Australia

Love to see Aussies helping each other out just because it's the right thing to do.

"Today you. Tomorrow me."

The Australian government has lifted its biosecurity restrictions against US beef, on the condition that the US agree to accept Australian Beef Wellington into the country.

To sell the Trump administration on the deal, Australia has sent Erin Patterson to the US as chief trade negotiator, in the hopes she secures a killer bargain.

“I know people have their concerns, but I promise there is nothing wrong with this meal. It is 100% safe to eat US beef,” Patterson said. [...]

Related: ABC News: Australia lifts biosecurity import restrictions on US beef

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will not release statistics from the 2023-24 Survey of Income and Housing (SIH) due to data collection issues. Despite work to address these issues, the data did not meet the ABS’ high standards for official statistics and will not be released.

This decision means that the following products will not be released in 2025:

• Income and wealth, Australia
• Housing Occupancy and costs, Australia

...

Results from the SIH 2025-26 are expected to be published from mid-2027.

The ABS has a range of alternative data that give insights on income, wealth and housing, including:

• Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, March 2025
• Employee earnings, August 2024
• Average Weekly Earnings, Australia, November 2024
• Lending indicators, March Quarter 2025
• Consumer Price Index, Australia, March Quarter 2025 and Monthly Consumer Price Index Indicator, May 2025
• Census of Population and Housing

I think both headlines ABC used for this piece are shit. The other one is:

'Old' at 51? Recruiters hiring based on age over experience, report finds.

I agree much more needs to be done to protect children. That’s the very reason I do this work. But the solution is not to vilify or pathologise men who choose to care for and educate young children. The solution is to overhaul a fractured system – starting with the ridiculous patchwork of state-based regulations governing early childhood education and care in Australia.

We need a unified, national approach that ensures consistency, accountability and support – for children and educators alike. We need robust, mandatory training in child protection for all educators, regardless of gender. We need professional standards that uphold child safety and the dignity of workers. We need appropriate reward and remuneration to encourage the very best to answer the call of early childhood education. And we need to acknowledge that good men in this field are not the problem – they are part of the solution.

Australia's government said on Saturday it had delivered M1A1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine as part of a A$245 million ($160 million) package to help the country defend itself against Russia in their ongoing war.

Australia, one of the largest non-NATO contributors to Ukraine, has been supplying aid, ammunition and defence equipment since Moscow invaded its neighbour in February 2022.

[...]

The tanks formed part of the A$1.5 billion ($980 million) that Canberra has provided Ukraine in the conflict, the government said.

Australia has also banned exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia, and has sanctioned about 1,000 Russian individuals and entities.

Australia's centre-left Labor government this year labelled Russia as the aggressor in the conflict and called for the war to be resolved on Kyiv's terms.