☕️ Meet your Australian of the Year

Accepting the 2026 Australian of the Year Award last night, Katherine Bennell-Pegg had a direct call to young Australians: get curious.

You can read more about Bennell-Pegg below - but I needed to include this quote in today’s email: “For Australia to be able to influence and to contribute to addressing the global issues of the next years, the next century, we need every curious mind engaged, regardless of gender, of background or of postcode."

The quote: “It was very windy, so I was like, ‘don’t fall off the spire’. I was trying to balance nicely. But it was, what an incredible position, what a beautiful way to see Taipei.”
U.S. rock climber Alex Honnold, speaking to media after climbing the 508m-high Taipei 101 skyscraper without any ropes or protective equipment. Honnold’s historic free solo climb of the building was broadcast on Netflix. While he is not the first person to scale the building, he is the first to do so without ropes or a harness.

The stat: 949. The number of Australians recognised in the Australia Day 2026 Honours List. The list recognises individuals for outstanding national service, achievements or bravery.

The big question:

Friday’s results: 57% of you think tennis balls are yellow, not green [2,827 votes].

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Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg has won the 2026 Australian of the Year Award.

Bennell-Pegg is widely considered to be the first Australian astronaut to graduate from the European Space Agency, completing her training at the European Astronaut Centre as the first "astronaut under the Australian flag".

She is also the director of space technology at the Australian Space Agency, and is the first Australian woman to qualify as an astronaut.

The South Australian 41-year-old hopes to become the first person sent into space as part of an Australian mission.

The award’s nominees are formed from a pool of state and territory winners for their own Australian of the Year awards.

This year’s state and territory winners are:

Last year’s winner was Neale Daniher, a former AFL player and coach who co-founded charity FightMND, which aims to find a cure for motor neurone disease (MND).

Western Australian Frank Mitchell won the Local Hero Award for his work creating opportunities for First Nations young people in the construction industry via his company, Kardan, Baldja and Bilyaa.

NSW 27-year-old Nedd Brockmann won the Young Australian of the Year Award for his efforts raising over $2.6 million to end homelessness by running from Perth to Sydney, becoming the fastest ever Australian to do so.

Professor Henry Brodaty, from NSW, was named Senior Australian of the Year for his work transforming the diagnosis, care and prevention of dementia.

🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Sam and Lucy chat about the history of 26 January.

🎾 And in tomorrow afternoon’s sport newsletter, George will unpack all the updates from the Australian Open.

The world’s largest nuclear power plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, restarted this week for the first time since March 2012.

Operators shut it down hours later following a malfunction.

All of Japan’s nuclear power plants were closed after a 2011 earthquake and tsunami triggered the Fukushima nuclear accident, with some re-opening from 2015.

Some local residents have criticised the plant’s reopening.

In March 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan, triggering a tsunami on the east coast. The natural disaster killed around 20,000 people and saw the evacuation of almost 500,000 people from their homes. It also triggered a major nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.

The seismic events damaged multiple reactor cores at the plant, causing them to release hydrogen and radioactive material. This resulted in radioactive contamination to nearby land and water.

Around 110,000 people living near Fukushima were evacuated from the area because of the disaster. In 2023, it was estimated that more than 27,000 of these people remain displaced. In aftermath of the disaster, all nuclear reactors in Japan were shut down over several months.

Japan has gradually restarted several nuclear plants since 2015.

This week, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa on Japan’s west coast was the 15th to reopen. It is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the same company behind the Fukushima plant. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is the first TEPCO has reopened since the shutdown.

The plant has a total output capacity of eight gigawatts, enough to provide millions of homes with power. Only one of its reactors was reopened this week, with an output capacity of 1.36 gigawatts.

Announcing the reopening, TEPCO said: “We remain fully committed to demonstrating... we are prioritising safety”.

Some residents near the plant have protested against its reopening. In December, Reuters reported that around 300 protesters stood outside local government discussions about the plant, holding signs reading “No Nukes” and “We oppose the restart of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa”.

A local government survey found 61% of people living near the plant do not believe it met the conditions to be restarted, The Japan Times reported.

Early Thursday morning (local time), soon after re-starting, the plant’s operations were suspended, multiple media outlets have reported. A power supply system failure alarm was triggered at 12.28am, around five hours after the plant restarted.

The Associated Press reported that power station chief Takeyuki Inagaki said TEPCO will examine the safety of its equipment. The relaunch had already been delayed by a day due to an issue with a safety alarm.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe

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Aussies Rose Byrne and Jacob Elordi received acting nominations, while musician Nick Cave and production designer Fiona Crombie are also nominated. Vampire thriller ‘Sinners’ leads the pack with 16 nominations – the most of any film in Oscars history. Its cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw has become the first woman of colour to be nominated in that category. Costume designer Ruth E. Carter picked up her fifth nomination. The recognition for her work on ‘Sinners’ makes Carter the most-nominated Black woman in Oscars history.

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Months after its release on HBO Max, the world is still obsessed with ‘Heated Rivalry’ (and rightly so.) Now, its stars are going to be included in the upcoming Winter Olympics.

The show – based on the ‘Game Changers’ book series by Rachel Reid – chronicles a secret romance between two rival hockey captains, Montreal’s Shane Hollander and Boston’s Ilya Rozanov.

‘Heated Rivalry’ actors Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie have been named as Torchbearers for next month’s Winter Games in Milan, Italy.

It’s a fitting honour considering the show actually includes a scene set during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

According to an official Olympics statement, “the two actors will take part in the Olympic Torch Relay on its way to the Opening Ceremony on 6 February.”

Williams and Storrie will join an elite club of previous Olympic torchbearers, which includes Rafael Nadal, Snoop Dogg and Nelson Mandela.

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.