What we learned; Wednesday 28 June
And that’s where we’ll leave you this evening. Here’s what we learned today:
Ads for online gambling should be banned across all media and at all times within three years to combat the manipulation of an “impressionable and vulnerable audience”, a parliamentary inquiry has recommended.
The gambling ad ban plan has already come under fire from the crossbench, who are urging the federal government to act sooner.
The gambling industry’s peak body, Responsible Wagering Australia, has criticised the recommended advertising ban as “shortsighted and ineffective”.
According to a bombshell statement to the parliament’s audit committee, lobbying firm Synergy 360 proposed a structure designed to allow Stuart Robert to profit from government contracts he helped win for its clients, an allegation Robert has rejected. NDIS minister Bill Shorten has said the allegations are “very serious and deserve further investigation.”
May’s CPI increase was the lowest in 13 months, at 5.6%. Some investors believe the Reserve Bank is more likely to pause next week rather than hike its official rate again, but others tip it to raise interest rates again over the next couple of months.
The Australian Energy Regulator today revealed that 1.3% of residential customers, or almost 90,000 people, were participating in hardship plans in the March quarter, a proportion that now exceeds pre-Covid levels.
The deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, will hold talks with the prime minister of Solomon Islands during a two-day trip to the Pacific island country this week.
The NSW government has flagged plans to introduce amendments to anti-discrimination legislation making vilification on the grounds of religious belief, affiliation or activity unlawful. It’s been criticised by the Greens, who say it is an ad hoc measure and the whole legislation needs an overhaul.
Taylor Swift fans across Australia madly rushed to nab one of the roughly 250,000 tickets on sale for her Sydney and Melbourne shows today as the second tranche of presale tickets went live this morning.
Thanks for your company this afternoon. See you tomorrow.
Updated
Australian space lasers could help with moon mission
The first human mission to the moon in more than a half century could have an Australian connection, with researchers developing a new “super-fast laser” technology to communicate with spacecraft, AAP reports.
Scientists behind the $6.5m TeraNet project say its optical technology will be 1000 times faster than the radio waves currently used to communicate in space.
The network, due for completion in 2026, will include two fixed ground stations at the University of Western Australia in Perth and the town of Mingenew, in WA’s mid west, as well as a mobile station initially deployed at New Norcia.
One of the first commercial optical communications networks in Australia, its primary function will be to transfer data to and from satellites.
But its capacity for high-speed communication in deep space could also be utilised during Nasa’s Artemis II mission in 2024.
The first crewed mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, it will take the first woman and first person of colour to the lunar surface.
Updated
