☕️ Epstein files to be released

It’s World Hello Day!

All you need to do is say hello to 10 people today to participate! I’m cheating by saying hello to 200,000 of you at once!*

*The exclamation points are not mandatory for participation, but encouraged.

“If you want to be a conservative, you can't just be a conservative on economics or on institutions. You should be conservative on the environment as well. And having that custodianship and that stewardship of the environment has to be part of our message to young people, not only as a matter of politics, but because it is the right thing to do.”
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman in a speech resigning from the Liberal leadership following pressure from colleagues. Speakman said he was “pleased” that under his leadership the NSW Liberals had stuck with net zero by 2050, while the Federal Liberals dropped the policy.

350,000
The estimated number of Instagram users in Australia aged between 13 and 15 who will be removed from the platform on 3 December, ahead of the Government's under-16s social media ban.

Gen Z are dancing to U.S. military songs on TikTok, with one video racking up more than 20 million views. The composer of one of the songs, ‘I Left My Home’, Jonathan Michael Fleming, has duetted and reacted to the videos.

A Senate inquiry has called for an immediate review of national food and drinking water standards over concerns about ‘forever chemicals’.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) are long-lasting, man-made chemicals used in common household products. They are linked to serious health conditions, including some cancers.

The inquiry found “ingesting food and drinking water contaminated with PFAS is the primary source of exposure”.

Last year, independent Senator Lidia Thorpe called for an inquiry into PFAS, warning they were becoming “the asbestos of the 21st century”.

The Senate inquiry examined the health and environmental impacts of PFAS, and the current regulation and management of the chemicals.

According to a Cancer Council submission, exposure to PFAS is most common through drinking water or food, though the risks are low for Australians.

The inquiry said it had learned “PFAS chemicals are found in much food packaging,” often added to materials to “serve as a barrier to heat, grease and water”.

It said concerns had previously been raised that Australia’s drinking water guidelines were “falling short of the stricter limits” applied internationally for PFAS contamination.

Additionally, it called for ongoing research into the health outcomes of pregnant women and children exposed to PFAS.

Last year, First Nations group the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council reached a $22 million settlement with the Federal Government after PFAS was discovered in lands and waters around Jervis Bay, NSW.

The Government has admitted the PFAS contamination was caused by a nearby Australian Defence Force facility.

The inquiry visited Wreck Bay to speak to the community, and recommended the Government set up a long-term research project examining “the health impacts of exposure to PFAS contamination on the community” there.

In a statement to TDA, a Government spokesperson said that while it acknowledges the final report, it will provide its official response “in due course.”

The Government has three months to respond.

Shadow Health Minister Anne Ruston said the Coalition intends to “carefully consider” the inquiry’s findings, adding that as “the science is evolving fast, people deserve to know how everyday exposures might be affecting their long-term health.”

Reporting by Achol Arok.

☁️ Australia's viral bedding brand Bonny just dropped $50 off every doona from now until December 1. Ultra-fluffy, hotel-quality, and made with 100% traceable down – stock is limited.
_{Transparency: This is a sponsored section of the newsletter. It's the best way we can keep this newsletter free for you}

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed a bill to release the files from the Department of Justice’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Both houses of Congress voted to release the documents on Tuesday (local time).

The Department of Justice (DoJ) has 30 days to make the unclassified Epstein files publicly available.

Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who was arrested in 2019 on sex trafficking charges.

He was known to be friends with an array of high-profile politicians, celebrities, and the wealthy.

In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine that Epstein was a “terrific guy” who “likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”

In 2019, Trump said he hadn’t spoken to Epstein in 15 years.

The ‘Epstein files’ are a series of documents relating to Epstein’s sex trafficking charges. During Trump’s 2024 Presidential campaign, he promised to release the documents.

The DoJ and the U.S. House Oversight Committee both released batches of documents relating to Epstein earlier this year, which Democrats have said were largely already public.

An FBI memorandum shared in July stated there was “no basis” to share more files and “no incriminating client list.”

Last week, Democrat members of the Oversight Committee shared a series of Epstein’s email conversations.

In a 2019 email to author Michael Wolff, Epstein said “of course he knew about the girls,” referring to Trump.

After publishing the emails, Republican committee members shared a Google Drive folder containing more than 20,000 documents “from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein”.

The sharing of these documents comes amid renewed calls to release all of the ‘Epstein files’.

In July, Republican representative Thomas Massie created a “discharge petition” that would see the introduction of a bill to the lower house to release the Epstein files.

Massie secured enough signatures on the petition last week, despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump on Republicans who signed it.

In the following days, Republican members of the upper house – the Senate – suggested they would also support the bill.

The bill passed the lower house 427 votes to one on Tuesday (local time), with the Senate voting unanimously to send it to the President’s desk hours later.

Despite his previous objections, Trump signed the bill into law on Wednesday (local time).

Before the vote, alleged Epstein victim-survivor Annie Farmer told international media on Tuesday (local time) that concealing the files was “institutional betrayal,” and that “because these crimes were not properly investigated, so many more girls and women were harmed”.

Republican Clay Higgins was the only lower house representative to vote against the bill. He wrote on X the bill will reveal “criminal investigative files... to a rabid media, [and] will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt.”

Trump signed the bill into law on Wednesday (local time).

This means the DoJ has 30 days to publish every unclassified document related to Epstein.

The law states: “No record shall be withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity”.

However, it allows the Attorney-General to withhold or redact any documents containing or depicting child sexual abuse or victims’ personal information, or could “jeopardize” an investigation.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

Ever opened a bill, said “I’ll deal with that later”, and then spent the next week wondering if you actually paid it? Same.

With BPAY, you can schedule your rent, utilities, credit card repayments and more the moment the bill lands – and have it paid later (as long as it’s by the due date). No last-minute panic, no “did I pay that?” spiral, and no sharing bank or card details.

Just log into your banking app, schedule your payment, and get back to literally anything more fun than bills.

_{^{Disclaimer: Scheduled payments are subject to systems and funds availability. T&Cs apply. BPAY is a registered trade mark of BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518. BPAY is made available by over 150 BPAY participants. You should obtain a PDS from your relevant BPAY participant and consider whether BPAY is right for you.}}

🍊 18-year-old becomes fourth Duursma sibling in AFL/W. Read more.
🍊 Two Aussies will debut in today’s opening Ashes Test. More details here.
🍊 The smallest nation ever to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. What did they say?
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: tennis, NRL, and more…

Researchers discovered two undated and unnamed organ pieces in the 1990s, and worked for decades to confirm their origin. The works are believed to have been written by Bach in 1705, during the early stages of his career. This week, they were performed for the first time at a church where Bach is buried in Leipzig, south of Berlin. Germany’s Culture Minister, Wolfram Weimar, called it a “great moment for the world of music” and “a source of great joy for many, many music lovers around the world.”

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

A man in Sweden has broken the Guinness World Record for the number of matches stuck up a nose.

Martin Ströby said his kids thought it would be “so cool” for him to become a record holder.

He started with a trial where he discovered he could place 35 matches up one nostril. Eventually, he broke the record, putting 81 matches into his nose.

Ströby said: “As a father I want my children to look up to me in the same way I look up to my father who has taught me more than I can write down”.

Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.

This week, technology stocks have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. Major tech companies like Nvidia and Meta have seen their share prices drop significantly, with some analysts warning that we might be witnessing the beginning of a tech and AI bubble bursting. Today, we're breaking down what that actually means, how we got here, and whether this looks like the infamous dot-com crash from the year 2000.