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Good morning!
If we had one KitKat for every YouTube subscriber, we would now officially have 25,000 KitKats! Look, it's not quite heist-worthy (it'll make sense after you read the titbit) but we're stoked nonetheless.
We’ve been experimenting with new formats over there, testing different ways to bring our podcast explainers to life. If you want to check it out and let us know what you think, click here! And if you subscribe, that’s even more KitKats!
I’ve got 10 seconds
The quote: “It would be lovely to give everyone free public transport and free car parking and a puppy”.
South Australia Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis on ABC Radio on Monday morning, responding to Victoria and Tasmania making public transport free temporarily. The states said the move would ease cost-of-living pressures amid high fuel prices.
The stat: $2.18 billion. The amount of money Australians lost from scams in 2025, according to the ACCC.
The big question:
If you could live anywhere in the world, would you still choose Australia?
Yesterday’s results: 63% of you said you think there’s some stigma around mental health in Australia but it’s improving. [3,160 votes].
I’ve got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
Telcos will be forced to publicly release information about outages in response to fatalities associated with network issues. Two deaths have been linked to September's outage at Optus, which lasted almost 14 hours and affected hundreds of calls in four states and territories. From the end of June, all telcos will be required to publish or link to registers of resolved network outages on their websites after new industry rules were handed down by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Under the rules, information must be released about every major and significant local outage that's been resolved on or after March 31. The final report from a parliamentary inquiry into the Optus triple-zero outage is due in mid-April.
The Israeli military has suspended a group of soldiers who allegedly attacked CNN journalists in the occupied West Bank. Reporters from the U.S. broadcaster were documenting the aftermath of an attack by Israeli settlers and the establishment of an illegal outpost, when CNN claims the team were assaulted and detained. The Foreign Press Association said the journalists had clearly identified themselves but the soldiers repeatedly tried to prevent filming. The reserve battalion involved will now undergo a “process aimed at reinforcing [the military’s] professional and ethical foundations,” officials said on Monday. The Israeli military has also opened an investigation into the incident.
Together with AAP.
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I’ve got 1 minute
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced the Government will halve the fuel excise over the next three months to lower petrol prices for Australians.
The price of petrol has increased significantly over the past month due to the U.S-Israel war with Iran, which has impacted global supply of oil.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor urged the Government to adopt this policy last week.
Fuel excise
The fuel excise is effectively a tax on petrol. It has existed since 1901. Currently, consumers pay 52.6 cents per litre of petrol in tax for both petrol and diesel.
(Note: The fuel excise is technically paid by the manufacturers, but they ‘pass it on’ to the customer.)
In March 2022, the then-Coalition Government halved the fuel excise for six months as a cost-of-living measure.
At the time, the excise was 44.2 cents, so the discount lowered it to 22.1 cents.
Developments
On Monday, Albanese said the Government would halve the fuel excise on petrol and diesel over the next three months.
The cost of fuel will be reduced by 26.3 cents per litre from Wednesday.
“We’re making fuel cheaper today because we understand that Australians are under serious pressure,” he said.
The change to the excise is part of a national fuel security plan, agreed to by the leaders of all states and territories on Monday morning.
Quick hits
🎧 On today’s TDA podcast, Billi and Sam unpack the timeline of events that led to Victoria’s biggest-ever manhunt ending yesterday.
💶 The RBA is making a big decision today about credit card surcharges. Want to know what’s happening? You can sign up to TDA Finance here to make sure the explainer is in your inbox tomorrow morning.
I’ve got 2 minutes
Victoria Police have shot and killed Dezi Freeman, the man who killed two police officers in the state’s north-east last August.
At a press conference on Monday morning, Commissioner Mike Bush said police “believe” the man officers shot was Freeman, but needed to go through a “formal identification process.” Australian media has widely reported it was Freeman.
Police shot the man at a remote rural property in north-east Victoria, around 100 kilometres from the original shooting.
Here’s what we know so far.
Context
On 26 August last year, 10 officers attended Freeman's property in Porepunkah, a small town in north-east Victoria, to serve an arrest warrant relating to alleged historical sexual offences.
Freeman opened fire, killing 59-year-old Neal Thompson and 35-year-old Vadim De Waart, and seriously injuring a third officer.
He then fled into the bush armed with weapons, and authorities began one of the largest police manhunts in Australian history.
In the months that followed, Bush said police received more than 2,000 leads, but none produced a confirmed sighting of Freeman.
Last month, investigators said they believed Freeman may have died by suicide. However, with no body, the investigation remained open.
Shooting
Just after 5:30am on Monday, police located a man believed to be Freeman sheltering in a structure described as “a cross between a container and a very long caravan” on a remote rural property near Walwa.
Officers made repeated appeals for the man to come out peacefully.
At around 8:30am, a man emerged from the structure, and was believed to be armed. He did not take the opportunity to surrender, and was shot by police. No officers were injured.
While police have not yet formally confirmed the deceased's identity, Bush said he was confident the shooting was “justified”.
Ongoing investigation
Police are now working to formally confirm the deceased's identity, although Bush said: “We believe it is Freeman.” The process is expected to take 24 to 48 hours.
Bush also said police believe Freeman had assistance getting from Porepunkah to where he was ultimately found. Investigators are now working to determine who may have aided him during his seven months on the run.
Bush warned that anyone found to have been complicit would be held to account.
The Commissioner also said the conclusion of the operation would allow Victoria Police to redirect significant resources back to other serious crime investigations across the state and bring “closure to what was a tragic and terrible event.”
In a press conference on Monday, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said: “Today an evil man is dead."
Reporting by Elliot Lawry.
A message from CommBank
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Give me some good news
Credit: AIMS
Australian researchers are teaming up with international scientists to restore coral reefs around the world.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has successfully grown and transplanted an unprecedented 40,000 baby corals onto the Great Barrier Reef over the past year, using “scalable and cost-effective” coral seeding methods. Now, AIMS will apply these methods to restore reefs in the Caribbean, where severe marine heatwaves have led to coral losses. AIMS senior research scientist Dr Carly Randall said “given the importance of coral reefs to billions of people globally, we are very interested in ensuring this technology works across regions and with many species”.
Reporting by Emma Gillespie.
TDA titbit
Thieves decided to take a break last week. More than 400,000 of them, to be exact.
KitKat announced 12 tonnes of its chocolate bars were stolen on a ship last week as it travelled from Italy to Poland.
In a statement to The Associated Press, the chocolate company said: “Whilst we appreciate the criminals’ exceptional taste, the fact remains that cargo theft is an escalating issue for businesses of all sizes”.
KitKat is asking shop workers to scan the batch number on the back of the chocolate bars so the company can track the products.
Both the chocolate and the cargo ship have not been located.
Reporting by Annabel Whitehouse.
TDA asks
