☕ New deepfake laws are passed

In case you missed it, yesterday the world’s oldest person, Maria Branyas Morera, died at the age of 117 years (and 168 days).

In an interview with Guinness World Records, Maria partly attributed her longevity to “staying away from toxic people”.

May we all learn from Maria.

“I obviously understood that there would be a bit of bitterness around this decision, but at the end of the day it’s my career and it’s my life... Everyone is entitled to their opinion... I’m happy with the decision I’ve made.”
Olympic cyclist Matt Richardson, speaking to ABC Sport about the backlash around his decision to represent Great Britain at the next Olympics instead of Australia.

$US391 billion ($AU580 billion)
The amount that could be added to Mexico’s annual GDP if women were able to work as much as men, according to a new report from economic think tank the Milken Institute. 46% of Mexican women work, compared to 78% of men.

1864
The International Red Cross was officially founded with the signing of the first Geneva Convention, compelling armies to help those wounded in war regardless of their side.

A bill criminalising the non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes has passed Parliament and will become law.

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

Under the new law, anyone who shares sexual material of another adult without their consent – including AI-generated images and videos – faces penalties of up to seven years in prison.

The bill will now be signed into law by the Governor-General.

In June, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus introduced a bill to Parliament to criminalise the sharing of sexually explicit deepfakes without consent.

In a statement today, the Attorney-General’s office said these images “are overwhelmingly targeted towards women and girls, perpetuating harmful gender stereotypes and contributing to gender-based violence.”

Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said the Opposition supported “the intention behind the bill”, but believed existing laws already covered deepfakes.

Greens Senator Larissa Waters criticised the bill’s failure to criminalise “the creation of [deepfakes] in the first place... it would be better that the images weren’t so easy for anyone with internet access to create and then share.”

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

Jetstar is facing legal action over its handling of cancelled COVID flights.

The budget airline has been accused of failing to refund tickets on services it cancelled during the pandemic.

Melbourne firm Echo Law has launched a class action on behalf of impacted customers.

Echo Law is also overseeing a similar class action against Jetstar’s parent company, Qantas.

Echo Law has launched a class action against Jetstar in the Federal Court. A class action is a type of lawsuit where many people are represented by one entity.

The claim relates to cancelled domestic and international Jetstar flights between 2020 and 2022.

The class action alleges Jetstar acted unlawfully because it failed to refund all impacted customers, offering them travel credits instead. It alleges Jetstar was legally required to refund these flights.

According to Echo Law, these travel credits were of “much lower value” than customers’ entitled refunds.

It argues that by holding customer funds, the airline “attained unlawful financial benefit (including from the interest accrued).”

The law firm claims Jetstar engaged in a “pattern of unconscionable conduct, in contravention of Australian Consumer Law.”

Qantas has also faced scrutiny over its handling of cancelled COVID flights.

In August 2023, the airline scrapped an end-of-year deadline for customers to redeem COVID travel credits.

It announced customers with unused credits could request a cash refund instead.

However, Qantas did not offer refunds for Jetstar “vouchers”.

Last year, Qantas announced Jetstar customers could use their COVID vouchers indefinitely. However, they are not redeemable for cash.

A spokesperson for Jetstar noted the travel vouchers are “multi-use, meaning they can be used across multiple bookings and for multiple people.”

The airline told TDA it would “review the claims filed in the class action”.

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

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Previous studies have shown that spirulina contains b12, but not in a form humans can digest.

Now, scientists have used special lights in Iceland to grow a kind of spirulina that has as much b12 in it as beef, and can be digested by people. They’ve suggested that by re-allocating some energy use, Iceland could grow enough of this spirulina to stop nearly 14 million children from becoming b12 deficient.

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

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

Mass flight delays are nothing new - just last month, planes around the world were stuck on the tarmac because of the CrowdStrike outage.

However, in Hokkaido, Japan, one airport was forced to delay hundreds of flights for an interesting reason: a pair of scissors had gone missing from a shop in one of the terminals.

Per the BBC, passengers who’d already gone through security had to turn around and be scanned again, as airport workers searched for the missing scissors.

Local broadcaster NHK says a staff member found the scissors inside the shop the next day. Investigations are underway into how they were left out of their designated secure box.

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

Federal politicians found to have sexually harassed, assaulted, or bullied staff could be fined up to 5% of their salary under new draft laws.

Legislation tabled in Parliament this week comes nearly three years after a 2021 workplace review, which detailed “a lack of clear standards of conduct, limited accountability and power imbalances” for those within the so-called “Canberra bubble”.

In today’s deep dive, we’ll tell you all about the Government’s new proposal, and what it means for those who work in Parliament House.