☕️ Minimum age for social media to be introduced

Check in on your tech friends this morning, because overnight Apple introduced its first artificially intelligent iPhone, creatively named the iPhone 16.

The price? Yours from just a cool $1,799! 😬

“As the summer comes to an end, I cannot tell you what a relief it is to have finally completed my chemotherapy treatment… Doing what I can to stay cancer free is now my focus. Although I have finished chemotherapy, my path to healing and full recovery is long and I must continue to take each day as it comes.”
Kate, the Princess of Wales, in a video released overnight.

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The number of people killed in Typhoon Yagi, which hit Vietnam over the weekend. Last week, it hit the Phillipines and China, where it killed more than 20 people.

1996
Pauline Hanson delivered her first speech in Parliament.

The Federal Government will introduce legislation to enforce a minimum age for access to social media and other relevant digital platforms.

The announcement comes days after the South Australian government announced it will move forward with a ban on social media use for children under the age of 14.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “We are taking this action because enough is enough.“

The Government has committed to introducing the legislation “this term”, which means before the next election.

This legislation will be “informed” by a report from High Court Chief Justice Robert French, who advised the SA Government on banning under-14s from social media.

The Federal Government has not confirmed further details on how a proposed ban could work or who would be included in it.

Albanese said: “Australian young people deserve better. I stand with them and with all Australian parents in protecting our kids.”

Before this announcement, the Coalition had supported a social media ban on under 16s.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said his party would introduce legislation to ban children from social media in the first 100 days of a Coalition Government if elected at the next election.

Over the weekend, the South Australian government announced it would move forward with proposed laws to ban children under 14 from accessing social media.

Under the proposed legislation, social media companies including Instagram and TikTok will be fined if they allow children under 14 to create accounts. It will also require parental consent for 14 and 15-year-olds to make accounts.

The draft proposal will now go out for public consultation.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has made 122 recommendations to reform Australia’s military.

The Commission was set up to look into mental ill-health and suicide rates in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). It was tasked with examining gaps in support, army culture, and the role of Government departments.

Over three years, it heard from hundreds of witnesses, experts, advocates, and senior military officials.

Federal Senator Jacqui Lambie, who served in the ADF, began calling for a Royal Commission into the treatment of veterans in 2014.

She named high rates of suicide among ADF members and veterans as a key reason for the Commission’s existence.

Following community pressure, in 2021, the then-Morrison Government set up a Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide.

The Commission received more than 5,800 submissions and heard from 340 witnesses about the “systemic issues and risk factors to suicide and suicide behaviours of serving and ex-serving Defence members”.

It looked into recruitment, the culture of the military, healthcare and support available after military service.

It cited data showing that at least 1,677 serving and ex-serving Defence personnel died by suicide between 1997 and 2021 — 20 times more than those killed in active duty over the same period.

In its seven-volume final report, the Commission made 122 recommendations to improve the “health and wellbeing of serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families”.

Its recommendations included establishing an independent watchdog to oversee “the whole Defence ecosystem”, and several ways to make ADF members’ return to civilian life easier.

It also called for an overhaul in how military leaders are chosen, assessing factors such as emotional intelligence.

Another recommendation was that the ADF reduce how frequently service members are moved to different postings, and improve supports for their families when they do move.

Several recommendations centred on sexual violence in the ADF, including improving workplace protections for victim-survivors throughout their careers, and making it mandatory to discharge members who’ve been convicted of sexual offences.

Ahead of the final report’s release, Commission Chair Nick Kaldas asked the Government and defence leaders to “work to turn the tide on defence and veteran suicide”.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the Government was committed to ensuring the ADF is a “safe and inclusive workplace” and creating adequate support services for those moving back to civilian life.

Marles said the Government was considering the recommendations.

Shadow Veterans Affairs Minister Barnaby Joyce called on the Government to “expedite the process”.

LIFELINE: 13 11 14
Open Arms: 1800 011 046
Defence and family members all-hours support line: 1800 628 036

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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An image taken by the researchers showed the gas around galaxies reaches “much further into space” than previously thought.

According to the research, the discovery could “help us to understand how galaxies build mass over time” and could impact how different galaxies interact.

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Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar is set to perform at the Super Bowl half-time show in 2025.

Roc Nation, the company owned by Jay-Z that works with the NFL to arrange halftime shows, announced Lamar’s performance.

Lamar said: “Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got the right one.”

Jay-Z described him as “a once-in-a-generation artist and performer.”

It comes amid a year of drama for Lamar, who has been entangled in a dispute with Drake.

In case you missed it, earlier this year the American and Canadian rappers were locked in a heated feud, trading diss tracks and making allegations of sexual misconduct.

It resulted with Lamar’s track ‘Not Like Us’, which currently has around 750 million streams on Spotify.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

77 years ago, a landmark court ruling introduced the 40-hour work week.  The 1947 decision led to the five-day working week and two-day weekend we know today. Before that, employees were typically expected to work six days a week. Over seven decades later, the landscape has changed dramatically, and there are now conversations about extending the weekend by a day.