Australia
Technology
One in eight Australian businesses now uses AI, up from 1%
The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not ordinarily produce figures that prompt a double-take. Its latest business characteristics release is an exception. Almost one in eight Australian businesses, 12%, used artificial intelligence in 2024-25, up from just 1% in 2021-22.
Opinion
Canberra part-pays 2,000 journalists and forces tech to pay 2.5% levy
Canberra sets the charge digital platforms must pay Australian publishers, and separately part-pays the wages of more than 2,000 journalists. Both programs are documented in the government's own papers. Neither has been examined as half of the same arrangement.
News
Kath Pettingill, Melbourne's 'Granny Evil', dies aged 91
Kath Pettingill, the woman police knew as Granny Evil and her family called Nanna Kath, died at a nursing home in Venus Bay, Victoria, aged 91. She had been living with dementia in her final years.
Australia
Who decides what Australians see online, and how fast it changed
X banned an Australian outlet without publishing a reason. The regulatory machinery around that decision has moved further, and faster, than most people noticed.
Media
Australia raises tech levy to 2.5% and adds LinkedIn to scope
If you want to know where a platform's real money comes from, look at advertising. The Albanese Government has now done exactly that.
Opinion
Alan Jones trial: four months of court time, no published cost
Seventy-six witnesses, four months of court, one judge and no jury. Alan Jones has pleaded not guilty, and nobody publishes what a trial this size costs.
Australia
Queensland releases $7.1bn Victoria Park Games masterplan
The Queensland Government has released the Draft Victoria Park Precinct Legacy Plan, setting out its vision for one of the most contested parcels of inner-city land in the state's history.
Health
One in three mothers had a prior miscarriage, AIHW finds
Thirty per cent of women who gave birth in 2022 had previously experienced at least one miscarriage, and 10 per cent had experienced two or more.
Economy
Fuel excise cut ends 2 August, adding 16c a litre at the bowser
The number every driver needs to know this week is 16. That is the cents per litre returning to the price of petrol and diesel at midnight on 2 August, when the Albanese government's second and final fuel excise relief measure expires without replacement.
