 Disconnection can be one of the hardest parts of experiencing homelessness. Social connection is a fundamental human need, and Orange Sky is creating safe, judgement-free spaces where anyone can sit down and be heard. Discover how a simple chat is helping here.

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Alcohol companies now sponsor every single AFL and NRL club in Australia, according to a new report from the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE).

It also found every NRL club and five AFL clubs have gambling sponsors, and that these brands are appearing across broadcast deals and in the women’s competitions.

The findings come as a Senate inquiry is reviewing the Federal Government’s plan to restrict gambling ads.

Former NRL player Luke Bateman told TDA: “You cannot play sport, you cannot celebrate sport without alcohol being involved.”

The AFL and the NRL have financial ties to the betting industry, with both codes making money from bets placed on their own games through deals with sports betting companies.

A 2023 federal inquiry into online gambling recommended a full, phased ban on all gambling ads. No government has adopted it in full.

Alcohol ads are subject to a loophole. While they are usually restricted when children are likely to be watching, live sport can be broadcast with alcohol advertising most of the time.

FARE released its State of Play report on Wednesday.

It found that, as of May 2026, every single AFL and NRL club had an alcohol sponsor, with branding appearing on uniforms, in stadiums and through player celebrations involving products.

Every NRL club also had a gambling sponsor, while five AFL clubs (Brisbane Lions, Fremantle, Gold Coast Suns, GWS Giants and West Coast Eagles) had gambling partnerships.

The report also found both leagues have extensive sponsorship deals with alcohol and gambling companies, including arrangements linked to betting on their own games.

Women’s sport is becoming a growing focus for alcohol and gambling sponsors, according to the report.

At least nine AFLW clubs and four NRLW clubs have alcohol sponsors for the 2026 season. The GWS Giants have also taken on their first gambling sponsor for their AFLW team, bringing the number of AFLW clubs with gambling sponsors to three.

FARE CEO Ayla Chorley told TDA: “Women historically have consumed alcohol at lower levels than men, and so it’s been an active strategy for that industry to seek out women.”

The Government introduced a gambling reform bill to Parliament last month.

If passed, the laws would limit gambling ads on broadcast TV to three per hour, ban betting ads during live sport between 6:30am and 8:30pm, prohibit gambling ads at venues and on players’ and officials’ uniforms, and ban ads promoting odds or featuring sports players or celebrities from 1 January 2027.

The Coalition and the Greens joined forces to send the gambling reform bill to a Senate inquiry, both arguing it doesn’t go far enough.

Former NRL player Luke Bateman gave evidence to the inquiry this week. He alleged gambling companies’ VIP managers unofficially offered him illicit drugs to keep him betting during an addiction he estimates cost him around $1 million.

Tabcorp and Sportsbet have denied the allegations. Bateman told TDA he expected the denial, saying: “That industry has shown for decades now that there’s absolutely no accountability, responsibility, or self-reflection whatsoever.”

Lifeline: 13 11 14
24/7 Alcohol and Other Drugs Hotline: 1800 250 015
1800RESPECT: 1800 737 732.

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

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Researchers from Michigan State University (MSU) and the Czech Academy of Sciences teamed up to successfully recreate the powerful chemical compounds found in wolfsbane and larkspur, two plants so toxic they can cause paralysis in tiny doses. In a world-first, the team successfully unlocked the genetic instructions behind the flowers’ chemistry and used tobacco plants to reproduce the compounds in a lab. It’s hoped this could “eventually help create new drugs inspired by these natural products.”

If you happened to be in Sydney’s Moore Park on Monday afternoon, you might have seen a wave of police sirens and a man yelling “it’s just a costume”.

NSW Police have now charged two men over that incident.

Turns out the sirens were over a plastic pistol, a knock-off badge, and a cardboard box literally labelled “Hard Drugs”.

Officers allege they did find real drugs on one of the men. The other man was charged with possessing an unregistered, unauthorised pistol in a public place and behaving in an offensive manner.

Both will face court over the coming weeks.

Trivia answer: Banana. (Our source is Guinness World Records, which we presume doesn’t count fruit consumed in fermented form. Looking at you, grapes.