Australian News

• In short: The Fair Work Commission has increased both the minimum and award wages by 3.75 per cent.
• The decision means the national minimum wage will be $24.10 per hour or $913.91 per week, based on a 38-hour week.
• What's next? The increase to minimum and award wages will take effect from July 1.

Additional coverage:

• The Conversation: Low-paid wages up 3.75%, with more to come for childcare and health professionals
• SBS (audio): Australia's trade unions disappointed by minimum wage changes
• The Business Times: Australia raises minimum wage 3.75%, aiding inflation fight
• ABC: Fair Work's wage rise may keep the economy on its 'narrow path' but leaves many households teetering on the edge

I read this while enjoying a glass of the date rape drug known as Shiraz which some users consume to the point of death.

You could power a city on my eyerolls. My message to the community is to demand reasonable and measured reporting on drugs, and sensible drug policy with a harm minimisation orientation.

Or you know, let's get hysterical about people taking a ghb prodrug that's harder to dose and more likely to be contaminated because it's easier to import than GHB. That'll keep the kids safe.

• In short: Police have given university students at an on-campus Gaza solidarity encampment a deadline of midday tomorrow to leave or risk further action, including arrests.
• The Australian National University also issued a directive to students to leave, saying the encampment posed "serious safety concerns".
• What's next? Protest activity has died down and students are considering the deadline.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains the name of a person who has died.

Not quite Australia, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway

Mr Dutton says the Albanese government should pressure the court “to make sure that they reverse this terrible decision”.

The opposition leader says a coalition government could cut ties with the court if it failed to bow to pressure.

“I don’t rule it out,” he said on Wednesday.

“But I think the pressure at the moment needs to be for like-minded countries that share our values, to stand shoulder-to-shoulder … to make sure that this anti-Semitic stance that they’ve taken does not advance.”

Only a handful of state parties have withdrawn from the court and two of those countries rescinded their withdrawal before it came into effect.

• In short: Bird flu or avian influenza has been detected in a Victorian child after they returned from overseas.
• There is a current global outbreak of the infectious viral disease in birds and animals.
• What's next? The Department of Health says there is no evidence of transmission in Victoria.

Fingers crossed its not H5N1.

(I originally posted this in c/Australia, but I realised this is essentially just another take on an ABC article that was posted a week ago so moved it here)

She directly addressed Albanese: "I ask our prime minister and our fellow parliamentarians, how many international rights laws must Israel break for us to say enough? What is the magic number? How many mass graves need to be uncovered before we say enough? How many images of bloody limbs of murdered children must we see?"

Payman called on her colleagues to "stand up for what is right" and said Australia should impose sanctions, engage in divestments, stop trade with Israel, and call for a permanent ceasefire.

Complete bullshit. Regimes that punish whistleblowers harder than war criminals reveal themselves as dreaming of tyranny.

The entire trial was cooked, and I'm furious :(

That non parole period is nuts too, pure revenge. What danger does this man represent? If he's out on the streets some war criminals better watch their backs?

edit: I should add, it's also quite frustrating that at the end of all this top brass has had no light shone on them, which was his initial goal on leaking. He thought the SAS was being investigated overmuch as a distraction from leadership failures. I guess we'll never know. A slap on the wrist for the executioners, no systematic investigation, and an inconvenient man in gaol.

Fucking finally, but it's disappointing it isn't more.

Student debts will be lowered for more than three million Australians under reforms designed to stop HECS loans growing faster than wages.

Loan indexation will now match whichever is lower out of the Consumer Price Index or the Wage Price Index — which the government says will prevent another shock increase like last year's 7.1 per cent increase.

The changes will be introduced in the 2024 budget and, pending getting through parliament, will take effect from June.

• In short: The federal government has committed $160 million to implement a national firearms register after state and territory leaders agreed to the idea last year.
• The register will be a central hub of data from each state and territory, allowing near real-time information sharing across the country.
• What's next? States and territories now need to reform their firearms management systems, with the aim to have the register fully operational within four years.