If you were forwarded this email (Hi! Welcome!), you can sign up to the newsletter here.
Good morning!
Here is today’s trivia question: What is a group of flamingos called?
The answer is in the titbit!
I’ve got 10 seconds
The quote: “Our home Games in 2032 is an incredible opportunity to showcase the very best of who we are to the world, starting with our history dating back more than 65,000 years, and I look forward to playing my part over the coming six years.”
Olympic legend Cathy Freeman has accepted a key First Nations advisory role with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games Organising Committee. Freeman became the first Indigenous Australian to win individual Olympic gold at the Sydney 2000 Games.
The stat: $82,250,000. The amount radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson is claiming she is owed by her former employer ARN. Henderson has filed a lawsuit against the network after her contract with the company was terminated in February. Henderson has claimed the termination was a breach of the Fair Work Act.
The big question:
Have your long weekend plans changed because of fuel shortages and costs?
Yesterday’s results: 58% of you said you would still choose to live in Australia even if you could live anywhere in the world [3841 votes].
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has warned it could take up to two weeks for fuel-price relief measures to flow through to consumers. The fuel excise will be halved for three months from tomorrow, cutting the cost of petrol and diesel by 26.3 cents a litre. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the measure in response to soaring prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East. The cut is expected to save most motorists between $10-20 to fill up. However, Chalmers has urged Australians to “manage expectations,” telling reporters: “The fuel in [service station] tanks right now has been purchased at the higher rate, and so people should expect it would take somewhere between maybe one and two weeks for the full benefit of the excise to flow through”.
ABC management and staff have reached a tentative agreement following the national broadcaster’s first major strike in decades. The three-year deal includes a 4% pay rise for employees in the first year, followed by consecutive annual increases of 3.25%. Staff representatives previously rejected a 10% pay rise over three years. The latest offer would mean a 10.5% increase over the same period. It’s understood the key unions representing ABC workers – the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, and the Community and Public Sector Union – have endorsed the latest offer. It follows talks between employees, union representatives, and ABC management on Monday, mediated by the Fair Work Commission. Thousands of staff walked off the job for 24 hours last Wednesday, in what was the first major industrial action at the ABC in 20 years.
Together with AAP.
Recommendation of the day
It’s time to make your savings work harder
The CommBank NetBank Saver account is offering a 5.10% p.a. variable intro rate for the first 5 months – available to those aged between 18–35 years old opening their first NetBank Saver account. It’s an easy way to help give your savings a boost and make your money work harder for you.
This offer is available for a limited time.
Disclaimer: Offer ends 7 April 2026 at 11:59pm (Sydney/Melbourne time). Available for single accounts only; joint accounts are not eligible. Available to customers aged between 18-35 years old opening their first CommBank NetBank Saver account. Rates subject to change. NetBank Saver is issued by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945. Consider if this product is appropriate for you. TMD available on the CommBank website.
I’ve got 1 minute
Credit and debit card surcharges will be banned from October this year under new rules from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released on Tuesday.
This means that when you tap your phone or pay with a card, you’ll no longer be charged an extra fee.
The change is part of a broader shake-up of the payments system, which will also cut interchange fees (what businesses pay banks).
Surcharges
Surcharges are additional fees applied to a transaction. In Australia, businesses may charge 1-2% in extra fees depending on the card used.
This is because businesses are charged a fee for processing certain card payments, which they tend to pass on to customers.
RBA figures show consumers pay $1.2 billion a year in Australia on card surcharges. The RBA began looking into card surcharges in 2024 as a way to tackle the rising cost of living.
What’s next?
Most of the changes will kick in from 1 October 2026, including the ban on surcharges and cuts to interchange fees on domestic card payments.
More complex changes, like new caps on foreign card fees and additional transparency measures, will roll out later on 1 April 2027, giving the payments industry more time to adjust.
Reporting by Adella Beaini.
Quick hits
🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Emma and Billi explain why everything just got 20 cents cheaper.
💶 Sign up to TDA Finance here to get our weekly explainer on what’s happening in the economy, straight to your inbox every Wednesday morning.
I’ve got 2 minutes
The Israeli Parliament (the Knesset) has passed a new law making the death penalty the automatic sentence for Palestinians convicted of killing people in terror attacks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in favour of the bill, which says people found guilty of the crime in courts in the West Bank will be hanged within 90 days.
Australia is among a group of countries and human rights groups urging the Knesset to abandon the law.
Here’s what you need to know.
Background
Israel abolished the death penalty for standard crimes, such as murder, in 1954.
The Israeli Supreme Court sentenced Nazi official Adolf Eichmann to death in 1961 for genocide and crimes against humanity, for his role in carrying out the Holocaust. Eichmann was hanged in 1962.
The last time an Israeli court sentenced a person to death was a concentration camp guard in 1988. However, the Supreme Court overturned the ruling following new evidence.
New law
In November 2025, a group of Knesset members proposed a bill allowing the death penalty for people convicted over fatal terrorist attacks.
The group was led by members of Otzma Yehudit, a far-right party which is part of the coalition government.
Their bill specifies that in Israeli courts, the death penalty will be an option alongside life in prison. However, in courts in the West Bank, the death penalty will be the default sentence.
No Israelis are tried in these courts, meaning this only applies to Palestinians.
The bill covers attacks deemed to have intended to “negate the existence of the state of Israel”.
Those convicted in courts in the West Bank will be hanged within 90 days.
The bill passed with the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who leads Otzma Yehudit, opened a bottle of champagne in the Knesset.
“From now on every mother in [the West Bank] will know that if her child goes out to murder someone, he is doomed to the gallows,” Ben-Gvir said in a post to X.
Local opposition
The Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has filed a petition in the Israeli Supreme Court against the new law.
ACRI called it “incompatible with Israel’s values as a democracy.”
Israeli Democrat Party Member Rabbi Kariv Gilad said he “intend[s] to appeal to the Supreme Court... against this immoral law which contradicts the fundamental values of the State of Israel.”
“Every day that this bill is law in Israel is a stain on our image and values,” Kariv said.
International opposition
On Sunday, Australia issued a joint statement with France, Germany, Italy and the UK saying the bill “undermin[es] Israel’s commitments with regards to democratic principles.”
It called the death penalty an “inhumane and degrading form of punishment without any deterring effect.” No Australian jurisdiction has had the death penalty since 1985.
Amnesty International said the law is a “public display of cruelty, discrimination and utter contempt for human rights,” calling it “one of the world’s most extreme death penalty laws.”
Iran hangings
Separately, on 19 March, Iranian state news site Tasnim reported the regime had executed three young men allegedly involved in recent civilian protests against the regime.
Health officials estimated 30,000 people were killed in the demonstrations, both civilians and security forces.
The regime alleged the men killed security officers during protests on behalf of the U.S. and Israel.
Reporting by Emily Donohoe.
A message from CommBank
In 2026, many young Aussies are planning for the future while still living in the moment.
In a recent TDA Instagram poll, housing emerged as the number one money priority – from saving for a first home to managing rent and mortgages. Travel and big life moments weren’t far behind.
The challenge? Balancing long-term savings goals with the everyday cost of living and not sacrificing too much fun.
That’s where a CommBank NetBank Saver account could help. For a limited time only, you can get a 5.10% p.a. variable intro rate for the first 5 months if you’re aged between 18–35 years old and opening your first NetBank Saver account.
Set clear goals and track your progress as you go, watching your savings grow and work for you. You can work towards your goal without feeling like you have to press pause on life right now.
Disclaimer: Offer ends 7 April 2026 at 11:59pm (Sydney/Melbourne time). Available for single accounts only; joint accounts are not eligible. Available to customers aged between 18-35 years old opening their first CommBank NetBank Saver account. Rates subject to change. NetBank Saver is issued by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945. Consider if this product is appropriate for you. TMD available on the CommBank website.
Give me some good news
Astronomers have found one of the rarest stars in the known universe, a “stellar fossil” that carries chemical traces of the very first stars ever born.
The star sits in a tiny, ancient galaxy on the edge of the Milky Way, according to findings published in the journal Nature Astronomy. Its unusual mix of high carbon and very low iron suggests it formed directly from the debris of an early star's explosion more than ten billion years ago. Researchers at Stanford University called it “a fundamental observation” of the universe's very first element production. Only around ten stars this primitive have ever been found, giving us a glimpse into the cosmos as it was at the very beginning.
Reporting by Emma Gillespie.
TDA titbit
Credit: Domenico Stinellis/AP Photo
A group of thieves stole three paintings by Renoir, Cezanne, and Matisse from an Italian museum in just three minutes.
The four masked thieves broke into Magnani Rocca Foundation on 22 March and escaped before the alarms triggered and police arrived.
The museum called the theft “a loss to our shared cultural heritage.”
Investigators are still reviewing CCTV and alarm data to work out how the thieves pulled off the heist so quickly.
They are still on the run.
Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.
*
*
*
Riddle answer: A flamboyance.
TDA asks
