Written by Sophie Babic

Tropical Cyclone Alfred closes in 

Our thoughts are with the residents of south-east Queensland (SEQ) and northern New South Wales who are bracing for severe flooding and destructive winds brought about by Tropical Cyclone Alfred. The category two system is expected to cross the coast near Brisbane  on Saturday. 

Northern Rivers and Mid-North Coast communities, still recovering from the 2022 floods, are now preparing for potential devastation.  

Authorities have deployed emergency teams and evacuation alerts affecting thousands of dwellings in SEQ and northern NSW. Currently, tens of thousands of homes are without power in these areas as Alfred approaches.  

Meta has apologised for inadvertently blocking and hiding search results for “Cyclone Alfred” on Facebook ahead of the tropical storm approaching Australia’s east coast. Facebook is a crucial communication tool for emergency updates, including evacuation orders, in Australia during crises. 

Media industry pay gap revealed 

New data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has shown significant gender pay gaps across Australian media companies.  

The worst offender, 2GB radio, has a 51% gap favouring men. In television, Network 10 has the smallest pay gap at 5.4%, while Foxtel has more work to do at 18.1%. Publishing fares better, with Mamamia and The Guardian paying women more, while News Corp and Nine Publishing have gaps favouring men.  

The gender pay gap discrepancies show it’s clear there is still a way for employers to go, just one in five employers have a pay gap within the desired range of ±5%.  

Across all industries, women earn an average of 78 cents for every dollar men make.  

Further crackdowns on minors using social media 

Australia is introducing new industry codes to prevent children from accessing adult content online, with tech companies facing fines of up to $50 million for non-compliance.  

The draft codes, submitted to the eSafety Commissioner, address content related to pornography, self-harm, eating disorders, and violence and require platforms to implement age verification and remove explicit content.  

Other digital services, including search engines, gaming platforms, and internet providers, must also enforce child safety measures. 

The codes align with the federal government’s social media ban for under-16s and, if approved, companies will have six months to comply before enforcement under the Online Safety Act begins. 

Historic wins at the Oscars 

This week’s 97th Academy Awards was full of firsts and record wins. Sean Baker made Oscars history winning four accolades for independent film, Anora, which only Walt Disney had previously achieved, though across multiple films. Anora earned six nominations, and Baker, known for wearing multiple hats as director, writer, and editor, dominated the night. 

Zoe Saldaña became the first actor of Dominican origin to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and Paul Tazewell made history as the first Black man to win Best Costume Design for Wicked. 

Latvia and Brazil both received their first Oscar wins for Best Animated Feature, Flow, and Best International Feature, I’m Still Here, respectively.