☕️ The most trusted brand in Australia is....

Good morning!

Today is the Oscars! Here’s the TL;DR:

• Jimmy Kimmel is hosting.

• You can watch it from 10am (AEDT) on Channel 7 and 7Plus.

• The Australians nominated are:

  • Margot Robbie who produced ‘Barbie’ for Best Picture

  • Sara McFarlane who produced ‘Red, White and Blue’ for Short Film (Live action)

  • Nicky Bentham who produced ‘The After’ for Short Film (Live action)

  • Tony McNamara who is nominated for best adapted screenplay for ‘Poor Things’

I’ve got 10 seconds

Quote of the day

"We are deeply saddened to learn this evening that one of our People of Pitch has passed away after being airlifted to The Alfred hospital… We understand that the timing of this news will be upsetting for festival-goers who are currently safely exiting the event, as well as friends & family at home”.
Organisers of the Pitch Music & Arts Festival, which was cancelled due to an extreme heat warning.

Stat of the day

230 million
The number of girls and women who have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), according to UNICEF. FGM is the removal or injury of female genital organs — it breaches the human rights of women and girls.

Today in history

2020
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global pandemic.

I’ve got 30 seconds

Some headlines from this morning:

• A U.S. military ship has left the state of Virginia headed to Gaza to build a temporary pier that will accelerate the delivery of aid to Palestinian civilians. The initiative was announced by U.S. President Joe Biden as part of his State of the Union address on Friday. He said: “A temporary pier will enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza every day.”

• Aerial surveys of the Great Barrier Reef have revealed it is experiencing another widespread coral bleaching event. This is when water temperatures cause coral to eject algae, a sign of “heat stress”, which leads to coral turning white. Bleached coral is more at risk of starvation and disease, which can lead to entire reefs and ecosystems dying. The Reef Authority’s chief scientist said the latest bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef reflects “above average sea surface temperatures.”

I’ve got 1 minute

Woolworths is no longer the most trusted brand in Australia

For the first time in over three years, Woolworths has lost its place as the most trusted brand in Australia.

New data from market research firm Roy Morgan shows Bunnings is now in the top spot, while Woolworths dropped to second place.

Coles also lost trust from consumers over the 12 months to December 2023, slipping from 3rd to 5th place. It comes amid the ongoing Senate inquiry into supermarket pricing.

Optus has been named Australia’s least trusted brand, after an outage last year impacted 10 million customers.

Australia’s most trusted brands

Australia’s least trusted brands

I’ve got 2 minutes

A new report has raised concerns about victims of sexual harassment being “contracted” into silence

Australian researchers say non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are being used too frequently and inappropriately in workplace sexual harassment cases.

Also known as confidentiality agreements, NDAs are legal documents that prevent those who sign them from sharing sensitive information.

In 2022 the Australian Human Rights Council (AHRC) said NDAs should be used on a limited “case-by-case” basis to resolve workplace harassment incidents.

However, a new report has found employers still use NDAs as a default response to sexual harassment cases.

Researchers from the Human Rights Law Centre and the Redfern Legal Centre contributed to the report, published with USyd. It cited a 2022 study which found one in three Australians have been sexually harassed at work over the past five years.

The report said NDAs are frequently used to respond to harassment claims.

As part of reaching an agreement, the parties involved in an NDA may negotiate a financial settlement.

NDAs don’t need to be registered with any formal body. Here’s an example of a harassment NDA in the workplace.

NDA example

An employee complains to their boss that they were sexually harassed by a colleague.

After a process of mediation, their employer asks them to sign a confidentiality agreement.

The terms of the agreement say the victim-survivor won’t go public with the incident in exchange for financial compensation and an apology.

NDAs can last indefinitely.

Findings

The secretive nature of NDAs means there is little public knowledge about how employers deal with cases of sexual harassment.

Researchers surveyed 145 legal practitioners representing victim-survivors and alleged perpetrators in sexual harassment claims.

The report found 75% of lawyers always used strict NDAs to resolve harassment cases, and considered this “standard practice”.

The report acknowledged “NDAs can be a useful tool” in some instances. For example, a victim-survivor might agree to one instead of pursuing a financially and emotionally taxing legal case.

However, it said a business may use NDAs to protect its reputation.

These NDAs also mean perpetrators can avoid police action and a potential court case.

Agreements are not a legal indication of whether or not an alleged perpetrator is guilty.

The report found many victim survivors don’t realise signing an NDA is not a mandatory part of a sexual harassment settlement.

It attributed this to a lack of legal advice and support for victim-surviors.

It also noted there is “little current guidance” for lawyers when it comes to negotiating and settling sexual harassment claims.

AHRC report

The AHRC’s 2020 report on harassment in the workplace, Respect@Work, called the use of NDAs a “challenging issue”.

It warned NDAs could “contribute to a culture of silence”.

In 2022, the AHRC and the Federal Government issued new guidelines for employers, encouraging them to stop using confidentiality as the “starting point” and move towards “a more individualised approach” in sexual harassment claims.

Overseas

A UK study found 95% of people who signed NDAs had negative mental health impacts as a result of staying silent about their experiences.

Ireland and Canada have proposed national laws in recent years restricting the use of NDAs in settling sexual harassment at work. The U.S. passed a law limiting the use of NDAs in 2022.

A message from our sponsor

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Last week, a 22-year-old man named Patrick Orren Stephenson was arrested for the murder of Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy.

We now know his name, but his identity was initially kept secret under a suppression order. Today on the podcast, we delve into exactly what a suppression order is, as well as what we know about the alleged murder of Samantha Murphy.

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Give me some good news

Four children born with HIV have tested virus-free, more than a year after they paused medication, according to the results of an ongoing study.

HIV treatment was given to the children within the first 48 hours after birth. Four out of a group of six children were eventually deemed to be in remission. This means they had undetectable, non-transmissible levels of the virus for at least 48 weeks.

One of the lead researchers on the study said: “The promising signals from this study are a beacon for future HIV remission science.”

TDA tidbit

Sixth time could be the charm for media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

The 92-year-old is engaged once again, this time to 67-year-old Elena Zhukova, a former molecular biologist. He’s previously been married to Patricia Booker, Anna Maria Torv, Wendi Deng, and Jerry Hall.

Murdoch is the former chair of News Corp and Fox Corporation, having handed the reins of his companies to son Lachlan last year.

Per The New York Times, Murdoch and Zhukova will wed in June. If they make it down the aisle, that is — Murdoch broke off his last engagement to former radio host Ann Lesley Smith after two weeks.

Thank you, next.

TDA asks