Chapter 1: What are the latest headlines affecting Australia?
A Listener Production. Hello, Sasha Barbagat with you. Welcome to The Briefing. You might have heard of Palantir, the AI-driven analytics company that's being used by ICE in the US and Coles right here in Australia. Now there's a push for the Australian government to rip up its contracts with the controversial body, with one senator dubbing it a national security risk.
There's a big chunk of camera who can't seem to distinguish between the national interests of the United States and the national interests of Australia. And I suppose if you don't see a difference between the two, you might invite Palantir in for afternoon tea.
We deep dive Palantir, its role in Australia and the fight to get rid of it in the second half of this episode. First, it is time for the headlines with Chris Spirou on Tuesday 5 May.
Morning, Sash. We're starting in Canberra today as more budget news trickles through a week out from the announcement. The latest is around EVs with the government set to keep its tax break for the cars despite blowing out costs, but will introduce new measures to rein some of the spending in.
The incentive has saved drivers thousands of dollars on the purchase of both new and used EVs, making the decision to keep the tax break a particularly timely move right now as more people look to ditch petrol cars amid the Iran war.
Yeah, so this incentive allows employers to avoid paying fringe benefits tax on EVs under $91,000 purchased through a novated lease, but it will be moved to a 25% discount.
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Chapter 2: How is Palantir involved in Australian national security?
Now, that will save the budget $1.7 billion over the next four years. after the cost of the tax break blew out to $1.35 billion this financial year alone.
Labor is continuing meantime to lay the groundwork ahead of next Tuesday's budget, with more chatter around whether a key election promise is being broken by the government through the introduction of changes to capital gains and negative gearing rules, Chris.
Yeah, the Treasurer Jim Chalmers yesterday insisting making the right decisions for Australians is more important.
The best way to build trust is to make the right decisions for the right reasons. And so what we are thinking through as we finalise this budget is not about, and never will be about, setting some Australians against other Australians. It's about recognising some of these legitimate intergenerational concerns.
It's widely tipped that we will see very little spending in this paper with savings to be prioritised and we've kind of already seen that with the announced changes to the NDIS.
Yeah, that's right. Interesting there to see Jim Chalmers saying that an election promise doesn't matter when it comes to, you know, tackling intergenerational, you know, inconsistencies and wealth and things like that. Yeah. I do think Labor has a bit of a mandate to make changes in this space given the landslide win and they are... It is tactical.
They're two years out from the next election right now.
Yes, they've got a lot of buffer space for people to forget.
That's absolutely right.
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Chapter 3: What controversies surround Palantir's data collection practices?
But I do think that for, like, most Australians, you know... there's the argument that they're targeting mum and dad investors here who have one or two properties and it's how they, you know, are able to get ahead and, you know, set themselves up for retirement and things like that, which is important.
However, I think a lot of people are saying that what's important at the moment is how we can support first home buyers getting into the market, whether that's younger people, whether that's, you know, nurses who, you know, can't even afford to live near where they work. So, you know, I think overall this policy will be fairly well received, proven wrong.
And look, on the cost of living topic, we should mention before we move on to the next headline that the RBA is of course making its interest rates announcement today, and it is widely tipped that we'll see an increase in the cash rate of 25 basis points to 4.35%. That'd mark a third consecutive hike. And this would return us to the peak of the cash rate that we saw
before the RBA started its cutting cycle last year, which was very briefly lived. So we can expect that to come this afternoon after 2.30.
To New South Wales now, where three people are dead and four others have been injured in a water rescue gone wrong. It's understood a marine rescue crew had been heading out to help a yacht in distress at Ballina when the vessel rolled in heavy conditions last night.
Police have since confirmed that three people have died, but it's not clear if they were members of the rescue crew or on the yacht.
Now, the yacht has since sunk with a recovery mission underway. It is not known how many people were on that vessel.
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Chapter 4: How has Palantir evolved since its inception post-9/11?
Four others made it to shore and have been treated for their injuries, none of which are expected to be life-threatening. At the time of recording this, the operation to retrieve the yacht remains active.
to the middle east now where iran has launched a fresh wave of attacks towards the united arab emirates for the first time since last month's ceasefire a drone hit the country's largest port and oil facility injuring three indian nationals while four missiles were either intercepted or came down in the sea the attacks pushed oil prices up sharply brent crude now at 157 australian dollars a barrel and that for context is up 53 since the beginning of this year
Earlier this morning, we heard from Donald Trump, who claims US forces have hit seven Iranian small boats as they push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On Truth Social, he pointed to Iran targeting unrelated nations, including a South Korean vessel inside the Strait, and he called on Seoul to join his Project Freedom.
He's also spoken to Fox News, warning Iran it would be, quote, blown off the face of the earth if it does continue going after U.S. vessels guiding ships through and if Iran continues blocking the waterway. Iran, though, remains defiant, saying it has a legitimate right to police those crossings and sees the whole U.S. operation as a ceasefire breach.
Again, kind of like we said last week, nothing's changing in this space. That ceasefire, is it holding? I mean, the UAE's been targeted, but we aren't seeing that day-to-day missiles and drone attacks like we were seeing at the beginning of the war, which is a step towards something, but is it a step towards permanent peace? Not at the moment.
Well, and there's no progress on peace talks either and it really is starting to echo what we saw happen with the war on Gaza where it was, you know, all of these delegations meeting and constant talks and just this inability for the sides to agree to a deal. So there is this sense that this war is just falling into a stalemate and we're not seeing an end to it come anytime soon.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of using AI in surveillance and data analysis?
Back home now, police unions across the country are calling for urgent action. After revelations, tasers and body-worn cameras can be hacked and tracked by criminals. An ABC investigation has revealed the security flaw with the equipment made by a company called Axon.
And it was a hacker who discovered the problem, writing to every police agency in Australia to warn them that criminals can gain access to police locations through an app.
At this stage, though, it does not appear that there has been any action taken to shore up the safety of officers. Unions representing police in Queensland and Victoria have raised issue with the devices. So too has the association that supports AFP officers. So one to watch, Chris.
Look, meantime, on the topic of tracking, New South Wales has announced it will criminalise the use of secret GPS tracking devices in what will be a strengthening of existing surveillance laws.
Yeah. comes two years after the Crime Commission handed down a report finding domestic violence perpetrators are increasingly using the technology to stalk victims. It was revealed as many as one in four people in the state who had purchased a device had a history of DV. So An interesting space to watch. I know in the legislation that's going to be tabled, there are certain exemptions.
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Chapter 6: What grassroots movements are emerging against Palantir in Australia?
So it's not, this legislation doesn't target parents who are wanting to keep track of their kids through certain apps or people who do hop on social media incidentally or like Snapchat and things like that and have a look at where their friends are on maps. It's specifically for this sort of stuff.
We're heading over to the US now where Britney Spears has avoided jail time after pleading guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving in her DUI case. The 44-year-old pop star was initially charged with driving under the combined influence of alcohol and at least one drug in March.
after police spotted her driving fast and erratically in Southern California, where she was arrested after failing a series of field sobriety tests. She was released on bail the next day and voluntarily entered a substance abuse treatment program a month later.
Spears was not required to attend proceedings on Monday and did not appear in court. The Ventura County District Attorney confirming she made the plea through her lawyer, taking responsibility at the earliest stage. As part of the deal, she will serve one year of informal probation, complete a DUI education course, continue her mental health treatment and pay state mandated fines.
And wrapping up headlines today by talking about fashion's biggest night. Yes, the Met Gala is about to get underway in New York City. Co-chairing this year's Met Gala is Beyonce, who will be making her first appearance in a decade, Venus Williams and our very own Nicole Kidman, of course, alongside Vogue's Anna Wintour, who curates the very highly exclusive guest list to this event.
Yes, the theme is costume art and the dress code is fashion is art. So we're seeing a theme here with tickets to the event costing a modest 100,000 US dollars. That is 139,000 Australian dollars just to attend this, what is referred to as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute.
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Chapter 7: How do public perceptions shape the future of data privacy?
Don't know why you'd need $100,000 per person. person, but it is, you know, like, this is attended by some of the most wealthy and famous and powerful people in the States and arguably the world. Interestingly, though, this year there's a bit of backlash because Jeff Bezos and his wife, they're lead sponsors and honorary chairs.
They're the main source of funding for the exhibition and the party this year, but there are rumours that certain A-listers are boycotting the event because of that. Mmm. The rumour is that Zendaya is among those A-listers as well as Meryl Streep. But I don't know if I believe that to be true. So time will tell. But Meryl Streep, Devil Wears Prada 2 is out. She's a busy, busy gal.
So I don't know. No, but that's... This is the key time for those people to be making appearances at things like the Met Gala.
Yeah, also true.
Because they're doing press and they're out and, you know, everyone wants a piece of them.
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Chapter 8: What actions are being called for regarding Palantir's contracts?
Like, I think, yeah, it'd be pretty telling if Meryl Streep wasn't there. There also have been protests outside the museum citing Amazon's labour record and... tech bro takeover of the event.
I remember last year, in the last couple of years, the event's been marred by a bit of criticism, particularly on social media, around conflicts in the Middle East and kind of this idea of like a Hunger Games event where, you know, these are the people in the capital where they're, you know, dressed in these impeccable costumes and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars while people are starving on the other side of the world.
So there's always a bit of chatter around the Met Gala, whether you're into the fashion and you just like the event for what it represents or you kind of see a deeper side to it. So I'm sure those conversations will continue in 2026. Yeah.
And if you do want to catch the action.
If you are not a piece of shit human. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. I get into the fashion. I like it.
Look, I just want to see what torch Kim Kardashian puts her body through this year because every year that's the conversation and every year I'm just like, what is going on? Why do you keep doing this? But look, you can catch it from 8am Australian Eastern Standard Time on Vogue's YouTube channel or on 7 Plus. So there you go. All right, that is it for headlines.
Up next is my deep dive looking into Palantir. It's a company that was created in the wake of 9-11. It's used by the CIA. It's used by ICE. It's also used by Coles. And now there's a push to get it out of Australia. Stick around. That deep dive is coming up for you next.
There's a company operating inside our national security agencies, our banks and even supermarkets that most Australians aren't fully aware of. It was born in the shadow of September 11, funded by the CIA, built by billionaire Peter Till, and he's the same man who co-founded PayPal and helped bankroll Donald Trump to the White House.
I'm talking about Palantir Technologies, the US data giant that gives its clients the tools to take every scrap of information it holds and stitch it into one big searchable intelligence picture. And that can include everything from staff rosters, supply chain logs and inventory levels to our personal purchases, our private phone records and even our exact movements.
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