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Good morning!
In case you missed it, yesterday marked 8 years since we sat down at a cafe and came up with a news company called The Daily Aus.
From writing stories for TDA’s Instagram under the desk at our old jobs, to being able to build this with the people below (celebrating at lunch this week!) - it’s certainly been a journey.
Our birthday wish is to grow the number of young people in that photo. If you can help us, we’d love you to consider contributing to our mission through TDA+U, our voluntary contribution program.
Now, back to the news!
I’ve got 10 seconds
Quote of the day
“On Tuesday a political advertisement for the Trumpet of Patriots party appeared on page one of the Newcastle Herald. The advertisement offended many of our readers and did not meet our values as a company. It should not have appeared.”
The Newcastle Herald in a social media post, apologising after backlash to an ad they ran for the Trump of Patriot’s party that stated “There are only two genders – male and female…. we must stop confusing children in schools and give them a ‘normal, safe’ environment to grow up in.”
Stat of the day
$156.7 million
The amount of funding the Federal Government has allocated to fight the “tobacco black market”.
TDA reader’s comment of the week
“The least he could do for International Women’s Day.”
A comment left on our post about Cyclone Alfred being downgraded from a cyclone to a tropical low on Saturday, which indeed was International Women’s Day.
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The Victorian Government will introduce what it’s called the “toughest bail laws in Australia”. Its plan includes a new bail test, aimed at making it harder for high-risk and repeat offenders to be granted bail. The State Government has promised new consequences for people who commit further offences while on bail, or who do not meet their bail conditions (for example, breaching their curfew). The reforms will also include a ban on machetes, to reduce knife crime. The Victorian Government said reoffending remains a serious problem amongst young men and teens, with 64% of burglaries perpetrated by under 20-year-olds. It said these laws “squarely target the risks of these younger serious offenders”. Legislation is expected to be introduced on Tuesday.
Voters in Portugal are facing their third election in just over three years, after the collapse of the country’s centre-right Government. It comes after a no confidence motion in the Portuguese Parliament, where all opposition parties voted against the Government. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s conservative coalition formed a minority government after an election in March 2024. Montenegro has been at the centre of recent controversy surrounding his business dealings. The vote of no confidence will trigger another election, which is likely to be held in May.
Recommendation of the day
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I’ve got 1 minute
The Vic Govt will lease two public housing developments to not-for-profit organisations
The Victorian Government has announced plans to redevelop hundreds of homes in two of the state’s public housing developments into community housing.
Under the plan, the buildings will be leased from the Government to community housing organisations.
The Victorian Greens have criticised the move, accusing the government of privatising the state’s public housing.
Housing
There are three kinds of housing relevant to this story:
Public housing is managed by state/ territory governments. It’s designed to give families and individuals on low incomes, or in emergency circumstances, low-cost rentals.
Community housing performs the same service, but is managed by private not-for-profits. Like public housing, rent is capped at around 25 to 30% of the total household income.
Affordable housing in Victoria is managed by private companies who set rent 10% lower than the typical market cost.
Demolitions
Melbourne’s inner city has 44 public housing high-rise apartment buildings, constructed in the 1960s and 70s to accommodate low-income families during a period of major population growth.
In September 2023, the Victorian Government announced plans to demolish all 44 buildings and redevelop the sites to meet “modern” building standards.
Under new plans announced on Tuesday, developments in Flemington and North Melbourne will be leased to community housing organisations for forty years.
These organisations are required to “finance, design, build, manage and maintain” 1,500 units where the towers were by the end of the decade.
These units will include a mix of community housing, affordable housing, and regular apartments.
Criticism
The Victorian Greens said the plan to privatise the public housing towers will “tear communities apart and destroy the fabric of public housing in Victoria.”
Greens MP Samantha Ratnam said the announcement confirms what the party has “suspected for months”.
“The Labor State Government is outsourcing its responsibility to provide affordable housing at these sites and across the state to community housing providers and private profit-making developers,” Ratnam said.
Reporting by Achol Arok.
I’ve got 2 minutes
Australia won’t be exempt from U.S. tariffs on aluminium and steel
Australia has been hit with 25% tariffs on aluminium and steel exports to the U.S. after failing to secure a last-minute deal to receive an exemption.
A blanket tariff on the metal imports came into effect at 3pm AEDT on Wednesday.
In a briefing to the ABC, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt ruled out exemptions for all countries, including Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the measure is “disappointing” and “unjustified”.
Tariffs: explained
A ‘tariff’ is a tax on imports. It’s applied to foreign-made goods brought into another country, and paid by the importer.
For example: Country A and Country B make the same product. Country A wants its citizens to buy its own version of the product, not Country B’s, so it applies a tariff.
Importers in Country A now pay the tax when they bring in B’s product, and pass on the cost to consumers, making this version of the product more expensive to buy.
Australia
In 2024, the U.S. imported around $US270 million of Australian aluminium, and about $US400 million of Australian steel.
Last month, Trump announced plans to impose 25% tariffs on imports of aluminium and steel.
He made a similar order in his first presidency in 2017. At the time, Australia secured an exemption after months of high-level negotiations.
This time, Albanese said an exemption for Australia was “under consideration”.
Update
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed to the ABC on Wednesday that Australia would not receive an exemption, hours before the tariffs were due to take effect.
“[Trump] considered it, and considered against it. There will be no exemptions,” Leavitt told the ABC.
Albanese said the measure was “disappointing”, but ruled out imposing reciprocal tariffs on the U.S.
“Our government will continue to put forward a very strong case for an exemption.”
Reaction
In response to the tariffs, Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Sky News the Government “just hasn’t done enough” to strike a deal.
Ley criticised Albanese for not having a face-to-face meeting with Trump about the tariffs.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black urged a “cool-headed response” .
“It took eight months for the Australian Government to secure tariff exemptions under the last Trump administration,” Black said.
Reporting by Harry Sekulich.
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🍊 Piastri extends his contract with McLaren. Read here.
🍊 NFL star denies claims of Diddy connection. Details.
🍊 Manchester United wants to build a $4 billion stadium.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: AFL, basketball, and more…
Give me some good news
Researchers have found a boulder at a regional school in central Queensland with one of the highest concentrations of dinosaur footprints ever documented in Australia.
The rock has 66 fossilised footprints, believed to be from 200 million years ago. Dr Anthony Romilio from the University of Queensland’s Dinosaur Lab said: “It’s an unprecedented snapshot of dinosaur abundance, movement and behaviour from a time when no fossilised dinosaur bones have been found in Australia… It’s incredible to think that a piece of history this rich was resting in a schoolyard all this time.”
Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!
TDA tidbit
An Indonesian TikToker is going to jail for suggesting Jesus get a haircut.
Ratu Thalisa, a transgender woman, made the comments to her 450,000 followers after a viewer commented that she should cut her hair to look more like a man.
Thalisa was found guilty of spreading hate speech against Christianity, and sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail.
She was arrested last year after multiple Christian groups complained to Indonesian police alleging blasphemy.
Human rights group Amnesty International said the decision “is a shocking attack on Ratu Thalisa’s freedom of expression,” and noted 560 people had been charged for similar offences between 2019 and 2024.
Reporting by Rosa Bowden.
Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!
This week, the White House confirmed Australia would not be exempt from President Donald Trump's tariffs on U.S. imports. It comes after months of uncertainty and efforts by the Albanese Government to negotiate an exemption for Australian steel and aluminium. However, the 25% import tax officially came into effect yesterday afternoon. The Federal Government has vowed to continue pushing for an exemption. The tariffs followed a tumultuous start to the week for the U.S. economy and global markets after Trump refused to rule out the possibility of a U.S. recession. Today, we’ll explain what you need to know about the latest from the U.S. and what it all means for Australia's economy.
TDA asks
