☕️ Endometriosis support will expand

If you live in Victoria, Tasmania, or South Australia, you may have seen the Aurora Australis - the southern lights - in the night sky over the weekend.

Why does this happen? According to the Australian Space Weather Alert System, the lights occur when “large clouds of plasma and magnetic field erupt in the Sun’s outer atmosphere,” causing a “geomagnetic storm” when they hit Earth’s atmosphere.

The rest of Australia saw the lights through some remarkable photography, like this one:

Hope you all have a great start to the week!

“Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we’re sorry.”
Apple’s marketing VP Tor Myhren in a statement to AdAge on the controversy surrounding the company’s latest iPad commercial. The ad depicts instruments, cameras, and paint being destroyed by an industrial crusher, designed to convey that an iPad can squeeze humanity’s cultural prowess into a 5mm device.

25.5%
The percentage increase in the number of people sleeping rough in NSW in February, compared to the same time last year, according to new data collected by Homelessness NSW.

1950
The first Formula One World Championship season kicked off. It consisted of six Grand Prix races across Europe.

Queensland Police will replace the members of its First Nations Advisory Group (FNAG) after its original members refused to sign a confidentiality contract.

The body was established in 2022 to help improve policing outcomes for local First Nations communities. Members of the group have accused Qld Police of trying to silence them.

The Qld Police Service (QPS) established the FNAG after a 2022 inquiry identified a culture of racist attitudes within the state’s police force.

The group comprised of First Nation community leaders and elders who were meant to build the QPS‘ “cultural capacity“ and strengthen ties between law enforcement and First Nations communities.

However, the group said its attempts to implement cultural reforms were repeatedly dismissed by the QPS.

Last year, the QPS conducted an internal assessment, finding the FNAG ”was not meeting [its] purpose and original intent”. FNAG members say the QPS drew up new contracts for group members with updated outcomes.

The new contract included a ‘gag order’, meaning members who signed it could not discuss the group’s activity outside official channels.

The FNAG said the contracts came after it consistently raised concerns about QPS leadership, which it claims were “met with silence”.

In a statement, the group’s original members said: “After 15 months of operation, we were given contracts to sign containing a confidentiality clause which would prevent us speaking publicly about the work of the FNAG or the QPS unless approved by the QPS.”

Members argued the contract’s non-disclosure clause went against their obligations to their communities. They said the order also breached the original guidelines agreed by the FNAG and the QPS.

QPS officials decided to dissolve the group after it failed to reach an agreement with members over the contract. The QPS said the FNAG was notified in February.

FNAG members said: “These actions demonstrate how the dominant powers will move to silence and disempower those who hold them accountable and are but one example of the systemic racism which needs to be addressed.“

The QPS said it’s working to recruit a new advisory group and remains committed to “enhancing the organisation's cultural capability”.

However, former FNAG co-chair Christine Thomas says she was concerned the QPS was “repeating history”.

“These actions do little to build trust and faith with First Nations communities that the QPS take reframing the relationship seriously.”

People with endometriosis will have access to higher rebates and longer consults with doctors under changes to Medicare.

The measures are aimed at expanding access to GP and specialist care.

About 1 in 7 Australians with uteruses have endometriosis — a disease where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the uterus. It can cause severe pelvic pain, which can stop some from working, studying or playing sport.

Here’s what you need to know about the Federal Government announcement.

From July 2025, two new items will be added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, a list of health services subsidised by the Federal Government.

Under the changes, people with endometriosis will have access to Medicare-subsidised 45-minute appointments with specialist doctors.

This includes initial and follow-up consultations.

The Government said the $49.1 million announcement “will provide approximately 430,000 more services to help women across the country with complex gynaecological conditions.”

Medicare will subsidise “longer initial gynaecologist consultation” at a higher rate — $168.60 for a minimum of 45 minutes, compared to the standard rate of $95.60, from July next year.

Medicare will also provide a higher subsidy for longer follow-up appointments — $84.35 for a minimum of 45 minutes, compared to the standard rate of $48.05.

Subsidies for longer 60-minute GP appointments will also be rolled out. The measure is aimed at providing doctors “additional time to examine patient’s histories and symptoms.”

Health Minister Mark Butler said Australian women were “suffering unnecessarily”, and that the expanding subsidies would help “get women the care they need”.

“They’re having their experiences dismissed, being called hysterical and accused of drug shopping.

“Women’s pain is real and it’s time we stop telling women to just suck it up.” — Health Minister Mark Butler.

The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) called the announcement a “good step in the right direction.”

It said current measures “don’t allow for sufficient appointment time for practitioners to appropriately consult with patients presenting with persistent pelvic pain.”

“The new numbers will allow more time to better deal with the complex nature of these presentations,” according to RANZCOG.

Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston said the Federal Opposition was “pleased” with the announcement to expand endometriosis treatment.

“We know that this work is absolutely critical to ensuring that women across the country can access support that is tailored to their needs and understands their endometriosis journey.”

Ruston said it would be important for the results of the expanded care to be transparent, to ensure the measures are creating better outcomes for Australian women.

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The reconstruction contains never-before-seen details of brain structure, showing every single cell and a web of neural pathways in one brain fragment.

Harvard Researcher Jeff Lichtman said the aim of the brain map was to create a “high resolution view of this most mysterious piece of biology that each of us carries around on our shoulders”.

The real-life Martha from Netflix’s Baby Reindeer has said she is suing the streaming service for its depiction of her.

If you’re out of the loop, Baby Reindeer is a TV show about a man who is stalked by a woman he met at his work. The actor playing the main character, Donny, is also the man who experienced the stalking in real life.

Richard Gadd said he wanted the show to “capture the human experience” and “show the layers of stalking with a human quality”.

The real-life woman alleged to have stalked him has now said she’ll be taking legal action against Gadd and Netflix for defamation (damaging one’s reputation).

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Gadd’s alleged stalker said she was recognisable in the show despite the changed name.

In the interview, she denied most of the depictions of her and accused Gadd of lying about their interactions.

Algorithms, child abuse, domestic violence, scams, extremist material, mis and disinformation, and the availability of good journalism on social media - these are all areas identified by the government for investigation as part of a new parliamentary committee investigating the influence and impacts of social media on Australian society.

In today’s podcast, we’re going to look at what the committee has been asked to achieve, where this has all come from, and why it matters to you.