☕️ Labor wins third consecutive term in WA

With so much happening in the world right now, I thought it was the perfect time to remind you that TDA has a newsletter dedicated to all the good news that happens every week that you don’t always hear about.

It goes out every Sunday, and we consistently get told it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done!

If you’re in need of some more brightness in your weeks, you can sign up here.

“Hey, Cheryl Hines… We’ve never met, but I’ve got a favour to ask. I need you to call up the family of the child who died of measles, and say sorry. Can you do that for me, babe? Almost every single case of measles is in someone who’s not vaccinated. I think you’re the perfect person to say sorry.”
Jack Schlossberg in a video addressed to his second cousin Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s wife, regarding the recent death of an unvaccinated child in Texas due to a measles outbreak. Kennedy, who recently became the U.S. Secretary of Health, was previously the chair of an anti-vaccine organisation.

450,000
The number of homes and businesses in QLD that lost power this weekend, following the arrival of ex-cyclone Alfred. According to QLD Premier David Crisafulli, that number is now down to 300,000 following emergency efforts.

1959
The Australian population officially reached 10 million.

Labor has won its third consecutive election in Western Australia.

Premier Roger Cook said: “While we celebrate tonight, we are humble. We do not take that trust for granted.”

Liberal Shadow Energy spokesperson Steve Thomas said his party has “a lot of soul searching” to do.

1.8 million voters were eligible to cast their ballots at the state election over the weekend.

In 2021, Labor won a historically large number of lower house seats (53 out of 59) at and also gained control of the upper house. It’s rare for an Australian state government to win control of both houses at an election.

The landslide victory was attributed to former Premier Mark McGowan’s popularity over his handling of the state’s borders in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the time of publishing, Labor has won 41 seats, the Liberals 5 seats and the Nationals 4 seats. This marks the first time a party in WA has won three consecutive elections since the 1980s.

According to the ABC, Labor is ahead in half of the seats that are yet to be called.

Polls had predicted the Liberal Party would win up to 11 seats. On this, Thomas said: “I think massive change is required within the Liberal Party just to be able to progress and be competitive going forward.”

Australia has a “progressive tax system” — the higher your income, the more tax you pay.

Here’s an example: Stephanie earns $100,000 per year.

The first $18,200 of her salary is tax-free.

The dollars between $18,201 and $45,000 are taxed 16c each, totalling $4,288.

The dollars between $45,001 and $100,000 are taxed 30c each, totalling $16,500.

Stephanie would pay a total of $20,788 in income tax.

Australia’s income tax brackets are fixed.

Australia, like many economies around the world, has seen high inflation in recent years.

Wages have risen broadly in line with inflation. Increasing wages according to the rate of inflation is meant to cancel out the impact of rising prices.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows wages rose 3.2% in the year to December. In that same period, inflation was 2.4%.

Other countries, such as Canada, change their tax brackets every year to adjust for inflation, under a process called indexation.

Canada’s federal tax rate in 2024 was 15 cents for every dollar earned up to $55,867.

In 2025, it changed to 15 cents for every dollar earned up to $57,375.

European countries like Belgium, Norway, and France adjust their tax brackets yearly, while Germany changes them every two years.

At the last election, a group of ‘teal’ independents were elected to the House of Representatives.

They ran in traditional Liberal seats on a platform of stronger climate action, improving gender equality, and integrity reforms in federal politics.

Most polls suggest the upcoming federal election is likely to result in a minority government, where neither of the major parties can govern in their own right.

In the event of a minority government, both sides will need to negotiate with independents and minor parties.

Eight independent MPs, including all teals, wrote a letter to Treasurer Jim Chalmers last week urging him to introduce indexed tax brackets.

The letter describes bracket creep as a “stealth tax on individuals’ incomes,” which independent MP Allegra Spender said particularly hurts ”young, working people”.

Another independent, Dr Sophie Scamps, added: “For too long we’ve been overly reliant on personal income tax in Australia.” About 50% of tax collected in 2021/22 was derived from income tax, according to official government figures.

In a statement to TDA, Allegra Spender said the group of independents are “open” to how income brackets are indexed.

Options include inflation or the wage price index, which is the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ measurement of wage growth.

Spender also suggested an ongoing rate of 2.5%, based on the mid-point of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s target range for inflation (2-3%). She suggested this would limit the possible impacts of inflation and wage fluctuations.

Indexing income tax brackets to a metric like annual inflation would ultimately mean the Government receives less tax revenue.

Last week, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the ABC: “It’s easy to make proposals about changes which would cost the budget substantially [but] I have to make it all add up.”

Last year, the Government changed some of its tax brackets. For instance, incomes between $45,001 and $120,000 used to be taxed at the same rate. That has lifted to $135,000.

Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor has previously referred to bracket creep as a “silent thief in the night”.

He has since dialled back expectations that the Coalition will change income tax brackets in the near-term.

In a statement to TDA, Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the Coalition is committed to “fighting bracket creep”, without specifying how.

TDA asked both Chalmers and Taylor detailed questions about their plans to change income tax brackets. Neither responded directly before publication.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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🍊 Female tennis pros are getting parental leave. Who’s paying for it?
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🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: NRL, AFL, and more…

Lee is regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. Now, readers will have the chance to see eight of her unpublished short stories, discovered in Lee’s New York apartment after she died in 2016, aged 89.

It’s understood the stories were written before she became a household name for To Kill a Mockingbird, which was published in 1960. The collection of unseen Harper Lee works will be published on 21 October.

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

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Lady Gaga and Beyoncé’s long awaited sequel to ‘Telephone’ is apparently real.

Gaga confirmed at a fan press conference on Thursday (local time) that Telephone 2 is in the works. It comes as Gaga released her new album, ‘Mayhem’, last week.

Fans have speculated for years about the possibility of a sequel to the song, because its music video ends with the phrase “to be continued”. 

Now, we await the telephone r-ringin' with the news of its release. 

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

Every year since 2001, a study has looked at how Australian households are changing. It's called the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia, or HILDA, survey, and it captures trends across a broad cross-section of Australians’ finances, social life, mental health, household activities and family life.

Among its most recent findings is that men are doing the same amount of housework on average as they were 20 years ago. On today’s podcast, we dissect its findings, and discuss what has and hasn’t changed about Australia since the turn of the century.