☕️ The death of Putin’s biggest critic

Good morning!

It would have been hard to miss it over the weekend – the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tours kicked off in Melbourne.

In today’s podcast, we wanted to understand: Why is Taylor Swift so popular?

You can listen wherever you get your podcasts, or for the first time, we’ve uploaded our podcast as a video!

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Quote of the day

"I did have a drink… I don’t think I was drunk.”
Nationals Deputy Leader Perin Davey, in an interview with Sky News, admitting she did drink alcohol before a parliamentary committee last Tuesday. It comes after there was speculation online that she may have been under the influence during the hearing.

Stat of the day

No. 9
The new world ranking of Australian tennis player Alex De Minaur (he was previously No. 11) after beating Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-final in Rotterdam over the weekend. He lost the final to Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner this morning.

Today in history

1942
Over 230 people died, and many ships and buildings were destroyed, when Darwin was bombed by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• Former U.S. President Donald Trump has been ordered to pay $AU543 million in fines after a court found he had overstated his net worth to obtain better loans. The judge in the civil case said Trump’s "complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological." Trump has also been banned from serving as a director of any New York company for the next three years. It will not impact his ability to run for President. The former President has labelled the decision as “unAmerican” and and "a Complete and Total SHAM." Trump has said he will appeal the decision.

• Australian Federal Police officers are a step closer to launching strike action, amid ongoing demands for better pay. The Australian Federal Police Association (AFPA) has filed an application to the Fair Work Commission, formalising its intention to launch industrial action. Over 75% of the union’s 1,800 members are in support of a strike. Police are awaiting a decision from Fair Work before they can take action because of rules for public sector workers, which the AFPA called restrictive.

I’ve got 1 minute

CommBank has been fined $10 million for underpaying over 7,000 workers

The Commonwealth Bank (CBA) has been ordered to pay a $10 million fine for underpaying thousands of its staff.

Underpayments totalling over $16 million impacted some 7,400 workers between 2015 and 2021.

In a ruling handed down on Thursday last week, the Federal Court determined that CBA knowingly underpaid its staff, and failed to take action to resolve the issue.

All impacted workers have been compensated.

Fair Work

CBA notified Fair Work that it had identified underpayments (mostly affecting customer service staff) in 2018.

The bank launched a company-wide review to diagnose the extent of the issue.

The Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) launched legal action against CBA in the Federal Court in 2021.

The Court handed down its judgement on Thursday, issuing CBA a $10.3 million fine — the highest-ever penalty secured by legal action brought by the FWO.

The ruling

Justice Robert Bromwich accused senior staff at CommBank and CommSec (a popular trading platform) of ignoring details that should’ve “sounded a warning” about underpayments.

The Federal Court also questioned the conduct of HR managers and concluded that CBA could have avoided the underpayments with proper compliance checks.

Bromwich said he hoped the ruling would act as an “ongoing warning” to other businesses.

Response

CBA said it “acknowledges” the Federal Court decision, and that it has invested “substantial resources” in improving its systems and processes “to address the risk of underpayment”.

“These issues should never have happened and we again apologise to our people impacted by these past errors.”

It has 60 days to pay the fine.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Putin’s biggest critic is dead. Who was Alexei Navalny?

Russia’s Opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in jail on Friday. He was 47.

Many western leaders have said the Russian Government is responsible for his death.

Here’s what you need to know.

Who was Navalny?

Alexei Navalny led the political opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He first rose to prominence in the 2000s for blogging online about the corruption he believed to be widespread in Russia.

In 2011, he told Reuters: "Corruption is the foundation of contemporary Russia, it is the foundation of Mr Putin’s political power... I would like to be president, but there are no elections in Russia."

In the last presidential election in 2018, Navalny was formally barred from running due to a fraud conviction, which was widely viewed as politically motivated.

In 2020, Navalny became violently ill after boarding a flight to Moscow. He was treated by doctors in Germany and the German Government later announced he had been poisoned in an attempt to silence him. Then-German leader Angela Merkel said it raised questions “only the Russian Government can answer”. Putin denied any involvement.

Since 2021, Navalny has been in prison serving multiple prison sentences, including a 19-year sentence for “extremism”. He said all the cases against him were fabricated.

He was a staunch opponent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and campaigned for it to end while in jail.

What happened?

Navalny’s death was announced in a statement from the prison service of the Yamalo-Nenets region, where he was in jail. It said: “Convict Alexei Navalny felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness...

“All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not yield positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict.

“The causes of death are being established.”

Representatives for Navalny said they can’t confirm his death, but that if he did die, they believe he was killed.

Global reaction

Many western world leaders have blamed Putin and his regime.

U.S. President Joe Biden said during a press conference shortly after Navalny’s death: “Make no mistake: Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death… What has happened to Navalny is even more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled.”

A statement from the European Union said: “He was slowly murdered by President Putin and his regime, who fear nothing more than dissent from their own people.”

Kremlin response

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin (Russia’s government), said Putin had been informed of Navalny’s death, but had no other information.

He said Russia’s prison service “is carrying out all the checks and procedures in accordance with all the existing rules.”

Russian election

There is a presidential election in Russia next month. The country is run by an authoritarian regime, and therefore elections are widely accepted as undemocratic.

Without political opposition, Putin – who has been President since 2012 (and also between 2000 and 2008) – is almost certain to win.

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It would have been hard to miss it over the weekend - the Australian leg of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tours kicked off in Melbourne.

In today's podcast, we delve into Swift's success and the significance of her dedicated fan base, particularly her unique ability to engage fans through social media. But, will it last forever? Just how sustainable is Swift's fame? We talk to a fan studies expert in today’s podcast.

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Give me some good news

Harvard University researchers have developed a synthetic antibiotic that successfully fights drug-resistant bacteria. 

It comes amid growing global concern over antibiotics losing their effectiveness to treat some infections.

However, a newly developed molecule has shown an improved ability to fight drug resistant bacteria. The research team at Harvard said it’s vital for scientists to “win the war against superbugs” and called antibiotics “the foundation on which modern medicine is built”.

TDA tidbit

Can you imagine catching a flight with rotting fish and maggots?

That’s exactly what passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight headed from Amsterdam to Detroit had to deal with.

According to Air Live, the flight was forced to turn back to Amsterdam less than an hour after takeoff because maggots started to fall from an overhead baggage compartment into people’s seats.

The source? Rotting fish that was poorly packaged in a passenger’s bag.

Delta Air Lines’ officials said that food is technically allowed in carry-on baggage, however it must be “packaged properly”.

*The image is artist’s interpretation.

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