Australia

• In short: A man is in hospital after he was hit by a whale's tail while fishing near Tweed Heads.
• Authorities located the men and brought them back to shore.
• The man sustained superficial facial injuries and is in a stable condition.

• In short: Musicians passed a vote of no confidence in the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra's managing director and operating officer on Friday night after the cancellation of a performance by a pianist who spoke about the conflict in Gaza.
• The move has also prompted well-known band The Cat Empire to postpone three shows with the MSO.
• What's next? The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra says it will conduct an independent review into its policies

• In short: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra admits it made an error when it pulled pianist Jayson Gillham from an upcoming performance over comments he made about the killing of journalists in Gaza.

• The MSO said it made an "error" in cancelling his performance, but maintains their concert was not an appropriate place to express personal views.

• What's next? The orchestra's August 15 concert, which was expected to go ahead without Mr Gillham, has now been cancelled due to security issues but the MSO wants to reschedule the performance.

The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra has removed Australian-British pianist Jayson Gillham from an upcoming performance for “introductory remarks” he made regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas during a solo recital last weekend.

At a recital performance on 11 August at Iwaki Auditorium, Gillham gave the world premiere performance of Connor D’Netto’s Witness as an unannounced addition to the program that the MSO confirmed it had granted permission for. Written for Gillham, Witness is dedicated to journalists killed in the ongoing Gaza conflict.

Reportedly, Gillham’s introduction noted the specific targeting of journalists by Israeli forces. As a result, the MSO has removed Gillham from its Mozart and Brahms program on 15 August at Melbourne Town Hall, during which Gillham was to perform Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12. Gillham’s name was removed from the online concert listing earlier today, with the addition of a note stating that an update to its repertoire ‘will be announced soon’.

Queensland’s Labor government turned heads last week with a bold new election promise. If returned to power, it would set up 12 state-owned petrol stations and limit fuel price rises to just five cents a litre on any given day.

The proposal certainly tapped into a pain point for Queenslanders – Brisbane topped national petrol price rankings last year.

But it was quickly met with a predictable pile on from opposing political commentators, industry bodies and some economists, attracting labels like “risky” and “dumb and stupid”.

Mark McKenzie, chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, called it a “wildly bizarre intervention” in the retail fuel market.

So is the Queensland premier really out of his mind, trying to win votes less than three months out from an election? Or is there actually some merit to this proposal?

Four Corners has spoken to more than 200 people to investigate allegations of Channel Seven's toxic culture, uncovering allegations of bullying, sexism, and exploitation.

Warning: This story contains coarse language and a description of a suicide attempt.

In short:

• Australia's domestic spy chief says three to four countries have been caught actively seeking to interfere in diaspora communities.

• Mike Burgess said Australians would be shocked that those seeking to interfere were nations considered friends.

What's next:

• He has warned that he would be willing to call out nations publicly if the threat persists.

This is a follow up to that time that they baited him into self-incrimination and fed into/encouraged his fixation back in 2021

So I ordered a GPU from MWave and they sent me a $100 naked wines voucher discount thing. But, being grog, it's 18+. And guess who's not 18+? Me. And it has a 30 day activation time frame, so won't be particularly helpful for when I do turn 18. Nobody I know drinks wine, or wants it, so free to a good home.

Voucher would have about 20 days left on it, assuming they printed it the same day they posted my GPU

Full T's and C's:

"To use this voucher, you must be 18 years or older. This voucher entitles first time Naked wines customers to $100 off their first order of 12 bottles. All codes are a minimum of 12 bottles, and a minimum spend of $155.58. not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion. Next day delivery is available to Sydney, Melbourne and Perth Metro areas for orders placed before 3pm. We don't ship to the northern territory. Delivery not included. Offer is subject to change. See website for full terms and conditions"

Free to a good mouth, if anybody wants it, just comment and I'll DM you with the code and pin.

A full half hour of people crashing into other people and/or things

• In short: A 47-year-old man has been charged after allegedly stealing over $600,000 worth of limited edition Bluey coins.
• Police allege the man was an employee at a warehouse where the Australian Mint packages were being held before their release.
• Police says only 1,000 of the coins have been accounted for a most will now be in circulation.

We’d been fighting for 25%, so only 10% left to go. Glad to see UWU putting some pressure on.

At its meeting today, the Board decided to leave the cash rate target unchanged at 4.35 per cent and the interest rate paid on Exchange Settlement balances unchanged at 4.25 per cent.