☕️ Election campaign begins

Good morning to everyone, including Mantavius Presley. Oh, you don’t know Mantavius? He’s just a 17-year-old from the U.S. who was accepted into more than 60 colleges and awarded more than $US1 million in scholarships.

Mantavius credits his success to his single mother, who he says is “always on the sidelines, always letting me know that she's here for me”.

May our Monday be filled with success like his!

“And can you imagine what that attack has done for me, on me and the 540 individuals in the Sentebale organisations and their family? That is an example of harassment and bullying at scale.”
The chairwoman of charity Sentebale, Sophie Chandauka, referring to Prince Harry. Harry jointly founded the charity in 2006, but resigned last week, saying “the relationship between the charity’s trustees and the chair of the board broke down beyond repair”. Chandauka said Harry “authorised the release of a damaging piece of news” without informing the organisation.

250,000
The number of pencils that will be used in the upcoming election, according to the Australian Electoral Commission.

1889
Construction on the Eiffel Tower officially finished in Paris, France.

The media watchdog has found ‘The Kyle & Jackie O Show’ breached “decency standards”.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) launched a formal investigation into the breakfast radio show after receiving a listener complaint in June.

It has now found segments of the show – hosted by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson – “would be considered offensive to any reasonable person listening to the broadcast”.

Sandilands and Henderson host KIIS FM’s weekday breakfast show, which is broadcast in Sydney and Melbourne.

The pair have worked together for more than 20 years. While their show has been consistently successful in Sydney, it has struggled to secure an audience in Melbourne since debuting there in 2024.

Previous comments by Sandilands have been found to have breached decency standards, including discussions of the Paralympics and mpox, and asking a 14-year-old about her sexual experience.

Last year, a Melbourne listener complained to ACMA about the content of Sandilands and Henderson’s 7 June show.

“In the first ten minutes they mentioned (and these were the exact words) ‘sucking cock’ ‘licking vagina’ and ‘eating each other out’,” the listener told ACMA.

In response, KIIS told ACMA the discussion “was aligned with the expectations and preferences of the audience... including their contemporary attitudes to sex.”

Another segment that morning included discussions of sexual activity by listeners, such as one man’s description of “the smell and cleanliness of used sex toys... displayed in his bedroom,” ACMA said.

According to data submitted to ACMA by KIIS, around 20% of Kyle and Jackie O listeners in Melbourne are aged 10 to 17. This figure is slightly lower among its Sydney audience (16%).

However, KIIS said its core audience are “broad minded adults”.

ACMA found the segments breached the Commercial Radio Code of Practice, because they “offended generally accepted standards of decency,” with “regard to the demographic… of the audience”.

It found the discussions were “lewd and explicit... sustained and vulgar,” despite their “light-hearted” tone.

ACMA did not identify a breach of a separate standard, that bans programs primarily about sex airing between 6am and 7pm. It accepted KIIS’ defence that the content in question was a few minutes of a four-hour program.

In addition to Friday’s findings, two other ACMA investigations into the Kyle and Jackie O show are continuing. These inquiries are examining “possible systemic issues”.

Any penalties relating to the June show will be announced after ACMA wraps up these investigations. This could include fines or legal requirements.

For example, after Sandilands was found to have made “insensitive and disparaging” comments about the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, KIIS was required to hire an additional person to monitor the show’s content for two years.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

It’s official: Australia will have a Federal Election on 3 May. Here’s what that means for you.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, 98% of eligible Australians are enrolled to vote.

If you’re part of the remaining 2%, go to aec.gov.au/enrol.

To enrol to vote, you’ll need a driver’s licence, a passport, or the confirmation of somebody who has already enrolled.

You must be 18 to vote. You have seven days to enrol if you’re not already.

If you’ve changed your address since the last time you voted, you need to update your details.

To do this (or to double check), go to aec.gov.au and click ‘Update your enrolment’. You have until 7 April to do this.

If you’re not sure which electorate you’ll be voting in on election day, search your address at electorate.aec.gov.au.

When you vote, you will need to complete two ballots.

The first is to elect a representative for your local area (electorate).

This person gets one of the 150 seats in the House of Representatives.

Whichever party wins a majority of seats in the House of Reps forms Government and its leader becomes the Prime Minister. This vote helps to determine the Government.

Australia has a preference system for electing local representatives.

You will need to rank every candidate from first to last. The order matters, not just who you choose to put first.

If your #1 candidate doesn’t get enough votes, they will be eliminated and your vote will go to #2. This proceeds until one candidate has received enough votes to win the seat.

The second ballot is to elect representatives for your state or territory in the Senate.

40 of the 76 Senate seats are up for election — six of the 12 Senators from each state, and the two Senators from both territories.

The Senate doesn’t affect which party takes power, but it does affect how the Government passes its policies.

Voting for the Senate is more complicated than voting for the House of Reps.

There are two different ways you can vote:

You can vote at a polling station on election day. These are often at primary schools or community venues. You will soon be able to check polling stations near you on the AEC’s website.

If you are working on election day, or if you’re just eager, you can vote early in person or by mail. TDA will explain how to do this when early voting opens.

You can also vote if you are overseas, although it is not compulsory. Find out what to do in your specific case at aec.gov.au/overseas.

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It’s the Aussie’s first season with the Bulls, but he’s already become one of its standout players, averaging 14.1 points per game. The 22-year-old grew up in Melbourne and was drafted to the NBA in 2021.

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Reporting by Emma Gillespie and George Finlayson.

New research shows the gut microbiomes of elite athletes could hold the key to boosting our metabolism.

When scientists transplanted faeces from elite soccer players and cyclists into mice, they found the mice were more responsive to insulin and had higher glycogen levels — crucial for energy production.

Despite these benefits, the mice weren't any better at performing exercise, suggesting the microbes are not a cheat code.

A fascinating one to keep an eye on!

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Australia is heading to the polls on 3 May.

The election to decide who will lead the country is now officially underway, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese officially kicked off the campaign on Friday morning.

Will Albanese return to Canberra as the next PM, or will Peter Dutton lead the Coalition to become the first party to replace a one-term Government in nearly 100 years?

Today we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the upcoming vote, the campaign, and what to expect over the next four and a half weeks.