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I’ve got 10 seconds
Quote of the day
“I don’t think she understands that there are a whole lot of women out here who, one, are not aspiring to be humble.”
Presidential candidate Kamala Harris on the Call Her Daddy podcast, responding to Republican Arkansas governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders who said Harris “doesn’t have anything keeping her humble” because she does not have biological children.
Stat of the day
25 years old
The age of the youngest person to be elected mayor in NSW. John Paul Baladi was sworn in as Mayor of Strathfield Council on Tuesday night. The Liberal Councillor is the state's first Gen Z mayor.
Today in history
2014
Malala Yousafzai wins a Nobel Peace Prize at 17-years-old.
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
Former Labor Senator Fatima Payman has announced she’s launching a new political party called ‘Australia’s Voice’. Payman was elected as a Western Australian Labor Senator at the last election. She quit Labor in July after she went against the party’s position to support a motion calling for recognition of the state of Palestine. Payman has since become a vocal critic of the Albanese Government and sits as an independent in the Upper House. Payman said her new party will encourage the major parties to “stop focusing on politics and get back to focusing on people”.
Brazil has lifted its ban on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, ending a 5 week long suspension in the South American country. Last month, Brazil’s highest court – the Supreme Court – blocked X across the country of more than 200 million people, after X failed to comply with court orders asking to remove misinformation from its platform. The standoff led to direct intervention from X’s owner, Elon Musk, who described the move as censorship and called the judge overseeing the case a ‘dictator’. X has now published a statement saying it’s returning to Brazil after agreeing to comply with the court’s orders to remove certain accounts peddling misinformation and appointed a new Brazilian representative for the company.
Recommendation of the day
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I’ve got 1 minute
Florida is facing its worst storm in over 100 years
The U.S. state of Florida is bracing for its second hurricane in a month, with Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifying and expected to make landfall shortly.
It comes as the state is dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which hit last month.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has said it doesn’t have the funds to make it through the hurricane season.
Here’s what you need to know.
Milton
Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida in the coming days. U.S. President Joe Biden has warned it “could be one of the worst storms in 100 years in Florida”.
Milton has rapidly intensified over recent days, with the system developing from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane (the strongest possible rating).
Evacuation orders have been issued for large parts of Florida, with the state’s governor Ron DeSantis saying “basically the entire peninsula portion of Florida is under some type of either a watch or a warning."
Helene
Hurricane Milton comes weeks after another hurricane, Helene, hit the U.S. Helene mostly impacted south-eastern states, including Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina.
The death toll from the Category 4 hurricane reached over 200 people, with hundreds more missing.
Hurricane Helene caused significant damage and destruction to homes, roads, and phone towers. North Carolina cited significant cell tower outages, with over 70% of towers out of service the day after the storm hit.
FEMA
Federal financial support provided through FEMA for Hurricane Helene survivors has totalled more than $US210 million ($AU311.7 million).
The agency has sent nearly 7,000 people, including FEMA workers, to provide impacted states with support after Hurricane Helene. It’s also provided over 15 million meals and nearly 14 million litres of water.
Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: “FEMA does not have the funds to make it through the [hurricane] season”.
Political response
Republican candidate Donald Trump has claimed the shortfall in FEMA funding is due to increased funding for migrant housing programs.
White House officials have responded to Trump’s claim, stating that FEMA funding is segmented into separate categories with no shared funds.
The White House has labelled the claim as disinformation and said “disinformation after a hurricane or other natural disaster can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most”.
Reporting by Nandini Dhir.
I’ve got 2 minutes
An area bigger than New Zealand will be added to a marine protection zone near Antarctica
The Government has finalised plans to protect an additional 310,000 square kilometres (km2) of ocean surrounding two Australian islands near Antarctica.
It means more than half of Australia’s oceans will be included in protected marine park zones.
The measure will protect the diverse wildlife of Heard and McDonald Islands from commercial fishing and mining.
Conservation groups welcomed the announcement but said the Government “missed an opportunity” to “ensure the future” of Antarctic marine life in areas surrounding the protected zones.
Islands
The Heard and McDonald Islands are 1,700 km from Antarctica and 4,100 km southwest of Perth. The Southern Ocean island group is one of Australia’s most isolated territories.
The islands are home to unique biodiversity including penguins, seals and seabirds. They’re also home to the only active volcanoes in the subantarctic zone — a region of coast and islands immediately north of the Antarctic Circle.
UNESCO described the world-heritage-listed islands as “one of the world’s rare pristine island ecosystems”.
Marine parks
Oceans and waterways that are listed as “marine parks” by the Government are protected from commercial fishing and drilling.
This week, the Government announced it was expanding the Heard and McDonald Islands protected zone, quadrupling the size of the marine park by an additional 310,000 square km — an area larger than New Zealand.
The Government said it consulted with scientific and fishing industry representatives on the changes. The Governor-General is expected to sign off on the zones over the coming weeks.
Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said the decision will help protect glaciers, wetlands, and biodiversity.
In 2022, the Government committed to protecting 30% of Australia’s oceans as part of a UN nature treaty.
Plibersek said this announcement means 52% of Australia’s oceans will be under marine protection.
She denied the plan would impact a “sustainable” commercial fishery that harvests Patagonian toothfish and mackerel icefish in the waters around the islands.
Response
A conservation alliance including the Australian Marine Conservation Society welcomed what it called a “notable” announcement.
However, it argued the Government “missed an opportunity” to protect other nearby undersea habitats.
The group warned zones outside the marine park – including vital penguin, seal and albatross feeding grounds – would remain threatened by “climate change, pollution, fishing and invasive species”.
The conversation group said the Government “should have heeded” advice from scientists and advocates to increase marine sanctuaries “to help ensure the future of our Antarctic marine life.”
The Opposition said “marine protection is important” to the Coalition.
Shadow Environment Minister, Jonathon Duniam, told TDA the “Coalition supports moves to protect our environment when stakeholders' views have been carefully considered.”
Reporting by Harry Sekulich.
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Give me some good news
The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to two scientists for their developments in machine learning, which helps AI models.
John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton have researched neural networks, which are nodes that process and learn information in a way that is inspired by the human brain. The scientists have applied this type of thinking to machines, helping them learn and churn data – which has been picked up by artificial intelligence systems.
One of the scientists, ex-Google employee Professor Hinton, is sometimes referred to as the ‘Godfather of AI’, and has warned of the risk that machines that can outsmart humans.
Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!
Reporting by Harry Sekulich.
TDA tidbit
Alaskan Brown Bear ‘128 Grazer’ has been named the winner of Fat Bear Week for a second consecutive year.
Since 2014, the annual online poll has celebrated the hundreds of Brown Bears who live in Alaska’s Katmai National Park.
Fans vote for the bear they think did the best job to bulk up in preparation for their winter hibernation.
After winning last year’s Fat Bear Week, 128 Grazer gave birth to two cubs. This year’s win makes her “the first working mum to ever be crowned champion.”
Reporting by Emma Gillespie.
Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!
Have you ever avoided a visit to the dentist because of how much it costs? If you nodded yes to that question, chances are you’re not alone. According to a new report, one in two Aussies without private health insurance has avoided the dentist due to cost.
In today’s podcast, we’ll explore what we learned from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s report about access to dental care in this country, and what that means for the average Aussie.
TDA asks
