☕️ Fewer friends, less money

Today marks 100 days to go until 2026 - officially in the ‘I can’t believe how fast this year has gone!’ phase of the calendar.

But hey - that’s still 14 weeks to join the gym!

“[This] act of recognition reflects Australia's longstanding commitment to a two-state solution, which has always been the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong in a statement announcing Australia now formally recognises a Palestinian state, with immediate effect. The announcement of the formal measure comes ahead of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York this week. The UK and Canada now also recognise a Palestinian state. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move is “giving a huge reward to terrorism".

95,000
The estimated number of attendees at the public memorial for Charlie Kirk, who was killed earlier this month. U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are expected to speak at the memorial, which is currently underway.

1994
The first episode of TV sitcom Friends aired, with the show going on to become one of the most popular sitcoms in the world.

The NSW Government has passed a law making it illegal to create sexually explicit deepfake images of “real, identifiable” people.

It was already a criminal offence in NSW to create, send or digitally alter images of a person without their consent.

Now, the law extends to material “wholly created using AI,” as well as the non-consensual creation and distribution of “sexually explicit audio.”

Individuals found guilty under the new laws face penalties of up to three years in jail.

The new legislation, introduced last month, expands existing laws to criminalise the creation and sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes designed to look like an “identifiable” person, illegal.

Deepfakes are realistic, fabricated or manipulated videos and/or images. They are designed to mislead viewers and can be made using AI.

Last year, the eSafety Commissioner said there was “compelling and concerning data” suggesting the number of explicit deepfakes published online had increased by 550% a year since 2019.

The legislation also criminalises the production and distribution of “sexually explicit audio” without consent. This applies to both digitally altered and generated recordings.

NSW Premier Chris Minns said the new law tackles what he called an “insidious form of abuse”.

“Those who seek to target women using this technology now face serious consequences,” Minns said.

The bill now needs to be signed into law by the Governor.

While the bill passed with bipartisan support on Thursday night, the Opposition called it “a start,” saying “more work needs to be done.”

Shadow Cabinet member Susan Carter said the fact that the legislation doesn’t cover fake texts was “a significant gap”.

“AI-generated text can cause harm and be used to coerce and intimidate. Without explicitly addressing that medium, the law does not fully capture the scope of digital abuse emerging with generative AI,” Carter said.

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Video: 1800RESPECT.org.au

Reporting by Achol Arok.

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Australians have fewer friends and are delaying retirement more than ever before.

These are some of the findings from the latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, released this week.

Researchers have interviewed the same group of 17,000 Australians every year since 2001 about their finances, family and social life, and physical and mental health.

The latest analysis looks at 2023 results. Here’s what they found.

On average, one in three Australians in their late 60s is still working.

In 2003, the average retirement age was 59 for women and 60 for men. By 2023, it was 64 for women and 65 for men.

“The gradual rise in the Age Pension eligibility age to 67 years, coupled with broader shifts in workforce participation, has led many Australians to remain in the labour force longer,” the report says.

Health remained the most frequently cited reason for retirement in the 2023 dataset.

The report found increasingly fewer respondents agree with the statement “I seem to have a lot of friends.”

Lead author Dr Inga Lass told TDA socialising took “a huge hit” during the pandemic and “hasn’t really recovered”.

“People are now used to staying more at home and interacting with people on a digital basis,” Lass said.

The sharpest decline since 2001 was for those under 25, though young men still reported having more friends than older men. Among women, those over 65 reported having the most friends.

Australians are now paying the highest average rate of income tax in more than two decades, with the mean rate at 11.7% in 2023.

The median and average household income have also slid backward in recent years, dropping from a peak in 2021.

Single-parent households were the worst off in 2023, with nearly a third living below what HILDA defined as the poverty line (less than $50k annually for a single parent with two children).

Cost of living remained a major issue for Aussie households, with the largest expense (in dollars spent) being housing and groceries.

The survey has asked questions about everyday expenses since 2006. Since that time, rent has seen the biggest jump, growing by 40.5%.

On the other side, children’s clothing saw the largest drop, falling 29.2% when compared to 2006 levels.

The survey found 14% of women and 15% of men did not want to have any children, a significant jump from 2006.

Dr Lass told TDA the “cost and challenges associated with having children” have become increasingly important “in the minds of potential parents.”

The average family is now spending $171 a week on childcare, nearly $100 more than two decades ago. The report also showed that the median household spends 6.3% of its disposable income on childcare costs, up 40% from the early 2000s.

Time stress (often or almost always feeling rushed) has increased to almost pre-pandemic levels.

In 2023, close to 40% of women reported frequent time stress, while around 30% of men did. This gap has been consistent over the previous two decades.

Despite this increase, Australians are spending less time commuting than before COVID-19.

Workers in Sydney reported the longest commute, an average of 59 minutes. The all-time high was 73 minutes in 2019.

Reporting by Elliot Lawry.

Did you know your food scraps have superpowers?

Most Victorians now have a lime green food organics and garden organics (FOGO) bin – and they’re already proving to be pretty great at using it.

Here’s the deal: food scraps and garden clippings go in the FOGO bin. From there, they’re transformed into compost that helps local farms and gardens thrive – not sent to landfill.

The only catch? Rubbish doesn’t belong – the FOGO bin is just for food scraps and garden clippings. No plastics, containers or even sneaky fruit stickers. If they slip in, the whole load could end up in landfill, where they release methane.

The fix is simple: correctly sort your scraps into the FOGO bin, and you’ll make a real difference every bin night.

Melbourne photographer Marcia Riederer came first in the Fine Art category for her image of a Dwarf Minke whale captured along the Great Barrier Reef. Craig Parry won the Human Connection category for his drone image of a stranded Humpback whale rescue attempt on the NSW south coast. After rescuers worked “tirelessly” for 15 hours, Parry said sadly the whale couldn’t be saved, “but the compassion shown is a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when people come together." This year’s awards received over 15,000 submissions from around the world, with a total of 13 Australian or Australian-based finalists. It’s the first time the competition has named two Aussies as category winners.

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Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Happy belated birthday for yesterday!

If this message resonated with you, you’re definitely not alone. The 21st of September is the most common birth date in Australia!

Data from 2014 to 2023 from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows you share your birthday with 8,894 other people.

We hope all 8,895 of you enjoyed your special day.

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.

More stress, less friends, and fewer babies: These are some of the key trends that have come out of a major longitudinal study. The Household Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia survey, also known as Hilda, released its latest annual statistical report on Friday. The report’s lead author, Dr Inga Lass, says: “Potential parents are growing more concerned about their financial security and the costs of raising a child, and that pragmatism is outweighing the emotional side of the decision.”

To help us understand more about these findings, Inga joins us in today’s deep dive.