☕️ US congress passes Epstein files bill

What would you consider to be the unofficial Australian national anthem?

We asked this question to artists on the ARIAs red carpet last night, and it’s caused a lot of discussion online. (It’s also just the perfect feel-good video for your Thursday morning.)

No one mentioned Horses by Daryl Braithwaite, which was criminal.

“Probably won't have to work at IGA ever again.”
‘Amyl and the Sniffers’ frontwoman Amy Taylor accepting the ARIA for Album of the Year, for the band’s record ‘Cartoon Darkness’.

3.4%
The increase in wages in the year to September, according to new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. With inflation for the same period at 3.2%, this means wages have been increasing at a slightly faster rate than prices.

1947
Then-Princess Elizabeth marries Philip Mountbatten, who went on to become Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. They were married for 73 years, until Prince Philip’s death in 2021.

Australian employees are working more than four-and-a-half full-time weeks’ worth of unpaid overtime a year.

New findings from the Australia Institute also show that, for the first time, part-time employees are working almost as many hours of unpaid overtime as full-time workers.

Fiona Macdonald, director of the institute’s Centre for Future Work, warned the new right to disconnect appears to be “less effective” for part-time and casual workers who are “not given enough paid hours to do their jobs.”

Last year, the Federal Government passed a law giving workers the explicit legal right to “refuse to monitor, read, or respond to” work-related contact outside of hours.

In August 2024, the law came into effect for large businesses. This August, the new right applied to employees of small businesses.

Macdonald calculated the average working time, both paid and unpaid, across Australia, with a survey of 1,001 workers in September 2025.

Full-time employees average 3.8 hours of unpaid labour each week, while part-time employees are close behind on 3.7 hours.

At median (middle, considered most-representative) wage rates, the average worker is missing out about $305 a fortnight.

This adds up to $7,930 a year individually and $95.8 billion a year collectively.

The total number of unpaid overtime hours this year and last year were both lower than the 5.4 hours reported in the 2023 survey.

In a statement, Macdonald said she hadn’t expected the level of unpaid overtime to “suddenly plummet” following the introduction of the right to disconnect, and described the declining rates as “a good first step”.

However, she raised concerns that young people are “bearing the brunt of this trend towards squeezing part-timers”.

“The cost-of-living crisis isn’t over... workers should be paid for every single hour they work,” Macdonald said.

Reporting by Achol Arok.

☀️ Every suntan counts. UV damage builds over time, even when you can’t see it happening. Find out more.
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A new report shows 20% of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the workforce are employed at Indigenous-owned businesses.

These businesses make up 1% of all Australian companies.

The report was developed by the University of Melbourne’s Dilin Duwa Centre for Indigenous Business Leadership, the Melbourne Institute, and the University of Queensland.

It also looked at the impact of Government policies on First Nations businesses.

The report used data from a range of sources, including the 2021 Census.

Researchers found that in 2021/22, one in five First Nations workers were employed in what they called “the Indigenous business and corporations ecosystem”.

At this time, Indigenous-owned businesses accounted for less than 1% of all businesses in Australia, but employed 46,718 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

The report shows Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 12 times more likely to be hired by an Indigenous business than a non-Indigenous one.

One in three employees at First Nations businesses is Indigenous, compared in one in 36 in non-Indigenous-owned workplaces.

The two biggest industries in the ecosystem were healthcare and social assistance (23%), and administrative services (14%), while 65% of all jobs in the ecosystem were performed in rural and remote areas.

Researchers also analysed the Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), which launched in 2015. It sets targets for the number of contracts the Federal Government must award to Indigenous-owned businesses.

Since it began, the average number of contracts won by Indigenous businesses has grown significantly.

Researchers estimated 82% of IPP recipients were being awarded their first Government contract.

Report author Professor Cain Polidano said many businesses awarded IPP contracts went on to receive other, larger contracts.

Polidano said: “The experience gained... may lead to an increase in contracts won through open tender process.”

Dilin Duwa director Michelle Evans said the Indigenous business ecosystem “isn’t some niche group”.

Evans said: “It employs more Australians than the Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac combined.”

The snapshot provides case studies of businesses in the ecosystem, including construction company Intract Australia, which is 51% Indigenous-owned.

Intract owner John Briggs said: “I try to put people on their country... because I know how much they get out of it.”

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

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Just log into your banking app, schedule your payment, and get back to literally anything more fun than bills.

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🍊 The Socceroos lost to Colombia in New York. More details.
🍊 The AFL Draft continues tonight. Confused? Your explainer here.
🍊 Scotland break 28-year hoodoo and secure World Cup place. Read more.
🗞️ Also in the Sport Newsletter: cricket, soccer, and more…

The volunteer-run event, now in its sixth year, is also known as ‘the march of the dachshunds’. Participants with two legs and four united for a march down the River Seine, to raise money for a charity that rescues, fosters and rehomes sausage dogs.

This year’s walk included dogs dressed in berets, jumpers, tutus, cowboy hats, and plenty of hot dog costumes.

Want more good news? Sign up to our weekly Good Newsletter here - we promise it’ll make your week better!

Reporting by Emma Gillespie.

Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

Rapper Eminem is suing an Australian swimwear brand called Swim Shady for copyright infringement.

The performer has been referred to by his pseudonym Slim Shady for decades. The brand was established in Australia last year and was granted U.S. copyright over the name Swim Shady in September.

According to The Guardian, Eminem didn’t have a copyright for the term ‘Slim Shady’ until this January.

We’d end with another Eminem pun here, but our palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…

On Wednesday, the NSW government announced it would amend existing laws to ban public displays of Nazi ideology like chants and slogans. It comes after a group of neo-Nazis held an antisemitic rally outside NSW Parliament a few weeks ago. In today’s podcast, we’re going to explain what happened on that Sunday morning outside Parliament, what the fall-out has been and how the NSW Government is responding.