☕️ How is a terrorist attack defined?

Good morning!

For anyone in an office today: if you notice people are wearing headphones more than usual, it’s because Taylor Swift is releasing a new album.

It’s called ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ and it’s being released at 2pm AEST.

Personally, all I would like is an explanation from her about the missing apostrophe. Surely it should be “Poets’ Department”.

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

“I think there’s a range of areas where we need to do much better with the younger generation basically, and HECs is one of them.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s response to growing calls to overhaul the student debt system, including indexation (when student loan amounts are updated once a year).

Stat of the day

353
The new world record for the most ballerinas en pointe (tip-toes) at the same time, set in New York City this week.

Today in history

1943
Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann became the first person to take LSD. The day is also known as “Bicycle Day” as Hofmann noticed changes in his vision a few hours later when he was riding a bike.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• The unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.8% in March, up from 3.7% the month before. The figure refers to the percentage of people who were looking for work last month but couldn’t find a job. Despite the higher percentage of people out of work, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the labour market remains “tight”, meaning there are businesses struggling to fill job vacancies.

• Almost one billion people in India will head to the polls from today, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a return to power for a third time. More than 540 MPs will be elected, and Modi is set to face a fierce challenge from opposition parties hoping to oust him from another five-year term. The election will take about six weeks to help ensure millions of voters can access a polling booth, meaning the results aren’t expected to be known until early June.

Recommendation of the day

I’ve got 1 minute

Russia has banned 235 Australians from entering the country, including Dan Andrews

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has indefinitely banned 235 Victorian and South Australian politicians from entering the country.

The ministry said the travel ban was in response to “politically motivated” Australian sanctions, such as financial penalties, imposed against Russian individuals and entities.

It also said these politicians have been “actively promoting the anti-Russia agenda”.

Who was blocked?

The list names 235 current and former Victorian and South Australian MPs.

Victorian politicians include Deputy Premier Ben Carroll, Treasurer Tim Pallas, Opposition Leader John Pesutto, and former Premier Dan Andrews.

South Australian politicians on the list include Deputy Premier Susan Close, Treasurer Stephen Mullighan and Opposition Leader David Speirs.

Russia said it will continue updating the list if the Australian Government does not “renounce its anti-Russia position”.

Sanctions

The Australian Government has been imposing sanctions against Russia, including powerful citizens, since its 2014 annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea. Australia placed more sanctions after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Sanctions include trade restrictions, asset freezes for both individuals and companies, and travel bans for some Russian individuals.

The most recent sanctions on a Russian individual were laid in February, in response to the Medibank cyber attack.

I’ve got 2 minutes

Over the last week, Sydney has been rocked by two separate stabbing attacks.

While authorities ruled out terrorism as a motive for the Bondi Junction attack, they quickly declared the Wakeley church stabbing an ‘act of terror’.

So how do Australian authorities determine what’s considered a terror attack?

Terror defined

Under the Criminal Code, an incident can be declared a terrorist act if it was conducted with the intention to:

1. Advance a political, religious, or ideological cause.

2. Coerce or intimidate the government or the public.

The act then needs to have caused death or serious harm to other people, serious damage to a property, created a risk to public health or safety, or interfered with critical infrastructure (e.g. telecommunications).

Church stabbing

On Tuesday, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb declared the Wakeley church stabbing a ‘terrorist incident’.

Webb said this classification was made because the attack was the result of “religiously motivated extremism,” and caused “the intimidation of the public through that person’s acts.”

In NSW, once an incident is classified as terrorism, police have the power to search people and properties without a warrant, within a certain area and number of days.

NSW Police’s classification was supported by the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, who was asked about the difference between the two stabbings.

In a press conference on Tuesday, Burgess said: “To call it a terrorist act you need... information or evidence that suggest [the perpetrator] was religiously motivated or ideologically motivated.”

He added: “Saturday, that was not the case. In this case, the information [ASIO] and the police have before us would indicate strongly that is the case and that’s why it was called an act of terrorism.”

Bondi Junction

On Saturday, a 40-year-old man killed five women and one man in Bondi Junction. Several others were injured, mostly women.

Following the incident, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said it was “obvious” the attacker targeted women. However, this incident was not categorised as a terrorist attack.

Macquarie University terrorism studies lecturer Dr Mariam Farida told TDA investigations would be difficult because the perpetrator is dead, but said the incident could be re-classified later.

“If it was a deliberate targeting [of women] then there needs to be a re-examination of that labelling.”

Terror level

Australia’s terrorism threat level hasn’t changed from “possible” after the events of this week.

From most to least serious, the threat levels are:

• certain

• expected

• probable

• possible

• not expected

Burgess said under the “possible” threat level, the most likely attack “is an individual that goes to violence with little or no warning with a knife, car or gun”.

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Give me some good news

The world’s oldest wombat is about to turn 35.

Wain the wombat, nicknamed Mr Wine, was born in Tasmania in 1989, and was less than a year old when he was sent to a Japanese zoo where he’s lived ever since.

The average life span of a wombat out in nature is about 15 years, which Mr Wine has managed to more than double. Guinness World Records has certified him as the oldest living wombat.

TDA tidbit

NASA has confirmed that an object that crashed into a home in Florida in March was a piece of their garbage.

In case you missed it, in March, a man reported that a metal object had torn through the ceiling and floor of his home in the U.S. state of Florida.

Now, NASA has released a statement saying it was their fault. They said the hardware is debris they dumped from the International Space Station in 2021.

NASA had expected the debris would fully burn up before reaching Earth's atmosphere, but clearly… it didn’t.

The object is now back in NASA’s hands as they try to figure out exactly how it survived re-entering the atmosphere.

Want more from The Daily Aus? Listen to our podcast!

It’s been a week of really heavy news so for today’s episode of the podcast, we thought we’d bring you a round up of some of the uplifting stories from the week.

From the arts, to sport and scientific innovation, we’ve got a wrap in today’s deep dive to take you into the weekend feeling a bit better about the state of the world.

TDA asks