Good afternoon.
Electric vehicle sales in Australia have exceeded petrol cars for the first time.
More than 27,000 EVs were sold in August, a new record for a single month and representing 24.9% of new cars sold. The climate-friendly technology surpassed both petrol vehicles (nearly 26,000 sold) and diesel cars (23,600).
The rise in EVs has been helped by two factors – the war in Iran pushing up oil prices and making running a petrol car significantly more expensive, and the introduction last year of a federal vehicle emissions standard that required auto companies to cut average tailpipe emissions year-on-year.
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, said EV sales surpassing petrol cars was a “landmark moment”.
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A note before leaving you with the rest of the news. This email is changing. From Monday you’ll be receiving our new-look newsletter Politics, really, as explained in the blue box we’ve been including in this email each day this week.
Helmed by our political editor, Tom McIlroy, and our team of political reporters in Canberra, Politics, really will be in your inbox at 5pm AEST every weekday and will continue to bring you the best news, the best podcasts, features, and puzzles you have come to love.
Top news
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Nepal-Tibet flash flood: Two workers pulled alive from hydropower tunnel nine days after disaster
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Pedicures and a pair of socks: sailors from USS Abraham Lincoln go wild in party resort of Pattaya
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New Zealand drugs regulator approves use of MDMA to treat severe PTSD
In pictures
The UN general assembly will vote on Friday on a resolution for the world to formally phase out the traditional Mercator map of the globe (introduced by the Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 to help sailors navigate the seas) in favour of one that more accurately displays Africa’s size.
Historians and geographers have said for years that the Mercator projection is rooted in western stereotypes. Activists have echoed this, with some coining the term “cartographic colonialism”.
What they said …
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“I was alive, and I hadn’t been in a long time.” – Tim Andrews, pig kidney recipient
Tim Andrews was seriously ill with end-stage kidney disease caused by type 2 diabetes and had only a 9% chance of receiving a human kidney within five years, against a more than 40% risk of dying or being removed from the waiting list.
But in a world first, and thanks to a genetically modified kidney from a pig called Wilma, Andrews was kept alive for a record nine months while he waited for a human transplant.
Podcast
Chanel Contos wants to fix our social media algorithms
Consent advocate Chanel Contos is leading a new campaign to push for social media companies to give Australians the choice to “opt in” to the algorithms driving the infinite scroll.
Following her speech at the National Press Club this week, she speaks with political editor Tom McIlroy about why this solution addresses the structural forces influencing misogynistic behaviour – particularly in young men.
Before bed read
Can your boyfriend read? Women are giving their partners the “Illiterate Boyfriend” test on TikTok. Users have compiled a list of what are essentially SAT words for women to ask their male partners to read. Many of these men – this is an overwhelmingly heterosexual activity – fail to finish the list unscathed.
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: ABLY. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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