Latest news with #DownUnder
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Automotive
- Forbes
Tesla Cybertruck Banned In UK But Slated To Launch In Australia
The Cybertruck is headed Down Under. Photo by Tesla In February, we brought you a story about the Tesla Cybertruck being banned, seized and impounded by British police in the U.K. due to its lack of a conformity certificate, its sharp edges, it being too big and too heavy for British roads, its illegal light bar, and its supercar-like acceleration. Britain's National Transportation Safety Board chairwoman Jennifer Hominy said of the Tesla, 'The Cybertruck is an over-6000 lb piece of steel that has no business going a quarter mile in under 11 seconds.' Since Elon Musk's controversial foray into U.S. politics, and the subsequent backlash from the motoring public, all Tesla models, including the Cybertruck are suffering falling sales. Owners of the edgy, poorly built truck are now finding it hard to sell or trade-in their vehicles as resale values fall through the floor. But it's not all bad news. There is a ray of light for Tesla on the horizon, and it comes, strangely enough, from Down Under. That's right, the Cybertruck is being seriously considered to go on sale in Australia. According to ' a local site, Tesla Australia has been briefed on the Australian Design Rule (ADR) changes required to launch the Cybertruck in Australia, as the controversial truck prepares to debut there. Country Director for Tesla Australia, Thom Drew, says the Cybertruck was 'never off the table' for a local launch – despite the vehicle reservation system being stripped from the Tesla Australia site – and instead says demand in the USA pushed back any global rollout. But while Mr Drew stopped short of confirming a local launch, he says it has 'always been on the radar,' suggesting a debut Down Under is close. Generally considered as a one million car sales per year market, the Australian car market is one of the most progressive and open in the world, with virtually every car brand on sale except Acura, Citroen, Chrysler, Dodge and Infiniti. By contrast, Australia was one of the first markets to open up to Chinese brands such as BYD, Geely, Chery, GWM, MG, Zeekr, Deepal, JAC, XPeng, NIO, Leapmotor and Haval and has remained arguably the world's best test bed for Chinese cars. The local Tesla team have sought a briefing on how to get the Cybertruck to comply with ADR regulations, following a 12-month Australian roadshow with a US-spec left-hand-drive truck. As far as design regulations stipulate, the truck apparently does not require much modification to meet local design standards. 'There are small changes to bumper widths, some external lighting requirements, and obviously left to right-hand drive, and just a few engineering changes like that, but fundamentally it'd be the same vehicle.' These changes could add between $5,000 to $10,000 to the price of a truck. Drew adds, 'I can't tell you a timeline, or if or when, but just locally, we're advocating for it as much as we can.' If it is launched, and that would be in early 2026 at the earliest, it will be the first version of the Cybertuck to debut with right-hand-drive anywhere in the world.
News.com.au
16 hours ago
- Business
- News.com.au
‘Something has to give': Warning Australia can't ignore any longer
There is a deeply concerning phenomenon on the rise across the country and, as Australians, unless we make a real change, it is only going to get worse. New research has found money and financial concerns have the most significant impact on the mental wellbeing of all Australians, affecting 48 per cent of the population, followed by stress and anxiety. New research by News Corp's Growth Distillery with Medibank has painted a worrying picture of how Aussies are coping with everyday stressors like work and their finances. Researchers surveyed more than 2500 people aged 18 and over, finding the most commonly experienced, frequent and impactful stressor is feeling financially behind or guilty about spending money, with over 60 per cent of respondents indicating it happens most frequently and has the most significant impact on their mental wellbeing. When it comes to the workplace, deadlines and intense workloads were identified by one in give as major sources of stress. The pressure felt when it comes to work stressors also increases with income level, with 28 per cent of higher income respondents saying they lack downtime and feel overburdened, compared to 12 per cent of those on lower incomes. Australia is in the grips of a mental health crisis, and people are struggling to know who to turn to, especially our younger generations. Can We Talk? is a News Corp awareness campaign, in partnership with Medibank, equipping Aussies with the skills needs to have the most important conversation of their life. 'Something has to give' Mindset Consulting Psychology clinical psychologist Dr Aileen Alegado told unaddressed workplace and financial stress can have serious long-term consequences, both on individuals and the wider Australian community. 'When we don't address workplace and financial stress, we're essentially asking our bodies and minds to run a marathon while carrying heavy backpacks - eventually, something has to give,' she said. 'From a neurobiological perspective, chronic stress keeps our amygdala - our brain's alarm system - constantly activated, while simultaneously suppressing our prefrontal cortex, which handles decision-making and emotional regulation.' This then leads to what Dr Alegado described as a 'cascade effect' as chronic stress hormones like cortisol go further than just impacting mood, they can compromise immune function, disrupt sleep architecture, and shrink our brain's memory centre, known as the hippocampus. This can manifest as an array of issues, such as increased rates of anxiety, depression, cardiovascular disease and cognitive difficulties - all of which can persist even after the initial stressor is removed. But there is a big reason this is so concerning for Australia has a whole. Stress is contagious, according to Dr Alegado. 'When individuals are chronically stressed, it ripples through families, communities, and workplaces,' she said. 'We're seeing increased domestic violence rates, children developing anxiety disorders at younger ages, and what researchers call 'secondary trauma' in healthcare and social service workers who are supporting increasingly distressed populations.' Looking at it from an economic through an economic lens, these impacts can lead to a vicious cycle. A stressed-out worker is more likely to be absent from their job and be less productive. Dr Alegado noted Australian businesses are reporting unprecedented turnover rates, warning 'we're losing institutional knowledge faster than we can rebuild it.' 'It's like trying to fill a bucket with holes in it - the economic cost of not addressing mental health is far greater than the investment required to support it,' she said. 'Taboo' topic widening generational rifts When we look further into the impact of financial and work stressors on Australians, it is clear there is also a deeper generational divide that needs to be considered. For Baby Boomers and pre-Boomers, the biggest reported stressors relate to health declines and loss, along with worrying about their loved ones' wellbeing. Gen X are burdened by peak financial responsibilities, such as mortgages and retirement planning, while also managing health issues that can come with ageing. Millennials are grappling with the financial strain of housing and childcare costs, while also juggling their family and work lives. One in four in this generation said they feel overburdened daily due to career demands, family responsibilities and social expectations, citing a distinct lack of downtime. Gen Z face intense stress of academic and early career pressures, all of which are heighten by social media and societal expectation. The research found that close to 40 per cent of Gen Zers surveyed reported feeling behind financially or guilty about spending money. When it comes to Gen Zers, Enriching Lives Psychology principal psychologist and owner Carly Dober said they are in the difficult position of being 'far worse off' than previous generations when it comes to many financial security measures. 'We have societal expectations and markers of adulthood now that are so much more difficult to achieve - or impossible for some Gen Zers,' she told 'This combined with shame and resentment about this, plus a certain percentage of the population telling them incorrectly that they 'just need to work harder' or other falsehoods show a lack of understanding of contemporary economic basics.' This can also lead to intergenerational conflict and resentment. The report also found there is a perceived hierarchy of struggles when it comes to discussing mental wellbeing topics, with tangible or 'universal' issues such as physical health problems or work viewed as more socially acceptable to discuss. Australians find silent struggles, such as feelings of loneliness or lack of purpose, much harder to openly address, with people often looking to internalise and manage these stressors alone. This conversation gap widens when it comes to discussing sensitive topics across generations. For example, even though the majority of respondents said they generally feel comfortable discussing work-related stress, the level of discomfort increases, going from 27 per cent to 39 per cent when a person is talking to someone from a different generation, Dr Alegado said this communication gap exists because each generation has developed different 'stress languages' based off their formative workplace experiences. Baby Boomers and Gen X were taught to compartmentalise work stress as their 'neural patterns were shaped in environments where bringing personal struggles to work was taboo'. They developed strong mindsets of the back of this, which is why when they hear younger generations discussing things like anxiety around work-life balance it can 'trigger' a strong response, as these coping mechanisms are so different from their own. 'Conversely, Gen Z and younger Millennials have grown up with psychological literacy - they have vocabulary for mental health concepts that older generations may never have learned,' Dr Alegado said. 'When they say 'I'm having anxiety about this project', they're often seeking understanding and support. But older colleagues might interpret this as inability to handle responsibility or professional weakness.' Biggest challenges we need to address - now There isn't just one thing that needs to be done or achieved to change Australia's attitude towards mental health, particularly around workplace and financial stress. Being able to change the systems that allow these stressors to grow and fester is one of the key challenges Ms Dober says she faces. In order to try mitigate this, she and her colleagues our outspoken advocates for policies and initiatives that can be adopted at a business and a government level to help improve the lives of workers. This includes things like maintaining flexible work, increasing wages and having 'mentally healthy' and competent managers. 'On an individual level, it's about working with the person to try to support their stress levels in practical ways such as focusing on movement, sleep, good enough nutrition, connecting to friends and family, communication and sustainable boundaries in the workplace,' Ms Dober said. Overall, Dr Alegado believes we need to start treating workplace and financial stress not as just individual problem, but something that is intertwined. 'We need to recognise that psychological wellbeing is infrastructure, just like roads or telecommunications,' she said. 'When we invest in mental health support systems, we're not just helping individuals - we're building the foundation for a more resilient and productive society.'
Daily Mail
18 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
I moved from the UK to Australia two years ago. Aussies tell themselves a big lie - the real, infuriating truth about this country is clear, writes MAX AITCHISON
Long before I arrived on these sun-kissed shores, I thought I had grasped the idea of the Australian soul. The tolerant, open-minded, 'she'll be right, mate', approach to life Aussies like to show to the world. It was, my reading informed me, the great land of larrikins – a proud tradition of holding a healthy disrespect for rules and order that drew its inspiration from the legendary outlaw Ned Kelly. A nation of plucky underdogs who viewed their former British overlords with contempt. A land where rugged individuals laughed in the face of authority and forged their own meritocratic identity. A people who valued common sense, who fought for their own beliefs and scorned the establishment's stuffy rules. It seemed to me that Kelly and his heroic last stand embodied what it was to be Australian. Yet, having lived in this country for over two years, I now realise how naive I was. For it is painfully – infuriatingly – obvious that a very loud minority of modern Australians have much more in common with the men who strung Kelly up, than the mythical outlaw himself. As the late, great Australian critic and journalist Clive James once observed: 'The problem with Australians is not that so many of them are descended from convicts, but that so many of them are descended from prison officers.' I see this slavish adherence to rules and pettifogging everywhere, at all levels of society, from the individual to the state. I see it in my multi-millionaire banker neighbour who rang the council to send out a ranger to fine me $350 for parking four inches across his driveway, rather than leaving a note, which would have achieved exactly the same thing. I see it in the council rangers who not only demanded that a family pour out the champagne they were drinking to celebrate Christmas day onto the hot sand of Bondi Beach, but also to pop and pour their unopened bottles too. I see it in the surly staff at the Avoca surf club restaurant who, on Good Friday of all days, refused a table to a young couple and their two children, both of whom were under the age of three, because the toddlers had committed the inexcusable sin of not wearing shoes inside. I see it too, more times than I care to mention, in the power-hungry bouncers staffing Sydney's pubs and clubs who seem to relish in ruining any decent night out. 'How many drinks have you had?' – the question to which there is no right answer, honest or otherwise. I see it also in the intensely passive aggressive note left on my windshield after I had the temerity to leave my car parked in the same, entirely legal, spot on the street I live on for two weeks, which read: 'Has this car been abandoned? We will call the council and have it removed – residents.' I had half a mind to flip the paper and write: 'Hi resident. Also resident. Why don't you get a life and mind your own business?' (And yes, I am starting to wonder if there is something wrong with my neighbours). Regardless, I see it everywhere: this curtain-twitching, joy-extinguishing, fun-sponging desire to pursue conformity at all costs. And it's not just confined to neighbourhood spats, officious hospitality staff of lowly council bureaucrats. This rotten, rule-making insanity runs right through the heart of state and federal governments across the country. Of course, it plumbed new depths during the pandemic. State premiers, drunk off power and acting like Communist dictators, families unable to say goodbye to loved ones and the appalling case of a pregnant woman in her pyjamas being taken from her home in handcuffs for daring to stand up to the tyranny. But it didn't end there. Take the upcoming social media ban for children under the age of 16 or the $420,000-a-year eSafety Commissioner whose job seems to entail telling social media companies to remove mean posts, sometimes made by people in foreign countries. You hear politicians praising these measures as 'world leading', as if being the first country to do something precludes any discussion over whether it's actually a good idea in the first place. Because they're not. The eSafety Commissioner is about as useful as a chocolate teapot and if anyone sincerely thinks that children aren't going to get around any ban in a matter of seconds then I have a good bridge to sell you. No, what these laws are all about is pandering to Australia's obsession with policing other people's lives. And nowhere was this more apparent than in the case of Sydney restaurateur Nahji Chu, whose Lady Chu eatery in Potts Point was visited last Friday by unsmiling council bureaucrats who were unhappy with her potted plants. In an explosive showdown, filmed by a staff member, Ms Chu unleashed on the council employees: 'This is 'f***ed up, this whole city is f***ed up! 'I'm not a f***ing naughty school kid, so don't speak to me like that. 'I'm paying f***ing taxes and I'm paying your wages, so f*** off. 'I'm trying to activate this f***ing dead city, so don't shut it down.' While a family website such as this one cannot condone Ms Chu's colourful language, I applaud her sentiment wholeheartedly. Here is an Australian hero, willing to stand up for herself and others in the face of joyless officials. This is a woman who fled the communist Pathet Lao regime as a child in 1975, only to then be thrown into a Thai jail cell with her father where she caught TB and languished for three months. Her family then bounced around Thai refugee camps for three years before they eventually became among the first Vietnamese refugees to settle in Australia. Ms Chu has worked in the varied worlds of fashion (where she once helped dress Kylie Minogue) banking and hospitality, a sector in which she has built and lost an empire before starting all again from scratch with the popular Lady Chu in 2021. She was gloriously unapologetic when she spoke to my colleague Jonica Bray earlier this week. 'There is no fun in this city, you can't do anything or you face a fine,' she said. 'No one even leaves their house anymore - they just work to make money and go and spend it overseas where they can get culture and have a good time.' And she's right. If the average Australian allows the small but powerful minority of rule-lovers to win, then the country must drop any pretense to being some kind of laidback nirvana and must face a reckoning with its true identity. I urge all proud Australians to follow Ms Chu's lead and resist loudly and openly – to stand up for the values and the spirit that makes this country so great.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kahli Johnson header is fitting marker for Tom Sermanni in Matildas win
At Marvel Stadium - it felt rather appropriate, all things considered, that Tom Sermanni marked his 150th in charge of the Matildas by making Kahli Johnson the 237th player to represent Australia. As while the 2010 Asian Cup may have provided the 70-year-old with his crowning achievement, his is a more than three-decade legacy built upon the stories and achievements of those who he has given an opportunity. So many of the pathways that are found in the women's game Down Under wouldn't exist without his guidance, and of the current Golden Generation alone, the likes of Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Steph Catley, and Katrina Gorry were all given intentional debuts under his charge. So it all became even more fitting when Johnson headed home the 38th minute goal that kickstarted the Matildas to a 2-0 win over Argentina at Marvel on Friday evening, a game lacking in much of the way of fireworks but in which the hosts never looked in danger of falling. Kaitlyn Torpey put the result beyond doubt in the 69th minute, the winger's second international goal blessed by the footballing gods when her shanked attempt to send in a cross from the right floated right over the head of Abigaíl Chaves and inside the far post. Advertisement Johnson, 21, took a leap into the unknown during the middle of the A-League Women season in moving from Western United, while right in the mix for the race for the Golden Boot, to newly launched Canadian competition the Northern Super League and has kicked on with three goals in six games for the Calgary Wild. She'd moved down to Melbourne from Sydney a few years prior to ease herself into living away from home and when the Wild came knocking with a transfer fee for her services, she felt ready. Now, having scored a goal every other game in Canada, she's become a senior international, with a goal under her belt to boot, and the latest in a long line of players whose stories cannot be told without Sermanni. The ball to find Johnson was delivered with pinpoint accuracy by Charli Grant, who galloped down the flank before sending in a perfectly weighted cross for her teammate — who replays showed may have strayed just into an offside position — to send across the face of Chaves. Though not all that much older than Johnson, the defender is something of a grizzled young vet in the current setup given she's still only 23-years-old but she's now in her fourth year in the national setup, with 34 appearances in green and gold under her belt. Probably helped by not needing to do much defending — Argentina would fail to register a shot on target until the 80th minute — the Spurs flanker was one of the Matildas best on the evening. So, too, was Johnson, who flashed intent early on when she won the ball on the left and whipped in crosses in the sixth and seventh minutes and who put a shot just wide in the 49th in search of a brace. Given the chance to start as the nine once more, clearly being positioned by Sermanni as the heir-apparent for Kerr, Holly McNamara showed off her determined, angry worth as well: sending a volleyed attempt from a Grant cross wide in the first half and fizzing an effort outside the post in the 61st. Clare Wheeler got in on the act, too, firing off a 72nd minute attempt that Chaves did incredibly well to get down and keep out. Indeed, with the likes of Kerr, Gorry, Ellie Carpenter, and Hayley Raso all absent from this squad and the Arsenal trio of Catley, Foord, and Kyra Cooney-Cross not risked after their late arrival into camp after winning the Champions League, Friday was an evening for the unheralded and rising members of the squad. It almost had to be, given that Football Australia has indicated a new coach will be coming in next month, rendering these games as something of an audition. But it was also a celebration of an underappreciated legend in Sermanni, delivered in fitting fashion.
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Twist after ‘support kangaroo' goes viral
A wildly viral video of a kangaroo holding a boarding pass on a plane has left people scratching their heads. The clip, which has done the rounds on social media this week, shows a woman furiously arguing with a flight attendant while a kangaroo in a harness innocently watches on, clutching its own boarding pass. The woman furiously waves her hands in the air as the flight attendant points her finger towards the roo, while they speak an unidentified language. Millions of views, thousands of comments and a wave of 'only in Australia' memes later, the video was hailed as yet another example of airline drama in the golden age of in-flight absurdity. But – sorry to be the bearer of bad news – it's all fake. The original clip, captioned 'No kangaroo on the plane', gathered over 1 million likes on Instagram – and people were not happy. 'He has a ticket he paid for! Let him in!' said one. 'He behaves better than my kids,' laughed another. 'This is the saddest thing I've ever seen,' said a third. 'There needs to be rules against discriminating against a paying customer just because of their species,' said a fourth. Others were quick to catch on, slamming the AI-generated footage. 'How can no one tell this is AI?' questioned one viewer. 'You guys have your boomer glasses on,' mocked another. 'AI is getting scary,' said a third. 'How are people falling for the kangaroo video. I'm so serious. Yeah it looks eerily real but in what world does a kangaroo just pass through all the airport checks and is only stopped at the literal airplane door,' questioned another. Others were shocked they fell for it in the first place. 'Fell for my first AI video and I feel sick to my core…. like what was I thinking … that kangaroo was holding a boarding pass,' said one viewer. People have now confirmed the video is indeed fake, thanks to the help of internet sleuths and X's AI assistant 'Grok' who flagged the video as AI-generated on the platform. The video is just the latest example of AI-generated content fooling even the most sceptical of viewers, with recent fakes ranging from natural disaster clips to fake images of celebrities. Just earlier this year, millions were fooled over AI images of Katy Perry at the Met Gala for the second year in a row. No matter your feelings about artificial intelligence, there is no denying that it is becoming increasingly embedded within people's daily lives. A recent study by the University of Melbourne showed that just 30 per cent of Australians believe the benefits of AI outweigh the risks, ranking us the lowest among all. additionally, 55 per cent say they realise the benefits, compared to 73 per cent globally. Almost 80 per cent of Australians were concerned about the negative outcomes of AI use and 37 per cent said they have personally experienced to observed those negative outcomes.
