Making news: Ash Barty got hitched and the swim team had a bitch

All the news that's fit to mint.

All the news that's fit to mint.

What's happening in (The) Oz today:

📈 Albo is VERY popular

☠️ A NSW politician got sacked on a Sunday

👩🏻‍⚖️ Shakira's hips may in fact, lie

🤷🏻‍♂️ Hobart has too many 'Caucasian males'

❤️‍🩹 Will Smith stars in new six minute film, "Sorry"

💔 Archie Roach was just 66-years-0ld

🥇 Our swim team would also win gold for drama

👰🏻‍♀️ Ash Barty got secretly married

🤴🏻 Prince Charles, Osama bin Laden and a lot of money

📣 Princess Charlotte's first words

Good morning!

At least one of us will have a spring in our step this Monday - Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

He is officially the political version of fresh sheets.

The new(ish) PM has pulled the highest satisfaction rating on record for an incoming Aussie leader.

In the first Newspoll since the May election published by The Australian, the Olympics to our Comm Games, Albanese attracted a satisfaction rating of 61%.

While high inflation, Kate Bush at #1 and Collingwood's successful AFL season have proved the 80s and 90s are back, so too is the trend of having a super popular PM.

"This is the strongest satisfaction rating, in a first post-election poll, since this question was first measured in 1985 during the Hawke government," The Australian reports.

"While former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd’s net approval ratings were higher on coming into office, his satisfaction rating in the first post-election poll was lower at 59%."

Scott Morrison recorded a satisfaction rating of 51% following the "miracle" election in 2019. Old timers John Howard and Bob Hawke both recorded satisfaction levels in the high 50s back in the 80s and 90s.

It's not just Albo people are happy with. His party's primary vote - the box you put 1 in - has risen by 5 points to 37% in the two months since they won the election with 32.6% of first preference votes. 

It looks as if people are paying attention to a parliament stacked with a record number of women, more diversity than ever before and babies (actual infants, not adult ones).

Sorry to this man

Hobart is set to tear down a statue of former premier as the city has too many landmarks dedicated to "Caucasian males" according to a new report published at the weekend.

The city council has been considering the removal of the large Franklin Square sculpture of William Crowther. He was a naturalist, surgeon and premier who, back in 1869, was accused of "severing and stealing the skull from an Aboriginal corpse".

This new council report, to be voted on this coming week, recommends spending $20,000 to send the statute to storage, before finding it a new home. Then spending $50,000 on “interpretive elements onsite” in the city's grounds.

The report also highlighted there could be a "broader purge" statues of those with problematic histories.

See ya sis

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has sacked the Fair Trading Minister Eleni Petinos following allegations last week she bullied staff and workers. 

She was also the politician who held the workplace safety portfolio and denies the allegations she threatened to kill employees, called her adviser "stupid" and used an ableist slur. 

NSW Minister for Small Business Eleni Petinos is now the former NSW Minister for Small Business.

Late on Sunday night the Premier issued a statement that Petinos was being kicked out of his cabinet after "further matters" had been brought to his attention.

"Today I spoke with the Minister for Small Business and Fair Trading Eleni Petinos after some further matters concerning her were brought to my attention," Perrottet said.

"In light of these matters, Ms Petinos’ service as a Minister will cease with immediate effect, and I will write to the Governor in this regard tomorrow. " 

Petinos strenuously denies the allegations. 

Read how the mess started here.

Her hips might lie

Shakira is facing eight years in jail for unpaid taxes.

Lawyers in Spain want her sent to the slammer for about eight years off the back of being charged for tax evasion.

The Colombian singer, whose number one ditties include Beautiful Liar, is at the centre of a $21 million tax fraud case.

The money concerns a period between 2012 and 2014 when Shakira did not pay taxes in Spain. She claims she was not a resident there at the time despite allegedly buying a house in Barcelona in 2012 for her and her fam. 

It's been a rough year for the 45-year-old.

She broke up with famous footballer Gerard Pique, with whom she has two children, just a few weeks ago. 

“We regret to confirm that we are parting ways,” the couple said in a statement in June. 

“For the wellbeing of our children, who are our highest priority, we ask that you respect their privacy. Thank you for your understanding.”

The internet - home to a healthy Shakira fandom - is, of course, abuzz with the news.

Judge: You’re gonna have to serve…

Shakira: pic.twitter.com/D9Cbp5Qg11

— Saint Hoax (@SaintHoax) July 29, 2022

Will Smith is sorry. Again

Will Smith has apologised to Chris Rock for slapping him during the Oscars, saying his behaviour was "unacceptable" and that he had reached out to the comedian to discuss the incident but was told Rock wasn't ready.

"There is no part of me that thinks that was the right way to behave in that moment," Smith said in a 6-minute video posted to his YouTube channel.

"I am deeply remorseful and I'm trying to be remorseful without being ashamed of myself...I'm sorry really isn't sufficient," Smith went on, adding that he's hurting because he hasn't lived up to fans' impressions.

"Disappointing people is my central trauma."

He also read out a laundry list of names he apologises to including all of Rock's family.

Vale to our greatest story teller

Archie Roach - singer, song writer, victim and voice of the Stolen Generation - died at the weekend after succumbing to health issues.

He was only 66-years-old.

His song Took the Children Away featured on his debut album Charcoal Lane, released in 1990.

The song launched and defined his career that spanned nine studio albums, a soundtrack for the movie  The Tracker and numerous live albums and collabs.

In November 2019 his record called Tell Me Why, that complimented his wonderful autobiography, became his first to crack the top 10 of the ARIA charts.

In his memoir, Roach wrote that “empathy was my impetus”. 

He was only 66-years-old. 

His death follows a chat The Oz had with politician Bob Katter who said his three decades in parliament are a failure as he's yet to deliver equality for Indigenous Australians.

"The life expectancy for them is in their 50s or 60s. For the rest of us, it’s in our 80s," Katter said.

Uncle Arch was 66.

— Senator Briggs (@Briggs) July 31, 2022

Olympic-sized drama 

It's all happening in Birmingham at the Commonwealth Games.

The Rugby 7s was electrifying with a trans-Tasman thriller which saw a hair pull pretty much kill off New Zealand's chance to win back-to-back gold.

Portia Woodman was running to score a match-levelling try only to be stopped in her tracks by Aussie star Maddison Levi who clumsily and desperately lunged to make a tackle and instead yanked a handful of hair.

Levi was sent to the sin bin, no penalty try was awarded. 

The hair pull felt across the Tasman.

The swimming continues to resemble something Aaron Spelling would have produced. Thanks to this romantic narrative arc.

The love triangle between singer-turned-fish Cody Simpson, Kyle Chalmers and one of our most decorated Olympians ever - Emma McKeon got pointier when the exes teamed up in a gold medal winning team relay.

Chalmers blew-up at the post-race press conference accusing the media of making up stories about troubles in the team and his apparent snub of his ex-girlfriend when they won together.

The Dolphins won gold in the mixed 4 x 100m freestyle final. The team featured ex-partners Emma McKeon and Kyle Chalmers.

In emotional outbursts at the conference, which he reiterated on Instagram after, Chalmers denied there was a rift and spoke about the pressures the coverage was having on the team.

“We win almost every single medal last night and again tonight and that’s the storyline. I think the media really need to start to grow up and focus on the good things,” Chalmers said.

Meanwhile McKeon is now a living legend.

"Emma McKeon’s gloriously understated march towards an unparalleled swimming career is continuing at the Commonwealth Games. She’s spending so much time on the podium in Birmingham that she could pitch a tent and camp out," The Austrailan reports.

After winning medals in Tokyo in 2021 she became Australia’s most successful Olympian and this week she's set to surpass her heroes like Susie O'Neill.

After seamlessly anchoring that aforementioned freestyle relay team, she landed her 10th Games gold medal which equals the record hauls of Ian Thorpe, O’Neill and Leisel Jones. 

Australian swimmers and love birds Emma McKeon and Cody Simpson warm up at the Commonwealth Games.

Her new boyfriend, Simpson, is also having a great Games debut. He's won a gold medal after swimming in a heat of the 4x100m men's freestyle relay.

The 24-year-old swam the second leg of the first heat, which was easily won by Australia as the Dolphins called upon their reserves to get them to the final.

Swimmers who compete in the heats also get a medal, meaning Simpson is officially a gold medallist.

Speaking of secret love

Congratulations to tennis ace Ash Barty who married her boyfriend, golfer Garry Kissick, in a surprise ceremony at the weekend.

Ash Barty and Garry Kissick got married on Saturday.

The couple married in Queensland with their families and close friends in attendance.

Ash wore a frock by Suzanne Harward.

Prince Charles' money worries

A report published in the Sunday papers in the UK claimed Prince Charles received a $1.7m donation for his charity from relatives of Osama bin Laden.

The Sunday Times alleged that the future king accepted the payment from Bakr bin Laden, the patriarch of the Saudi family, and his brother Shafiq.

Charles is said to have held a private meeting with Bakr at Clarence House in London in October 2013, two years after Osama bin Laden was shot dead by US special forces, according to the newspaper.

Clarence House strongly disputes many of the claims.

Representatives for the Prince said the decision to accept the donation to his charity, the Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund (PWCF), was taken solely by trustees.

Meanwhile much happier scenes in Kensington Palace.

Princess Charlotte has made her first ever public comments with her dad William wishing the British soccer team, the Lionesses, the best of luck for the Women's Euro final against Germany.

The last time England was in a Euro final was 1984. Overnight they fought for their first major tournament win against the eight-time champions.

Good luck tonight @Lionesses, we’re all cheering for you! pic.twitter.com/ATsLg6QHIF

— The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) July 31, 2022

Great parting words for a Monday from Charlotte.

"Good luck, I hope you win. Bye."

✌🏼