What we learned, Friday 26 April 2024
With that, we’ll end our live coverage of the day’s news.
Here’s a summary of the day’s main news developments:
Jobseeker payments should be raised to 90% of the age pension and indexed to prevent people going “without life’s essentials”, the government’s poverty experts say.
Sydney man Benjamin Cohen, who was wrongly named on air by Seven News as the Bondi Junction killer, has reached a confidential settlement with the network.
Meanwhile, prime minister Anthony Albanese has labelled Faraz Tahir, the security guard killed in the Bondi Junction Westfield stabbing, a “national hero” at his funeral service in Sydney.
Bruce Lehrmann has agreed to pay the columnist and author Peter FitzSimons’ costs for complying with a subpoena during Lehrmann’s failed defamation proceedings against Network Ten and former Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson.
Scott Farquhar, the Australian tech billionaire and joint chief executive of software company Atlassian, will step down from his role at the end of August to spend time with his young family and focus on philanthropy, the company says.
Thanks for reading. Have a pleasant evening and weekend.
Updated
Taylor Swift makes Aria chart history
Some breaking news suitable for a Friday night: Taylor Swift has made Australian music history, becoming the female artist with the most No 1 albums in Aria history.
Her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department, is her 13th album to reach No 1 on the Aria album chart, surpassing the record held by Madonna.
She is also now the first artist ever to hold the entire top 10 on the singles chart, and currently holds 29 spots in the top 50 singles at once – a feat that has never been achieved before.
Swift remains the only artist to replace themselves at No 1 on Aria album chart, and has done so three times.
Jimmy Barnes continues to hold the overall record for most No 1 albums with 15 solo albums (and another five with Cold Chisel), followed by the Beatles with 14.
Updated
