☕️ Labor wins ACT Election

King Charles and Queen Camilla are officially in Australia, after touching down on Friday for a five-day visit.

It's their first official visit to Australia since Charles became King in 2022, and his first overseas trip since being diagnosed with cancer.

In today’s podcast, we discuss why the King and Queen are here, and how Australians feel about our place in the monarchy. You can listen here.

“You guys are at the wrong rally. No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.”
U.S. Presidential candidate Kamala Harris to hecklers at a rally in Wisconsin. Rival Donald Trump was at an event in New York City.

8%
The percentage of U.S. teens who use tobacco products. It's the lowest rate of tobacco use by young people since 1999, according to Federal Government data. Around 6% of American high schoolers use e-cigarettes — the most commonly used tobacco product, followed by nicotine pouches (1.8%).

2021
Actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot director Halyna Hutchins with a prop gun on the set of the film ‘Rust’ in New Mexico. Earlier this year, an involuntary manslaughter case against Baldwin was dismissed.

"If it bleeds, it leads" - That's what generations of newsmakers have always been told and known to be true. Well, we here at The Daily Aus don't accept that. We want to do news differently.

In partnership with our friends at Intrepid Travel, The Good Newsletter newsletter is a new addition to TDA’s content offering, and we think you’re going to love it.

The Northern Territory Government has lowered the age of criminal responsibility to 10.

This is the age at which a child can be charged with, or prosecuted for, an alleged crime.

In 2022, the previous Labor Government raised the age of criminal responsibility in the NT to 12, becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to do so.

Now, the Territory’s newly-elected Country Liberal Party (CLP) has reversed that decision.

The CLP defeated the Labor Party at the Northern Territory’s election in August.

One of its election promises was to return the age of criminal responsibility to 10, in response to increasing rates of crime in the Territory.

In a statement this week, NT Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley said: “We make no apologies for delivering the laws Territorians voted for in the August election.”

Other CLP election promises included creating boot camps for First Nations young people.

The latest youth detention data published by the NT Government shows there were 25 young people in detention in the last week of July. All were First Nations.

Another CLP policy was to pass Declan’s Law. Under the reform, which passed this week, denies bail to anyone older than the age of 10 accused of a violent offence, unless the defence proves otherwise. It’s named after a 20-year-old man who was stabbed to death in Darwin last year.

Declan’s Law requires a repeat offender to wear an electronic monitoring device (e.g. an ankle bracelet) if they are on bail.

Shadow Attorney-General Chanston Paech said the new laws failed to address the “root causes” of crime.

“Simply locking up more people is not the answer... we need to invest in policies, programs and initiatives to lift our people out of poverty and disadvantage; to allow them to live their lives with dignity and purpose.”

Several independent MPs joined a protest against the new laws outside Parliament.

The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) said legal experts and advocates have found that lowering the age of criminal responsibility has a disproportionate impact on First Nations children.

SNAICC stated that it perpetuates “a cycle of punishment rather than support.”

In an article for Crikey, the CEO of imprisoned women’s advocacy group Sisters Inside Debbie Kilroy said the laws were “recycled tactics; designed to win votes but destined to fail our children”.

Reporting by Chloe Christie.

An independent review of one of Australia’s largest media companies, Nine Entertainment, has found widespread bullying, intimidation, and harassment.

More than half of respondents to the review said they had witnessed an “abuse of power”.

The review follows sexual harassment allegations against Nine’s ex-head of news, Darren Wick.

Nine has committed to adopting all 22 recommendations to overhaul its complaints processes and improve its culture.

Nine Entertainment Corporation is a media conglomerate that oversees several news and entertainment brands.

It has around 5,000 employees across Channel Nine, newspapers The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald, property advertiser Domain, and youth publisher, Pedestrian.tv.

Nine also owns streaming platform Stan and radio stations in most capital cities.

In March, the head of Nine’s News and Current Affairs department Darren Wick stepped down.

In May, Sky News and the Sydney Morning Herald published anonymous allegations from Nine employees of bullying and sexual harassment by Wick.

Senior Nine leaders emailed staff acknowledging the “serious” claims of “inappropriate behaviour” that had taken place.

Nine hired consulting firm Intersection to launch a review of the company.

Nearly 1,000 employees were surveyed and around 120 were interviewed. Intersection handed down its final report this week.

It found 49% of workers had experienced bullying, discrimination, or harassment.

Rates were highest in Nine’s broadcast division (57%) and Stan (55%).

Nearly two-thirds of people who work in Nine’s broadcasting division said they had witnessed or experienced an abuse of power and authority.

The report details claims of sexual harassment, bullying, and a “toxic” workplace culture across Nine.

Witnesses told Intersection about groping, kissing, and stalking within the broadcast division.

The report identified multiple factors creating the environment. It said the workplace was “appearance-based” for women, where some were promoted for “appearance not skills”.

It found a lack of diversity also contributed to poor workplace culture.

“It would not be uncommon to be asked or to hear: “Who did you f**k last night?” or “Someone is going to get their d**k sucked”.

“Bullies thrive and are rewarded.”

“I have seen a [woman] bully/harass a colleague to the point where they resign and then the same female bully then bullies the replacement. And then it happens again.”

“There is sexual intimidation against young women and I find this completely unacceptable.”

The report concluded there are “concerning levels of inappropriate workplace behaviours” at Nine.

It said employees were being let down by existing “checks and balances” to stop poor behaviour, which it said “are not working well.”

It made 22 recommendations to change the organisation’s culture. This includes investing in a centralised human resources system, appointing an independent complaints investigator, developing a diversity and inclusion strategy, and better training for managers.

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Pilot Matt Prebish volunteered to fly dozens of dogs and cats to safety from shelters in Florida and Tennessee, all of whom are now up for adoption.

Prebish said one of the cats he rescued “caught [his] attention” once he safely landed — a kitten he named Avery. The pilot has now adopted Avery and taken him to his home in Texas, where the four-month-old will join another cat and two dogs.

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

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

When someone needs to submit a mail-in ballot for an election, they might be far from home, but they’re usually still on planet Earth.

That’s not the case for NASA astronauts Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams, who are stuck in space until 2025, after their craft malfunctioned.

Just like any other American voting while away from home, astronauts need to request an absentee ballot. The only difference is that it’s a digital form that travels millions of kilometres back to earth.

Both astronauts have requested ballots and will need to return their forms before election day on 5 November.

Want to know more about why Barry and Sunita are ‘stuck’ in space? We did a whole podcast episode explaining what’s happened here!

Reporting by Achol Arok.

On Friday, King Charles and Queen Camilla touched down in Sydney for a five-day visit. It's their first official visit to Australia since Charles became King in 2022, and his first overseas trip since being diagnosed with Cancer.

As they continue their formal engagements with government and community representatives over the coming days, the question of Australia’s place in the monarchy has resurfaced amongst commentators and spectators.