Good morning.

1. Melbourne’s stage four lockdown would be extended by a fortnight, according to a draft blueprint. Under this plan, it would not be until September 28 that Melbourne’s curfew would be lifted, students would start returning to schools and childcare would reopen without permits. A state government spokesperson claimed that the draft plan was out of date. “We know every Victorian wants certainty about the future – for them, for their family and for their work. By the end of the week, we will lay out a plan to reopen our state,” the spokesperson said. Here are today’s numbers:

2. NSW recorded 17 new COVID-19 cases yesterday. Virus investigators suspect that contact tracing efforts to contain the CBD cluster are being hampered by the fact that members of the City Tattersalls Club have been bypassing COVID-safe measures.

3. Wednesday’s GDP figures show the Australian economy contracted by 7% in the June quarter. The enormous quarterly decline dwarfs previous declines experienced during the country’s 1980s and 1990s recessions. It marks the
official beginning of Australia’s first recession in 29 years.

4. The chief executives of Australian buy now, pay later (BNPL) companies including Afterpay and Zip claim they’re not worried about PayPal’s new offering. That’s despite the fact their share prices took a hit following the announcement of the payment giant’s ‘Pay in 4’ product. “Competition from traditional and newer players has been present throughout our journey – we expect this to continue but it will not change our strategy or diminish our global opportunity,” said Afterpay boss Anthony Eisen.

5. While we’re on BNPL: a Senate inquiry into fintech agreed with heavy hitters like Afterpay that the sector doesn’t need to be regulated. An interim report said the sector could effectively self-regulate. “Because innovation like ‘buy now, pay later’ often occurs on the fringes of regulation, it is inappropriate to force each innovation into a one-size-fits-all approach,” the report reads.

6. The expansion of Tesla’s battery in South Australia is complete. The battery’s capacity has been expanded 50% from 100MW to 150MW. Its expansion will help stabilise the energy grid and reduce the chance of blackouts.

7. The Royal Australian Mint has unveiled a new coin that is designed to be donated. The Donation Dollar encourages Aussies to use it for charity. Three million coins have been released in circulation so far, with more to come.

8. New analysis shows that for every $20,000 withdrawn under the early access to super scheme, an additional $50,000 will be required to be paid from the aged pension. The Industry Super Australia analysis appears consistent with other modelling that shows the long-term cost of the scheme, which has drained more than $32 billion from the super system, will exceed $100 billion.

9. Amazon posted a job listing this week for an “intelligence analyst” tasked with monitoring workers’ efforts to unionise and reporting back to top executives at the company. The analyst’s job duties would also include gathering information for use in Amazon’s legal actions, including restraining orders against labour groups, according to the listing. The company deleted the job listing on Tuesday after Business Insider reached out for comment. It was shared widely by labour activists on social media before being taken down.

10. Apple on Tuesday announced a group of new developer fees motivated by new digital services taxes in Italy, France, the UK, and Turkey. Google on the same day told advertisers it will be adding fees in the UK, Austria, and Turkey in response to local taxes. On Tuesday a 2% new fee for Amazon third-party sellers also came into force. The new digital services taxes target the tech giants by taking a slice of their gross revenue from a particular market.

BONUS ITEM

Praise be.

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