☕️ Trump announces tariff plan

Here is today’s riddle: What is a word with five letters that becomes shorter when you add two letters to it?

Answer is in the tidbit!

“Would you be interviewing me or writing about me if I had simply posted ‘going on tour, the business is s**t, help me protect my employees and integrity of my show’… My arse is shining a light on the problem.”
UK singer Kate Nash in a post to Instagram after she started an OnlyFans to help cover touring expenses.

23,000
Approximately how many fines for breaches of COVID-19 restrictions in NSW will be withdrawn and repaid by the state’s Government. It’s the last tranche of COVID fines to be withdrawn, after a successful legal challenge in 2022.

1895
The Nobel Prizes were established when Alfred Nobel signed his will, donating a large portion of his wealth to prizes for physics, chemistry, physiology, medicine, literature, and peace.

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The Federal Government has abandoned its bill aimed at combatting online mis and disinformation.

This legislation was introduced earlier this year after a previous version of the bill was delayed over concerns about freedom of speech suppression — including from the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).

This week, Communications Minister Michelle Rowland issued a statement confirming the Government would not move forward with the bill.

It comes during Parliament’s last sitting week for the year. Here’s what you need to know.

The main difference between ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’ is intent: misinformation can include unintentional spreading of false information, whereas disinformation usually refers to deliberate campaigns to do so (such as bots or spam).

Labor introduced its misinformation and disinformation bill to the Federal Parliament earlier this year.

The legislation was aimed at tackling the spread of false or inaccurate information on social media platforms.

The bill defined misinformation or disinformation as content that is verifiably false, misleading, deceptive, or can contribute to “serious harm”.

Its definition of serious harm included: harm to the operation of government or public health, the vilification of a group, and physical injury.

The proposal included fines for digital platforms of up to 5% of annual global revenue for breaches.

Compliance would be monitored by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

The Government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate. It needs the support of the Opposition, or the Greens and some independents to pass laws.

Its revised misinformation bill failed to win support from the Coalition, while the Greens called for it to be “withdrawn”.

Communications Minister Michelle Rowland announced the Government would “not proceed” with the bill on Sunday. “There is no pathway to legislate this proposal,” she said.

Shadow Communications Minister David Coleman said the Government’s decision to abandon the bill is “a win for the free speech for all Australians.”

Coleman said the bill “would have seen online platforms censor content “to avoid the threat of big fines.”

Reporting by Nandini Dhir.

The Federal Government’s co-home ownership scheme has passed Parliament after the Greens agreed to support the measure following a long stand-off.

The “Help to Buy” scheme will split ownership of a property between the Government and a first-home buyer.

It will allow prospective buyers to put down a smaller up-front deposit and make lower repayments than an ordinary home purchase.

Here’s how we got here.

Anyone who wants to buy a home in Australia needs to pay a “deposit” up-front — normally around 20% of the property’s value.

The rest of the purchase can be made with a bank loan that you pay off over time with interest, called a “mortgage”.

According to property data analyst CoreLogic, the national median house price has risen from $552,200 in 2019 to $809,849 in October 2024.

That’s an increase of almost 47% in five years.

Under the law, a person will pay a minimum 2% deposit to purchase a home. The Government will provide ‘equity’ worth up to 30% of the property’s value, or 40% for new builds.

Equity means the Government will be a part-owner of the property. It’ll also be entitled to up to 40% of a property’s value when it’s sold.

The Government argued the 2% deposit is a more realistic target for many Australians, while the equity would allow owners to apply for smaller mortgages.

The Government introduced its Help to Buy Scheme to Parliament in November 2023. It said 40,000 people would be able to access the scheme over four years.

To be eligible, a person must be a first-home buyer, and must not earn more than $90,000 per year, or $120,000 for couples. If a homeowner’s income increases above these caps, they could be made to repay the Government’s equity.

Area-dependent property price caps (e.g. $950k in Sydney, $400k in regional South Australia) will limit which homes can be purchased under the scheme.

Bills need to pass both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law. The Government doesn’t have a majority in the Senate.

The Coalition voted against the scheme, meaning the Government needed support from the Greens and a handful of crossbenchers to pass the bill.

The Greens voted against the proposal in the House of Reps, arguing the 40,000-buyer cap would create a “housing lottery” and pit prospective home owners against each other.

The Greens put forward a list of demands for the Government to adopt in exchange for its support to pass the Help to Buy scheme.

Initially, this included reforms to tax discounts for property investors known as “negative gearing” and setting up a public housing developer.

In recent weeks, the Greens reduced their requests to an “immediate construction” of 25,000 social and affordable homes and tweaks to the Help to Buy model to increase access to lower-income earners.

Yesterday, the Greens announced it would support the Government’s legislation without any changes, ending 12 months of deadlock.

Greens’ Housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather said the party agreed to pass the bill “after accepting Labor doesn’t care enough about renters to actually do anything meaningful for them.”

“We have pushed as hard as possible to get Labor to do more than tinkering around the edges of this devastating housing crisis,” Chandler-Mather said.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil said the Greens had folded after “a year of delay and blocking” the bill, which she called a “bold and ambitious” housing reform.

“I'm really pleased that the Greens have finally seen the light,” O’Neil said.

The bill has now passed the Senate, meaning the scheme can be set up once the Governor-General formally signs it into law.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

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He’s the youngest player to secure a spot in the league’s history, breaking the previous record by three years. Suryavanshi scored a century from just 58 balls in an under-19s international between India and Australia earlier this year.

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

Reporting by Achol Arok.

Canadian rapper Drake has begun legal proceedings against Universal Music Group and Spotify, alleging the companies pumped up the streaming numbers of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us’.

Lamar’s song topped the U.S. charts soon after its release in May, when it was the latest shot in a long-running fight between the two performers.

On 3 May, for example, Drake dropped the track ‘Family Matters’ where he accused Lamar of domestic violence.

About 20 minutes later, Lamar released ‘Meet the Grahams’, which alleges Drake is a “predator” and likened him to convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein.

Then, a day after that, Lamar released ‘Not Like Us’, where he calls Drake a “certified paedophile”.

According to Billboard, Drake alleges UMG and Spotify worked together to “artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’”.

UMG has denied the claims.

1800 RESPECT: 1800 737 732

Reporting by Lucy Tassell.

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Riddle answer: Short.

Streaming services are investing more and more in live sporting events and sports documentaries. It's changing how sports stories are told, and how audiences engage with global sporting moments. This week, Formula One confirmed a US car giant is joining the F1 grid in 2026. It comes off the back of the hit Netflix doco-series, Drive to Survive.

While the streaming giant has raised the profile of Formula One, it's also turned its attention to other sports. Earlier this month, millions of users tuned in to watch a high-profile boxing match, and there's more to come. In today's deep dive, we discuss how streaming platforms are transforming their sports strategies and findings new audiences.