Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Today's episode was made possible by our friends over at NBN. From The Daily Oz, I'm Emma Gillespie. I'm Zara Seidler. It's Wednesday the 24th of June. Here's what's making headlines this evening.
Prices increased by an average of 4% over the year to May, down from 4.2% in April. That's according to new inflation data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. While prices are still rising, the rate of inflation has continued to ease from the three-year high of 4.6% recorded in March. That's when fuel costs surged amid conflict in the Middle East.
Food, housing and transport were the biggest drivers to inflation in the 12 months to May, according to the ABS. Housing costs rose 6.5%, driven by higher electricity prices, rents and the cost of building new homes. Over the year, fuel got 7.7% more expensive. However, compared to April, petrol prices fell 11.9%.
Papua New Guinea has suspended the importation of all Australian chicken and egg products after the first mainland cases here of a deadly bird flu strain. Two seabirds found in remote WA have tested positive for the H5 strain, but there's been no evidence of mass mortalities among birds. The agricultural industry is on high alert, but authorities say poultry sectors remain free from the flu.
Despite this, PNG's Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority announced it would block Australian poultry exports following the outbreak.
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Chapter 2: What are the latest inflation statistics in Australia?
Around half of Australia's total chicken exports go to PNG at a value of around $66 million per year. The Department of Agriculture said it's actively engaging with PNG to resolve this issue and lift the suspension.
Music
YouTube and its parent company Google have settled a case with a Florida teen who claimed the platform caused mental health harms. The terms of the settlement have not been made public, but a Google spokesperson said the matter was resolved amicably, with the company's focus remaining on building age-appropriate products and parental controls.
The suit was brought by a 16-year-old boy identified as RKC and is the second of more than 5,000 similar US lawsuits against social media sites. The first trial, which ended in March, was in the case of a woman who claimed the design of YouTube and Instagram is deliberately addictive.
A jury found the platform's parent companies, Google and Meta Negligent, resulting in millions of dollars in fines. Lawyers for RKC said in a statement, YouTube's decision to resolve this case before having it face a jury speaks for itself.
And today's good news, a new study from an international team of scientists shows Indigenous traditions can offer new insight into volcanic activity. Dr Heather Handley from Museums Victoria led the study, which examined oral storytelling traditions from around the Pacific Ocean.
Stories from Hawaii, Australia, Fiji and other nations could be used to identify past volcanic eruptions that can help us understand the future. Headley said these knowledge systems can provide detailed, place-based insights into past volcanic activity that are often difficult to obtain through scientific methods alone.
She added that there are several cases where modern science has simply rediscovered eruptions that Indigenous communities had already encoded in their oral traditions centuries or millennia ago.
That is the latest from the Daily Oz newsroom. If you're looking for something else, you can catch up on this morning's Deep Dive, where Em and Lucy explain how UK PM Keir Starmer lost his job.
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