It’s the last day of the month!

A big thank you to everyone who sent in riddles yesterday. I was inundated with suggestions and especially loved the anecdotes about sharing the riddles around the office (shoutout to Rhiannon’s Brisbane team!)

Without further ado, here’s today’s riddle, courtesy of TDA reader Linda.

Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If you eat it you die. What is it?

Quote of the day
“Lots of people [with disability] don’t have a voice. They don’t have legal capacity. They’re caught up in forms of guardianship that take control of their life away from them.” - Australia’s new Disability Discrimination Commissioner Rosemary Kayess in an interview with the ABC marking her first week in the role.

Stat of the day
57.7 billion
The number of minutes the TV show Suits was streamed by U.S. viewers in 2023, according to ratings agency Nielsen.

Today in history
1865
The 13th Amendment was passed by U.S. Congress, eventually leading to the nation’s abolishment of slavery.

Some headlines from this morning:

• As students begin the school year this week, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has declared the teacher shortage a “crisis”. Clare told the ABC one in five new teachers will leave the profession within their first three years. He also noted just half of teaching students finish their degrees, facing challenges like unpaid placements.

• Sydneysiders have been urged to avoid swimming in the harbour after a woman was bitten by a suspected bull shark. She was swimming near a wharf at Elizabeth Bay in the inner-east when nearby neighbours came to her aid. City of Sydney councillor Linda Scott urged the public to “stay out of the harbour until further notice”.

Nine News has apologised to a Victorian MP for digitally altering her image in its news coverage.

Animal Justice Party MP Georgie Purcell publicly criticised the network for photoshopping her clothes and body.

In a post to social media, Purcell shared the original photo and Nine’s version.

“Note the enlarged boobs and outfit to be made more revealing. Can’t imagine this happening to a male MP,” she wrote.

The images

Response
Nine blamed a “graphic error” for the changes to the original image.

In an online statement, Nine News Melbourne director Hugh Nailon said: “I would like to sincerely apologise to Georgie Purcell.”

Nailon claimed the network’s graphics team sourced “an online image of Georgie” and resized it in image editing program Adobe Photoshop.

“During that process, the automation by Photoshop created an image that was not consistent with the original,” he said.

Australia’s childcare system is failing to meet the educational needs of disadvantaged children, according to new findings from a report by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

The Federal Government asked the ACCC to conduct a review of the childcare sector in 2022.

In its final report, out this week, the ACCC made eight recommendations to improve childcare accessibility and affordability in Australia.

Here’s what you need to know.

Childcare market
There are about 14,000 childcare centres in Australia, including daycare centres and pre-schools, which teach children basic development skills before they start school.

Government subsidies cover some of the costs of childcare. Families earning less than $80,000 a year receive a 90% subsidy to send one child to childcare.

However, the amount of the subsidy depends on several factors, such as the type of service, the age of the child, how many children are in childcare in one family, and a family’s combined income.

ACCC report
The childcare rate changed in July to increase subsidies for low-income families.

The ACCC report said the change was initially successful in reducing childcare expenses. However, it found childcare fees had risen faster than inflation and wages in the last five years.

It warned rising costs could put more pressure on families, undoing the relief brought on by last year’s increased subsidies.

The report raised concern about the declining number of family daycare centres, which provide small-group services for children from birth to around 12-years-old.

The ACCC said a shortage of family daycare services “disproportionately” affected culturally and linguistically diverse households. It also found that First Nations children are less likely to be in childcare.

Low wages in childcare were also identified as an issue for retaining educators in the sector.

Recommendations
The ACCC recommended the government change childcare subsidies to give families access to more affordable care and increase support for childcare providers.

It asked the government to regularly ‘index’ subsidy amounts — adjusting prices to reflect changing costs (inflation).

The government has also been asked to take a more active role in cautioning childcare services against unfair fee increases.

The ACCC recommended the government implement measures that would allow them to publicly call out providers over-charging families.

Governments at all levels have been asked to actively monitor childcare markets, to ensure childcare is affordable and accessible to a range of groups.

This included improving access to subsidies for First Nations households.

Further consideration to increase and retain childcare staff was also recommended.

Government response
In addition to the ACCC investigation, the early education and childcare sector is being reviewed by the Productivity Commission.

The government said it would consider the ACCC’s proposals along with those put forward by the Productivity Commission when it hands down its final report in June.

Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly said the government would “carefully look” at the ACCC’s recommendations, which will help identify areas of improvement for the future.

We’re all about celebrating good news, especially when it’s about lollies. That’s why we were pumped to hear about our fave lollies - Allen’s - announcing their new packaging.

Their new packaging will reduce their use of plastic by 21% across their range. To put that into context, Allen’s says this change will avoid 58 tonnes of waste annually - or, in numbers we can truly understand - equivalent to the weight of 4.6 million Snakes Alive lollies*!

You can find out more about what they’re doing here.

*Compared to Allen’s lolly packaging in 2022.

As we dive a bit deeper to examine the forces trying to legalise vaping, we uncover the role Big Tobacco has to play. So why do companies that traditionally have made their money from selling cigarettes want vapes to be more readily available? And will the Government be able to push through with their reforms, with a force like Big Tobacco working against them?

If you want your friends to wake up with us too, refer them!

We’ll even sweeten the deal for you…

You currently have 0 referrals, only 1 away from receiving the First Chapter of No Silly Questions.

Or send them your unique link: https://www.newsletter.thedailyaus.com.au/subscribe?ref=PLACEHOLDER

New research from the Australian National University (ANU) has found a protein in the immune system, called Ku70, that can help treat bowel cancer.

The “cancer-cooling” protein can be activated with a combination of medications that can treat DNA and prevent cancer cells from spreading. Professor Si Ming Man from ANU said the Ku70 protein can help “predict who will fare better or worse after being diagnosed with bowel cancer”.

What do humans have in common with rats?

An obsession with taking selfies, apparently!

Augustin Lignier, a professional photographer, created an installation with two rats (one named after himself, and the other after his brother Arthur).

The rats learned to press a button that would trigger the camera to take a photo and give them a sugar treat.

The artwork is based on experiments by Dr Burrhus Frederic Skinner from the 1950s, which taught positive reinforcement to rats by giving them food when they pressed a lever.

Lignier used this concept to echo the “addictive behaviour engineered by social media companies” (plus he produced some adorable rat selfies in the process!)

*

Answer: ‘Nothing’.