Anglicare's annual Rental Affordability Snapshot has revealed key professions can only afford a small percentage of rental listings across Australia.

Of 16 occupations surveyed, only three saw an increase in affordability since last year.

Anglicare is calling on the federal government to deliver more social and affordable housing.

If your Steam account is nine years old, it now [edit to add: should] auto verify.

Doesn't do me any good, my account is just shy of six years old, and my MC debit card still doesn't work. I'll be 60 before it auto verifies unless my debit card magically starts working.

There must be some under 18s whose parents got them a steam account nine years ago who are now verified.

In short:

Meta has quietly introduced a way for Australians to stop it from training its AI on their user data, but the company never announced the change.

An "objection" form has been available for more than a year, but digital rights advocates believe Meta does not want people to find it.

What's next?

Advice on how to opt out is slowly spreading as Meta users share information among themselves.

The objection form has been available in the EU since 2024, but the ABC has confirmed that no separate announcement was made when it was added in Australia a year later.

Nor have there been any reports of users being notified directly by Meta.

Meta has not shared why it made the decision, and the relevant sections of the Australian Privacy Act have not changed in recent years.

One possible explanation is that the question of how the law applies is not entirely settled.

Across the Pilbara, access to fresh food is precarious: truckloads of fruit and vegetables must travel thousands of kilometres to reach remote communities in the region. The distance drives up cost, and supply can be unreliable.

Roebourne, or Ieramugadu as it is known by its Traditional Owners, is one such community.

The vast majority of Australians support immigration and multiculturalism despite more feeling poorer – and increasingly pessimistic and distrustful of government, the annual Scanlon report on social cohesion has revealed.

People are more worried about artificial intelligence than climate change or going to war, but a global economic downturn and cost-of-living pressures are Australians’ key concerns.

Economic pain is also changing the way people vote, with people suffering hardship jumping ship to One Nation, according to the report, which is one of the country’s most extensive social research projects.

But, despite rising concern about antisemitism and Islamophobia, social cohesion in Australia has actually remained steady. The lead author of the report concedes many findings are cause for concern, but notes support for multiculturalism and diversity remains high, as does the sense of connection Australians feel to their communities.

Viewed from the Wagga Beach parking lot actually....

Just cropped a few (modern) cars out and put a filter on it to make it look kinda old. I think it looks nice

WA police said on Wednesday detectives from the family violence investigation squad charged the Perth woman with one count of aggravated stalking with intent to intimidate and one count of demanding property by written threats, commonly known as extortion.

WTF ?

WA police will allege the woman is a former partner of Steele-John

Steele-John did not attend parliament last week after a group of Greens members sent a three-page letter to the Greens leader, David Shoebridge, urging an investigation into allegations that Steele-John had acted inappropriately towards women between 2017 and 2025.

Is the former to do with the latter or are they separate ? anyone have any more info ?

...the takeaway from our synthesis of the strongest available evidence is that social media restrictions alone may not successfully address the mental health crisis.

Researchers and policymakers also need to explore other potential causes and solutions. Other factors under active investigation include the changing academic pressures young people face, as well as inequality, job insecurity, housing stress, climate change and substance use.

Of course, increases in mental health problems rarely boil down to one cause, but are likely due to a complex interaction of such factors.

There is also growing interest among researchers in young people’s increasing awareness and evolving concepts of mental health and mental illness. A young person today may seek a diagnosis for levels of distress that, in previous decades, might have gone undetected. This potentially affects how young people self-report mental health, as well as the treatment they receive.

Australia’s social media restrictions for under-16 year olds are an important opportunity to test the impact on young people’s mental health. However, we cannot assume they will stem the tide of growing mental health problems.

why do people like animal cruelty and gambling?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/53926707

The $94.3 million, "high-visibility, intelligence-led" Armed Response Command (ARC), which was officially launched on Sunday, was among a range of reforms introduced by the NSW government after the Bondi Beach terror attack on 14 December 2025.

The New South Wales Government’s gun buyback begins today, aiming to reduce the number of guns in the state. It comes in the aftermath of the shootings at Bondi in December 2025.

NSW Government statistics show that there are currently 1.16 million registered firearms in the state.

Australia-wide, gun numbers are now higher than before the Port Arthur massacre, which prompted the Howard Government’s gun buyback in the late 1990s.

The short article provides a great summary of all the AUKUS issues that have been considered by the AUKUS inquiry.

The report findings and recommendations will be presented this Wednesday 4th by Peter Garrett and Chris Barrie. You can watch on ABC 24 at 12.30pm AEDT at https://iview.abc.net.au/show/national-press-club-address

The first real scrutiny of AUKUS is to be delivered this week, with the Public Inquiry delivering its report in a National Press Club Address on Wednesday, November 4th. The desire for more transparency around this pact is almost universal.

The Climate Council has produced a new report: https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Crude-Awakening-How-Australia-Ranks-on-Fuel-Security.pdf

Its key findings are

1. Australia is among the most exposed countries in the world to an oil shock.

2. Being left at the mercy of global oil prices has cost Australians billions of dollars at the servo and at the checkout.

3. As fuel prices soared, homegrown clean energy and electrification shielded Australians from even higher costs.

4. Australia leads the world on household solar and battery uptake, but lags dangerously behind on electrifying transport, despite some bright spots.

5. We can’t stop the next oil shock, but we can be ready for it. Electric trucks and mining fleets, powered by our own sun and wind, put us in control.

The powers to use UFED [universal forensic extraction devices] on phones has been expanded for organised crime-related offences, and the examples originally given were offences relating to drugs or illicit tobacco, firebombings and public shootings. But as the organised crime offences include those organised by 2 or more people and those involving planning, these powers may end up being used in relation to protest activity.

“Under the Minns Labor government police have been given increased powers, the number of kids and young people in prison has increased at record rates, and more people are being arrested and incarcerated than ever before,” said NSW Greens MLC Sue Higginson in a media release at the time the Cellebrite UFED expansion laws were before parliament.

“If we are investing $15 million to hack more phones and give police further access to messages, images, location markers and other sensitive information, we must also increase the independent oversight to safeguard against improper use of this invasive technology,” the Greens justice spokesperson continued.

“This announcement comes amidst increasing community concern about Cellebrite, the Israeli spyware firm run by ex-IDF soldiers who provide phone-hacking technology to police.”

Admins please remove if not appropriate. Anyone interested who can't go, Zoom participation is apparently available. Also if you want to help someone else be able to afford to attend, you can donate on the registration form.

https://my.greens.org.au/civicrm/event/register?id=26088

In the age of “conditional welfare” we are asked to attend fortnightly compliance appointments with publicly funded, privately owned job agencies, maintain an internet and phone connection to upload proof of compliance with their “approved activities” and get frequent texts about the consequences of not meeting their monthly “points target”.

With my $46 a week, I prioritised internet ($17.50), mobile phone ($5) and paying my electricity in advance ($24).

While grateful to live in a country with a “safety net”, it only covered these four expenses.