☕️ Economy growth is "very weak"

Apologies to everyone for not putting the answer to yesterday’s riddle in the tidbit. The answer was… mosquito!

I was going to tell you a mosquito joke to win back your trust, but they all suck.

“You know what? No one likes the arguing, do we? I think we’ll leave it there.”
Sunrise host Natalie Barr, ending a segment featuring Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil and Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume on Wednesday morning early, after the discussion became heated.

50kg
How much Vegemite the Australian Olympic Committee will be sending to the Paris Olympic village for this year’s games.

1984
Tetris was released for the first time for the Electronika 60 — a computer that wasn’t able to produce graphics. So, the game was made using square brackets ‘[]’ instead of colourful squares.

A global ranking of universities has been released, with three Australian universities making the top 20.

These results are from QS World University Rankings for 2025.

More than 1,500 universities were ranked this year including nearly 200 universities from the U.S., 90 from the UK, and around 70 from China. It also included 38 universities from Australia.

The rankings are drawn from millions of academic papers, and thousands of academics and employers.

For the 13th consecutive year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was the number one worldwide.

The economy grew by 0.1% over the past three months. The news comes as the head of Australia’s central bank described the economy as “very weak”.

The latest gross domestic product (GDP) figures shows the economy’s growth has slowed compared to the last three months of 2023.

It’s the weakest quarterly growth since September 2022.

Gross domestic product (GDP) refers to the value of goods and services produced in a country over a certain time.

In last month’s Federal Budget, the Government predicted GDP would grow by 2% across the next three financial years (1 July-30 June).

If GDP is negative for six months in a row, economists say the economy is in a recession, or “shrinking”.

Yesterday’s results, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), revealed that GDP rose by 0.1% in the three months to March 2024. The annual GDP growth was 1.1%.

In a statement, the ABS’ head of national accounts Katherine Keenan said: “GDP growth was weak in March.”

However, it noted that spending on “gambling, sporting and musical events” increased over the quarter. Earlier this year, Sydney and Melbourne hosted pop star Taylor Swift, selling roughly 620,000 tickets.

Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock told Senate Estimates the economy was “very weak”.

“We are in a position where the economy is very weak... we’ve got consumption, people cutting back on discretionary expenditure.”

Bullock said she had expected lower GDP figures because spending is slowing for most age groups, especially among younger people.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said household spending has been dominated by essentials.

This includes spending on things like groceries, electricity, and rent, which have all increased due to inflation (rising prices).

He said Australians are also paying roughly $30 billion in mortgage interest because of higher borrowing rates.

Chalmers said the economy is “barely growing” as “people are under pressure”.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor pointed out that the figures show the slowest GDP growth since 1991 outside of the COVID pandemic years.

He blamed Labor’s handling of the economy for rising interest rates, poorer productivity, and higher inflation.

“We need to get the economy back on track and back to basics and restore Australians’ standard of living,” Taylor said.

How much do you know about pigmentation?

Considering up to 50% of people experience pigmentation*, we wanted to break down exactly what it is.

Everyone has pigmentation and the amount you have determines your natural skin, hair and eye colour.

Hyperpigmentation is when an area of skin on your body is darker than your normal skin tone.

Sun exposure, genetics, hormonal changes, skin injuries and medical conditions can all lead to hyperpigmentation.

Targeted solutions, like La Roche Posay’s Mela B3 Niacinamide Dark Spot Serum, are one way to help target and prevent further hyperpigmentation.

Find out more about the breakthrough Dark Spot Serum – Mela B3, from the No.1 Dermatologist Recommended Skincare Brand Worldwide, La Roche Posay**.

*According to a study conducted by La Roche Posay with 48,000 people worldwide (year). **Survey conducted among the skincare market carried out by APLUSA and other partners between January 2023 and May 2023, involving dermatologists in 34 countries, representing more than 80% of the worldwide GDP

Characters from the iconic children’s TV show, an ABC/BBC co-production, will appear on three different commemorative coins, as part of the Bluey ‘Dollarbucks’ series. The coins cost $20 for one, or $55 for all three.

IKEA is opening a brand new store — in Roblox, and gamers can get paid real money to work there.

For those who don’t know any kids, Roblox is a virtual world where players (primarily children) can create their own games, and play in other people’s. Some of the most popular games on Roblox right now include obstacle courses, hide and seek, and role-playing games.

Now, IKEA is setting up a virtual store where gamers can shop for furniture and eat meatballs.

They’re even going to pay some gamers (only those who are 18+) real-life money to work in the virtual store.

The Swedish furniture giant is accepting applications in the UK for players who want to work online, for a bit more than the minimum wage. IKEA Roblox employees will also be able to change jobs and departments within the virtual store.

It said the paid roles will show “there is no set route to career progression.”

Over 7 million Australians use Buy Now Pay Later accounts, like Afterpay or Zip, and young people are the main adopters of this new form of credit. 

But now the government is keen to apply the same rules that govern our credit cards or loans to these services - in one of the biggest changes to The Credit Act in years. 

The government hopes the new laws will protect vulnerable people from accumulating debt by making everyone get a credit check to use the apps.

On today’s podcast, we’re going to take a look at what’s being proposed, why, and what the companies themselves think of the move.