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Good morning!
It’s the start of a new month, but the end of TDA’s run on the election campaign trails.
In case you missed it, this week TDA’s political journalist Harry Sekulich and Video Editor Orla Maher have been travelling around the country following the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader as they visit marginal seats, eat sausage sizzles and hold crying babies in the lead-up to the election this Saturday.
Fun fact: for the travelling press pack, they are never told where they are going. Even when they board a plane (which they often do multiple times in one day on the campaign trails) they won’t know their destination until they get to said destination.
I imagine it is not a fun exercise for the type A people among us!
I’ve got 10 seconds
Quote of the day
“Treats [are at the] top of the list of things people are cutting back on.”
Coles CEO Leah Weckert on the company’s results in the last three months. Weckert also noted Australians are buying less meat and alcohol.
Stat of the day
15
The number of petrol stations Peter Dutton has visited so far on the campaign trail, as highlighted by The Guardian. The recurring visits are the backdrop to the Coalition’s policy to reduce petrol prices by 25c per litre.
TDA reader comment of the week
“Ok can we talk about how the acoustics in this building would absolutely not make this a private discussion.” A comment on our post showing U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sitting face to face, engaged in conversation, in St Peter’s Basilica prior to Pope Francis’ funeral.
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The mushroom murder trial of Erin Patterson is underway in a Victorian court, with the prosecution and defence making their opening statements on Wednesday. Lead prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers SC told the jury Patterson is alleged to have served her four guests - three of whom died - individual beef Wellingtons on grey plates, while serving herself one on a smaller, orange plate. Dr Rogers said the guests, all of whom were Patterson’s estranged husband’s family members, became severely ill within 12 hours of the meal and were later diagnosed with death cap mushroom poisoning. The prosecution also gave evidence that Patterson attended a local hospital the next day, but discharged herself despite doctor’s orders. Defence lawyer Colin Mandy SC argued Patterson did not know the mushrooms were poisonous, and did not intend to kill her guests, but admitted she did forage them. Mandy also said she had admitted to throwing away a dehydrator used for the mushrooms. The 50-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.
U.S. President Donald Trump has commemorated 100 days in office with a rally in Michigan. The state has been led by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer since 2019, but a majority of voters there supported Trump, (a Republican) at the 2024 election. Trump met with Whitmer ahead of his rally to announce more fighter jets for the state’s military base. The President complimented Whitmer for “doing a very good job,” which he said he’s “not supposed to do”. At the rally, Trump touted his actions on immigration in the first 100 days of his second term, including numerous deportations of people who had migrated to the U.S. to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. Trump showed attendees a minutes-long video of conditions inside the prison, to cheers from the crowd. The President also praised his own record on economic issues, saying he had “ended inflation,” but in a TV interview shown after the rally, said Americans had to be prepared for a “transition period” as his tariffs come into effect.
Recommendation of the day
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I’ve got 1 minute
Underlying inflation has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years. It is now within the RBA’s target range for the first time since 2021.
The annual rate of inflation has stayed steady at 2.4% in the year to March, according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The annual trimmed mean (also known as underlying inflation) was 2.9%, down from 3.3% in December.
This is the lowest trimmed mean recorded since December 2021.
Trimmed mean
The trimmed mean is a measure of inflation that excludes volatile prices, such as petrol, to better understand longer-term changes in prices.
It is what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) partly uses to inform its decision about the cash rate (which sets interest rates across the economy). If the trimmed mean gets too high, the RBA tends to increase the cash rate to try bring it back down.
This is what has been happening in recent years, although the rate of inflation has been on a downward trajectory for more than a year now.
The latest data shows the trimmed mean is 2.9%.
This means for the first time in more than three years, the trimmed mean is within the RBA’s target range of 2-3%.
The RBA will next meet to discuss the cash rate on 20 May.
I’ve got 2 minutes
The plagiarism allegations over caramel slice, explained
One of Australia’s most popular cookbook authors has accused another Australian author of “profiting from plagiarised recipes”.
In a post to her website RecipeTin Eats, author Nagi Maehashi alleged Brooke Bellamy’s latest book includes several stolen recipes.
Maehashi alleged two of these recipes were directly taken from RecipeTin Eats.
Bellamy has denied the allegations.
Bloggers
Nagi Maehashi is a Sydney-based recipe developer, who runs the cooking website RecipeTin Eats.
She is the author of two cookbooks and runs the not-for-profit food bank RecipeTin Meals.
Brooke Bellamy is a social media cooking influencer who runs a franchise of bakeries in Queensland called Brooki Bakehouse.
In October 2024, she published a book called ‘Bake with Brooki’ with Penguin Random House.
Stolen recipes
Maehashi said in November 2024, a reader pointed out “remarkable similarities” between a recipe for caramel slice on her site and a recipe in Bellamy’s cookbook.
She described the recipe as “special” because its caramel layer is made using brown sugar, rather than golden syrup.
While Maehashi acknowledged that “there are only so many ways some recipes can be made,” she described the similarities as “far too strong to be a coincidence.”
Maehashi also claimed a recipe for baklava published on her site in 2018 was plagiarised for Bellamy’s book.
While the original post had initially been sourced from and credited to another cooking website, Maehashi said it was fully rewritten and updated after “extensive testing.”
In a side-by-side comparison of her version and Bellamy’s, she said the “similarities speak for themselves.”
In her blog post, Maehashi called the alleged plagiarism “exploitation”, and found it “ethically indefensible” because her site funds her food bank.
Legal battle
In December 2024, Maehashi raised her concerns in letters to both the book’s publisher and Bellamy. She claimed her two letters to Bellamy were ignored.
In a months-long exchange with Penguin’s lawyers, she requested that either the book be pulled from shelves, that she be credited for the recipes she alleges were plagiarised, or that they be removed entirely from future reprints.
Maehashi also asked for a “substantial donation to a charity in lieu of financial compensation.”
Bellamy
In a statement posted to social media, Bellamy rejected allegations that any of the 100 recipes in her cookbook were plagiarised.
She said each recipe was “created over many years,” including the caramel slice, which she claimed she had been making and selling long before it appeared on Maehashi’s website in 2020.
Bellamy also disputed claims that she ignored Maehashi’s letters, saying she “immediately offered to remove” the recipes in question “from future reprints”.
Legality
According to the Australian Copyright Council (ACC), a recipe can only be protected under copyright law if:
It is an “original” work that results from the creator’s own “skill or labour”.
The recipe is documented, whether in written, video or audio form.
However, copyright protection does not cover ideas, lists of ingredients or quantities, or common techniques.
In Australia, a copyrighted recipe is protected for 70 years after the author’s death.
Reporting by Achol Arok.
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Give me some good news
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT has celebrated International Guide Dog day with the launch of a new initiative aimed at making hospitality venues more accessible.
The organisation said over half a million Australians living with low vision and blindness “are regularly being denied entry to public venues because of their Guide Dog,” with cafes and restaurants, “the most common venues” where refusals take place. The City of Sydney has announced $30,000 in funding for the initiative, to go towards educating local hospitality staff, “on how to support customers with low vision and blindness.” Guide Dogs NSW/ACT spokesperson Sarah Watts said, “This International Guide Dog Day… we want hospitality venues and public spaces [to] welcome people with low vision or blindness, ensuring that accessibility and inclusion are part of every customer's experience.”
Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!
Reporting by Emma Gillespie.
TDA tidbit
In news no one was expecting, Joe Exotic, aka the ‘Tiger King’, has endorsed Anthony Albanese for Prime Minister.
As the federal election campaigning comes to an end this week, Joe took to Instagram with a series of AI-generated images to push for Australians to vote for Albanese.
In his first post, Exotic said: “Keep Australia safe and awesome. All of my friends in Australia vote for [Albanese]”.
The move drew criticism from the Opposition, who questioned whether Joe was paid for the endorsement. Labor denied those allegations, as did Exotic.
Exotic went on to explain his reasoning as “just hoping he will return a favour and call Trump for me.”
Exotic rose to fame after the 2020 release of the Netflix documentary Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, which focused on his rivalry with Carole Baskin, who runs a tiger sanctuary. He was later convicted and jailed for 21 years for animal abuse and attempting to hire someone to murder Baskin.
Reporting by Rosa Bowden.
Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!
In a matter of days, we’ll know which party has formed government and who the next leader of Australia will be. On today’s episode, we are going to give you the lowdown on the two people vying for the top role: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton.
From their time before parliament to what they’ve pushed for inside of Canberra, we’ll explain everything you need to know before the weekend.
TDA asks
