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Dolly Parton hosting New Year's, Kate's going to dinner, MPs get detention

All the news that's fit to mint.

Jenna ClarkeEditorial Director
8 min read
6:02PMNovember 22, 2022.
Updated 9:19AMNovember 23, 2022
The Oz
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All the news that's fit to mint.

What's happening in (The) Oz:

🤓 School is staying back in Canberra to finish the government's homework

👩🏻‍🍼 Babies are being taken away from parents in Queensland due to a housing shortage

🙅🏻‍♂️ Almost 50% of Tassie's 18-year-olds have experienced domestic violence

😲 Sydney happiness icon Danny Lim arrested and in hospital

🇿🇦 King Charles is vacuuming Buckingham Palace ahead of his first State Banquet

🤞🏼 2023 is going to be better as Dolly Parton is the official NYE host

🧘🏻‍♀️ How a 'modern day spiritual healer' got caught up in the industrial relations debate

😖 There's been another hack attack, this time on a kid's charity

💸 Australian crypto bros are now broke

🇮🇳 We're now open for business with India and UK

💃🏼 The secret ingredient in music that causes us to go all Elaine at weddings

Happy hump day, grab your 34th coffee and let's get it done,

May we all have the fearlessness and self-assuredness of former flames Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian today.

Shoot your shot, even when it rebounds or block that shot when required.

That's some sage advice for new Monarch, King Charles, as he whips the Dyson around the Palace ahead of his first State Banquet with the South African President.

The dinner will be attended by Queen Consort Camilla as well as the new Prince and Princess of Wales - the artists formerly known as Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Prince Harry won't be attending. Neither will Meghan Markle.They will be busy preparing their acceptance speeches for a participation award in the humanitarian Olympics. They are being honoured for quitting as working royals which has been interpreted by some as successfully eradicating the world of racism.

READ MORE: Harry and Meghan's quitting award and kids to vote in NZ

2022 is the worst

This allegedly happened on Tuesday.

Sandwich board wearing happiness activist Danny Lim has been hospitalised after being arrested in Sydney.

NSW Police are now investigating the police's actions during the altercation with the 78-year-old who, according from videos on social media, appeared to fall head first when being forced to the ground.

The cops were called about 11am on Tuesday to a shopping centre on George Street after Lim was issued with a move on direction but he failed to comply.

"The man's arrest was discontinued after he struggled with police and sustained an injury to his cheekbone," NSW Police said. 

2023 is already great

As (Saint) Dolly Parton will be telling 2022 to not let the door hit it on December 31.

The country star, and actual humanitarian, will be the co-host of Miley's New Year's Eve Party which will air for it's second year on NBC in the US. 

Last year Pete Davidson joined the Wrecking Ball star, this year it's Parton's turn to take a turn around the stage with her goddaughter.

I bet you a can of Coke and packet of Twisties this little soiree taking place in Miami, Florida gets more viewers than the Grammys.

Especially if this moment is recreated in Donald Trump's home state.

School is not dismissed

Like  what happened when you were forced to sit at the dinner table until you finished every last morsel of dinner, our Senators are being made to stay back in the upper house to get their work done before the end of year.

On Tuesday they voted to sit in parliament for an extra two days in order to get the government's legislative agenda through.

While the Greens agreed earlier on Tuesday to support Labor's plans to add Friday, November 25 and Friday, December 2 to the sitting fortnight, concern was raised by the crossbench that Bills such as Territory Rights (which will allow the ACT and NT to draft and vote on their own voluntary assisted dying laws) were being pushed to the last minute.

In order to clinch the support of ACT Senator David Pocock – who has been vocal about the Restoring Territory Rights bill – the government amended the Senate schedule to have the bill debated on Thursday rather than leaving it to the final day of the fortnight.

Busy times ahead.

The two biggest pieces of legislation to tackle before summer holidays include the National Anti-Corruption Commission, which both the Coalition and Greens are seeking a bunch of changes to, and Labor's ever evolving Industrial Relations laws.

Pocock has continued to call for the IR bill to be split and, along with his independent colleague Jacqui Lambie, remains concerned about multi-employer bargaining.

One Nation voted against staying back late to do the jobs the taxpayers pay them to do.

Kids being taken from the homeless

Young kids are being made wards of the state in Queensland due to a housing shortage.

Child advocates are warning authorities have no choice but to remove kids who are sleeping in cars while other tots already removed are being blocked from returning to their families as their parents can't find accommodation.

PeakCare boss Lindsay Wegener told Wednesday's Courier Mail he's raised the issue with the state government but hasn't heard back.

Teen trauma in Tassie 

A new report of violence among young people in Tasmania shows more than 40% of 18-19 year-olds have experienced intimate partner violence in the past year. That's compared to the national figure of 28.5% of teens in relationships.

Anglicare Tassie's Social Action and Research Centre produced the Young in Love and in Danger report. Author Dr Carmel Hobbs interviewed 18-25 year-olds about the relationships they had as kids, as well as community sector workers.

Bad day to be in the 'spiritual healer' industry

It was funny when Norwegian Princesses ditch their duties to shack up with a shaman, like Princess Louise did last week to pursue her lover and his love of alternative medicines.

Not so humourous when these woo woo merchants are being mentioned in research papers in parliament.

While the practices weren't an issue it was the accidental inclusion of a "modern day spiritual healer" in a Regulation Impact Statement for the government's IR Bill.

Opposition spokeswoman for workplace relations Michaelia Cash raised (an eyebrow) and concerns in the parliamentary inquiry over the cost to small and medium-sized businesses should multi-employer bargaining come a thing thanks to Labor's controversial new workplace laws.

Cash pointed to costs to small businesses laid out in the RIS, which included hiring external consultants, could be as high as $14,638 and for "medium sized businesses" the costs could be in excess of $75,000.

From here she went from "simmer" to "boil" in mere seconds.

Cash also pointed out the RIS referenced a website "How Much Should I Charge As A Consultant In Australia?" in calculating the consultancy cost businesses could be hit with under the new legislation.

The author of the article, Benjamin J Harvey, was described on the website as "a cross between business strategist, modern day spiritual healer, and self-development expert".

It was a blunder by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations and the reference to Harvey's article was an error.

"The website link in question was incorrectly included in the RIS," a Department spokeswoman told our colleagues at The Australian - the Dr Quinn to our Sully.

"The hourly consultancy rate used in estimating bargaining costs involved consulting a broad range of sources."

The Department went on to say there were "significant difficulties in modelling costs and impacts of the reformed workplace relations system.

Speaking of cyber clerical errors

Move over Optus and Medibank, The Smith Family need to get into the clown car being driven by organisations that have been hacked.

@theoz.com.au

Replying to @™️ Here is what to do if you’ve been #hacked in the #Medibank data breach. #tech #databreach #security #privacy

♬ original sound - The Oz

The local children's charity The Smith Family said on Tuesday that some supporter's information, including phone numbers and some credit card details, has been taken.

A Smith Family team member's email account was temporarily accessed by an unauthorised party in a bid to steal funds.

“The Smith Family recently experienced a cyber incident where attempts were made to steal The Smith Family funds. We promptly acted and the attempts were unsuccessful," CEO Doug Taylor said in a statement.

"We immediately took steps to secure our systems. We then commenced an investigation of the incident and engaged specialist cyber security experts to understand what happened. We have also taken steps to further strengthen our systems.

"The Smith Family can confirm no middle digits, expiry date or CVV numbers were accessed as The Smith Family does not store that information in its systems.

"The Smith Family also does not request, collect or hold personal identity documents such as passports or drivers’ licences of our supporters, as these are not required to process their generous donations. 

"The data accessed in itself cannot be used to make fraudulent purchases." 

Crying into your crypto

Before the parent company when belly up last week, the Australian outlet of crypto exchange FTX collapsed.

Now it's becoming apparent some Australian customers have lost "very significant" sums of money and that many are unlikely to see a return on their investment.

Administrator Scott Langdon has asked for more time to convene a first creditors' meeting, and said in an affidavit that 29,234 separate customers have been identified as having lost significant property.

Adding, the “recoverability and current value are yet to be determined.”

"The major constituent stakeholders are a broad range of customers who have spent funds (in many cases very significant sums) purchasing cryptocurrencies," Langdon said.

So far the administrators have found that FTX Express has $39million in its accounts and FTX Australia has $3million.

Meanwhile more than 280 emails have been received from customers.

"How do I get back my stolen etherium money?," one creditor wrote to the administrators via email.

"Following the news this morning about FTX in voluntary administration, I would like my $83,000 back please," another wrote.

The collapsed cryptocurrency exchange owes its 50 biggest global creditors nearly $5 billion, according to a separate US bankruptcy court filing.

*Gulp*

FTX owes funds to an estimated 1 million creditors, after the parent company led by founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed for bankruptcy on November 11.

*Chokes*

Less problematic trade issues have been resolved

There's something to be said about regulation, and in the case of our brand new free trade deals with both India and UK inked on Tuesday, there are only glowing thing right now.

Parliament passed the two bills and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is chuffed.

The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement will open up new markets for Aussie businesses and goods to reach around 1.4 billion consumers in India.

While the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement is the first full trade agreement the UK has negotiated from scratch following Brexit.

Now our side of the paperwork is all done both deals will becoming operational in about 30 days time after India and the UK dot their 'i's' and cross their 't's'.

Dance like no one is watching

I knew there was a reason I carry on like I've got ants in my pants whenever this banger drops.

Yes, even today.

Yes, I am a Millennial reared on Ministry of Sound compact discs paired with Lemon Ruskis.

Anyway, turns out science has the answer to why we do this.

@todayshow

Oh to be dancing with #julialouisdreyfus and #katiecouric on the #todayshow in 1998 @Katie Couric

♬ original sound - TODAY Show

A recent study in the Current Biology Journal found that people danced 12% more when very low frequency bass was played.

The study was done by scientists at the LIVElab at McMaster University in Ontario, who wanted to see what musical ingredients make us want to cut a rug.

"We look at things like what kinds of rhythms most pull people into that steady beat that we groove along with, and what kinds of interesting, syncopated, complex rhythms make us really drawn in and want to move more," neuroscientist and the lead author of the study Daniel Cameron told NPR.

It's all to do with the inner-ear structures.

Like that feeling you get at a gig when you're next to a speaker and you can feel it shaking in your chest? That is the "tactile stimulation of sound" at work when it's loud.

"And that's feeding into our motor system in the brain, the movement control system in our brain," Cameron said. "So it's adding a little bit of gain. It's giving a little more energy ... from that stimulation through those systems."

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/the-oz/news/dolly-parton-is-hosting-new-years-the-new-princess-of-wales-is-going-to-dinner-mps-get-detention-mr-happiness-in-hospital/news-story/075fc0bd26b8d841a860f90152e7857e