☕️ The Aussie in the Super Bowl

You’ve likely heard the Super Bowl is today. At 10:30am (AEDT), the Philadelphia Eagles will be seeking to stop the Kansas City Chiefs from winning a third straight Super Bowl.

But did you know there’s an Aussie playing? Jordan Mailata of the Philadelphia Eagles is seeking to become the first Australian to play in the Super Bowl and win.

The game will be broadcast by the Seven Network.

“It started smelling like wet laundry, dirty socks, dead rat, then we moved up to dead possum, dead cow, dead sheep, port-a-loo, bin hopper, things like that.”
Australian National Botanic Gardens’ acting nursery manager Carol Dale speaking to the ABC on the garden’s corpse flower blooming over the weekend. Corpse flowers are known for their putrid smell. It comes just a few weeks after a similar corpse flower unfurled in Sydney, attracting worldwide attention.

$842.6 million
The amount of funding the Federal Government has agreed to supply over six years for the continued delivery of services in remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

1852
The Supreme Court of Victoria sat for the first time in Melbourne.

The first month of the year was the world’s hottest January on record.

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said January was 1.75°C hotter than the average pre-industrial temperature for the month.

Under the Paris Agreement, countries have committed to keep temperatures from warming more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Here’s what you need to know.

C3S found January 2025 temperatures were 0.79°C above the monthly average from 1991 to 2020, and 1.75°C above the pre-industrial era.

Temperatures were significantly above average across most of the world.

C3S said average sea surface temperatures remained “unusually high,” but were 0.19°C below last year’s record.

C3S lead strategist Samantha Burgess said January was “another surprising month”.

“Warmer temperatures were recorded “despite the development of La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific and their temporary cooling effect on global temperatures,” Burgess said.

In 2015, nearly 200 UN member states signed the Paris Agreement — a legally binding international treaty on climate change.

Leaders agreed to work towards limiting global average temperature increases to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

According to C3S, 18 of the last 19 months have exceeded this limit, including January 2025.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

The Federal Government wants to create a mandatory code of conduct for universities’ responses to gender-based violence.

Under a new bill introduced to Parliament yesterday, universities could be fined for failing to comply with the proposed code.

A 2021 report found half of Australian uni students knew “nothing or very little” about how to report harassment or assault to their institution.

The 2021 National Student Safety Survey found 5% of the then-43,000 uni students had been sexually assaulted since enrolment.

The majority of incidents occurred on campus or in university-related spaces.

Almost half of the students who reported their assault felt dissatisfied with the process.

Last year, the Government established the National Student Ombudsman, which can investigate complaints from students about violence on campus and universities’ decisions.

On Thursday, the Government published its proposed National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence.

If passed, “all higher education providers” would have to follow the code, which would require them to make their gender-based violence prevention plans public.

Universities would also be required to ask prospective employees if “they have been investigated for an allegation of Gender-based Violence”. This would also apply to current employees up for a promotion.

The code will also ban the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in handling reports of gender-based violence on campus.

If unis and other education providers are found to have broken the code, they would face financial penalties.

Education Minister Jason Clare said the Government needed to “take steps to stop sexual violence from happening in the first place… and when the worst does happen, staff and students should get the response and support they deserve, every time.”

The peak body for the higher-education sector, Universities Australia, welcomed the decision.

A spokesperson for the body said: “Gender-based violence is completely unacceptable and universities, like every part of Australian society, have a role to play in addressing this problem.”

The Coalition said it will examine the bill to ensure it achieves better outcomes for students before supporting it.

Shadow Education Minister Sarah Henderson said the bill should aim to address the “unacceptable” rates of incidents that are “swept under the carpet”.

“Whether they are on campus, online or in student accommodation, keeping students safe including from sexual assault and harassment is a critical responsibility of universities,” Henderson said.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Want a brighter smile? We’ve got the perfect solution ✨

Say hello to a dazzling, dentist-developed smile with Smilie - Australia’s #1 at-home teeth whitening solution. Trusted by award-winning dentists and loved by thousands, Smilie’s cutting-edge formula delivers faster, more effective results while being gentle on enamel (even for sensitive teeth!).

For a limited time, shop the Smilie Summer Bundle and get:

✨ Boost Teeth Whitening Kit

✨ 6 Pen Gel Refill Pack (12-month supply)

✨ On-the-go Whitening Pen

Plus, get up to 50% off sitewide with their Summer Sale. Now that’s something to smile about! 

Researchers from a group of hospitals and universities in Mexico recruited 36 pregnant women for the study. The expectant mothers wore external heart monitors so researchers could listen to their babies’ heartbeats while classical music was played to them. Using “mathematical analysis tools,” heart rate changes were detected when the music was played, and afterwards.

The findings show exposure to music can result in “more stable and predictable fetal heart rate patterns”. The results also suggest classical music helps promote fetal development.

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

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

An Australian politician has formally changed his name to “Aussie Trump”.

Previously known as Ben Dawkins, he is an independent politician in Western Australia.

In a post to X, the Australian politician shared a photo of documentation from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages confirming the legal name change.

His details have also been updated on the WA Parliament’s website.

Aussie Trump told WA Today: “Look, it’s a political protest in response to all the absurd leftist nonsense that Labor has pushed through since I have been in the parliament in the last two years.”

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Matildas captain Sam Kerr has faced a London court this week over allegations she racially abused a police officer by calling him "stupid" and "white".

The verbal altercation took place in January 2023 after a cab driver re-routed Kerr and her partner Kristie Mewis to a police station over a separate incident.

Kerr, who also plays as a forward for Chelsea in the UK Women's Super League, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of racially aggravated harassment. Today, we’ll take you through the latest developments from the courtroom.