☕️ Former SA Liberal leader charged with drug offences

On today’s podcast, we chat to former Australian of the Year (and all-around legend) Dylan Alcott about why he’s created the country’s first all-accessible music festival - Ability Fest. You can listen to that chat here.

“Individual freedom is a fundamental principle that I safeguard. Without a doubt, there is no room for compromise when it comes to this essential right that all women possess from birth: individual freedom. What does my body, my choice really mean?”
Former first lady Melania Trump, in a video posted on X defending abortion rights.

46%
The portion of Australians who feel financial stress at least once a week, according to the 2024 edition of Compare the Market's annual Household Budget Barometer. 22% reported feeling stressed about money daily.

1945
The first patent for a microwave was filed. The first microwave weighed over 300kg.

Former South Australian Liberal Leader David Speirs has been arrested and charged with drug offences. After Speirs announced the news in a post to social media, SA Police confirmed the charges in a statement.

Speirs was elected as Leader of the Opposition in SA after the 2022 election. At the time, he said his leadership would “provide a fresh approach to what leadership looks like – not just in our party, but in our state".

On 8 August this year, Speirs resigned from the leadership, saying he had “had a gutful” amid ongoing factional issues in the party.

Almost a month later, a video was published online by The Advertiser that appeared to show Speirs allegedly taking drugs in his home.

At the time, Speirs claimed the video was not him, but instead ‘deepfake’ technology. In a statement days later, the former leader said the last few days had been “exceptionally distressing”.

Over the weekend, Speirs posted a video on social media in which he claimed he had been arrested and charged with drug offences.

In a separate statement, SA Police confirmed Speirs had been arrested and charged with “two counts of supplying a controlled substance between August 2 and 3 and on August 9”.

Speirs has denied the allegations and said he “believes there’s someone pretty sinister behind this”.

He confirmed in the same video that he will step down from Parliament.

Florida is bracing for its second hurricane in a month, with Hurricane Milton rapidly intensifying and expected to make landfall early this week.

It comes as the state is still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which hit last month.

According to authorities, Hurricane Milton is expected to become a ‘major hurricane’ when it reaches Florida this week.

There is an “increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds” but authorities have not confirmed the exact magnitude.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday: “I don’t think there’s any scenario where we don’t have major impacts at this point.”

DeSantis has now ordered a state of emergency in the majority of Florida’s counties.

The latest hurricane comes weeks after Hurricane Helene made landfall last month, killing at least 225 people across several states.

This death toll made it the making it the deadliest storm to hit mainland U.S. since Hurricane Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people in 2005.

There are still an estimated 4,000 National Guard troops working with state crews in Florida to clean up debris left from Helene.

The emergency response of federal agencies, particularly the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has become a topic of contention in the U.S. Presidential race.

In response to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying the agency didn’t have enough funding to last the rest of the unprecedented hurricane season, Republican candidate Donald Trump said over the weekend that the shortfall in funding was because of increased funding on migrant housing programs. The claim was amplified on X by Elon Musk last Friday.

White House officials responded to Trump’s claim, stating that FEMA funding was segmented into separate categories with no shared funds. The White House 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”.

In a letter to Congress, President Biden did say that FEMA’s funding “does face a shortfall at the end of the year”, and requested additional emergency funding specifically targeted at small business support handouts.

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Researchers from the University of Queensland have discovered a molecule in the lethal venom of a funnel-web spider that could be used to minimise injury to a heart during a heart attack.

Further research into the molecule’s use will now begin, with the goal of bringing a product to market within a decade.

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“How’s your night been?”

We’re all guilty of a bit of small talk when we get into an Uber. But what if you didn’t get an answer back… because there was no human driving the car?

Autonomous vehicles are rapidly being adopted by rideshare companies overseas - Waymo (operated by Alphabet, which owns Google) and Cruise (owned by General Motors) are two common driverless taxi (‘robotaxis’) companies.

But a recent self-driving Uber crash in Las Vegas has raised concerns about a growing fleet of unregulated robotaxis.

There have been some examples of self-driving Tesla owners who have started using their cars as Ubers. Unlike Waymo vehicles, “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) Teslas aren’t quite as ‘self-driving’ as they sound. Whenever a Tesla is in FSD mode, a human must be behind the wheel. The car still drives itself, but safety responsibilities fall on the person, not the software. Drivers have to be ready to intervene if something goes wrong.

FSD cars are legal in some cities. Ridesharing apps are legal in some cities. But bringing these two technologies together gives us a very grey area of law.

According to Reuters, a self-driving Tesla crashed at an intersection in Vegas in April with an Uber passenger on board. Neither the ‘driver’ nor Uber customer was seriously injured. Uber told Reuters, “Drivers are expected to maintain an environment that makes riders feel safe”.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is expected to make an announcement on Tesla’s plans to enter the robotaxi market later this month. Well, there goes the small talk.

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

Ability Fest is a not-for-profit music festival designed for everyone to experience the magic of live music.

At the helm is former Australian of the Year Dylan Alcott - a big music fan, and an even bigger fan of challenging the status quo. On today's podcast, Dylan talks to TDA about his own experiences at music festivals, why Ability Fest is different, and whether its existence is actually desired.