☕️ Tasmania's political turmoil

90,000+ people are getting ready to run Sydney’s legendary City2Surf on Sunday.

Bonus points if you spot Team TDA - we’ll be the ones in purple being slightly too competitive for a fun run!

“We will be putting initially a small tariff on pharmaceuticals. But in one year – one-and-a-half years maximum – it is going to go to 150%, and then it is going to go to 250%, because we want pharmaceuticals made in our country."
President Donald Trump announcing countries will eventually receive a 150% tariff on pharmaceuticals in an interview with CNBC. Official data shows Australia’s exports of medicines to the U.S. were valued at about $2 billion last year.

$US343 million ($AU530 million)
The advertising revenue for News Corp Australia in the 2024-25 financial year, which is a 5% decrease compared to the previous year, according to new results released on Wednesday.

2018
Australia's population reached 25 million according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. As at the last calculation on 31st December 2024, Australia’s population sat at nearly 27.5 million people.

Tasmania’s Liberal leader Jeremy Rockliff has been reappointed as the state’s Premier, weeks after an early election.

Neither the Liberals nor Labor received a majority, leading to a hung parliament.

After weeks of uncertainty, Rockliff will now try to form a government in Parliament, with the approval of the state Governor.

There are 14 Liberal members in Tasmania’s House of Assembly (lower house). To form a majority, Rockliff will need the support of at least four other MPs.

The Liberal Premier called the state’s third election in four years after Labor successfully passed a no-confidence motion against Rockliff.

The results turned out very similar to the 2024 poll: The Liberal Party won 14 seats compared to Labor’s 10. The Greens secured five seats, while six went to minor parties and independents.

Governor Barbara Baker approved Rockliff’s request to be named Premier yesterday.

This process is typically a straightforward formality. However, since Rockliff doesn’t have a majority or a formal deal with crossbenchers, the Governor’s decision was more consequential.

In a statement, Baker said the Premier needed to “test” his support on the floor of Parliament, meaning he’ll need what’s known as “confidence and supply” from at least four more crossbenchers.

Confidence is a formal expression of support in a government, while ‘supply’ means an agreement to pass spending legislation.

Parliament is scheduled to resume on 19 August.

Talks to form a government will dominate the next two weeks.

Out of Tasmania’s six crossbenchers, Independent MP Craig Garland has ruled out supporting Rockliff in the next Parliament.

Former state Labor leader David O’Byrne and independent MP Kristie Johnston provided confidence and supply in the last term of Rockliff’s government. The remaining three crossbenchers are newly elected MPs and haven’t formally indicated if they will support Rockliff’s government.

If Rockliff is unable to secure enough support, Labor will have a chance to form government.

Labor leader Dean Winter has already said he will table a no-confidence motion when Parliament resumes.

Reporting by Harry Sekulich.

Parts of the Great Barrier Reef have experienced their largest annual coral decline on record.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has led annual surveys of the reef for the last 40 years.

AIMS collected data for its latest report between August 2024 and May 2025. It found consecutive mass bleaching events caused excessive damage to the reef.

The summer period also brought “multiple stressors” to the reef, including cyclones, flooding and increased numbers of crown-of-thorns — a coral-eating starfish.

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is the world’s largest coral reef system.

It's 3000 individual reefs cover a 344,400 square kilometre area (approximately the size of Germany) off the coast of Queensland.

The reef is home to thousands of species of marine life and coral.

The GBR was added to the UNSECO World Heritage List in 1981, and is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The GBR can be broken into three areas: The north, central, and south regions.

Historically, the north and central regions (which are closer to the equator) have seen the most dramatic environmental decline as a result of warming waters.

The south has been relatively more stable and reliable for environmental growth.

The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) is a tropical marine research agency. The Government body is considered a world leader in marine science.

AIMS has been monitoring the long-term health of the GBR since 1983. It conducts annual surveys to measure “the status and trend of hard coral cover on reefs” across all three GBR regions.

In its latest report, AIMS said it observed “high to extreme” coral bleaching prevalence across all three regions of the GBR in 2024.

Between May 2024 and May 2025, AIMS found the sharpest decline in coral cover since it began collecting data four decades ago.

Specifically, coral declined by:

AIMS said the decline follows a period of “above-average water temperatures,” which peaked in March 2025.

“As a result, the GBR experienced its sixth mass coral bleaching event since 2016,” the report noted.

Researchers noted “mass coral bleaching events are now occurring with increasing frequency, while recovery periods are decreasing”.

However, AIMS stated the GBR had “record high coral cover” before the bleaching event, and has retained “higher coral cover than many reefs globally”.

Previous recovery of the reef was largely driven by the resilience of fast-growing coral species, but some species haven’t been able to withstand the latest marine heatwave.

The Australian Marine Conservation Society said climate change “is outpacing the Reef’s ability to recover.”

Responding to the AIMS report, it noted: “For the first time, substantial bleaching impacts were recorded in the southern Reef, showing that almost the entire system has been hit hard, not just isolated areas.”

Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen called the findings “deeply concerning but entirely unsurprising”.

“It’s in our national interest to keep going to net zero to protect [the GBR,] he said.

Reporting by Rosa Bowden.

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Backed by about $750,000 from the Australian Institute of Sport, alongside funding from the NT Government and Paralympics Australia, the unit is part of a broader $55 million federal Para Uplift initiative. The program aims to enhance classification access, coaching, and performance environments ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Paralympics.

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Reporting by Sam Koslowski.

A zoo in Denmark is asking for an unconventional donation: Pets.

The Aalborg Zoo is asking for elderly pets to be donated as food, saying the pets are “gently euthanised by trained staff and then used as food.” 

The zoo said its predators need whole prey that would “resemble what [they] would naturally hunt in the wild,” adding that zoos have “a responsibility to imitate the animals’ natural food chain — for the sake of both animal welfare and professional integrity.”

Reporting by Anju Dhanushkodi.

More than two years after the implosion of a submersible expedition to the Titanic wreck, the U.S. Coast Guard has released its final report into what went wrong.

According to the 335-page document, the disaster, which killed five people, was preventable – driven by flawed design, regulatory avoidance, and a toxic workplace culture. This landmark report paints a damning picture of OceanGate (the company behind the mission) and of its late CEO, Stockton Rush.

Today, we’ll take you through what happened to the Titan, what the report found, its recommendations, and whether anyone could still face legal consequences.