Good morning.

1. Victoria recorded 13 new cases of COVID-19 and four deaths this morning. New South Wales recorded two cases yesterday, both of which were in hotel quarantine. WA is still dealing with a cluster on a ship off the Pilbara, with the state’s health minister calling for tighter controls on foreign ships entering Australian waters.

2. Young people on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance will be incentivised to take farming jobs and fill the foreign worker gab during the pandemic. Backpackers will also be encouraged to stay longer and keep working in agriculture.

3. Australia’s largest banks have put aside more than $7 billion in bad loan provisions related to COVID-19. With Australia holding some of the highest household debt in the world, a sudden and sharp recession is expected to diminish borrowers’ ability to repay their debts. So far, banks have frozen more than $240 billion in debts and are in the process of trying to get customers to recommence repayments.

4. The federal government announced $800 million will be spent on its so-called ‘JobMaker Digital Business Plan’. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the money would support businesses to “grow and create more jobs”. However, more than $676 million of that will be used to update the federal government’s existing systems and registries – which, while fine as far as it goes, makes you wonder where the jobs and growth fit in.

5. Google Australia boss Mel Silva told the Sydney Morning Herald the proposed arbitration process between it and the media companies on payments is unworkable. Why? The payments are too big. “This concept of final offer arbitration usually is used when the parties are very close in numbers… we’ve already seen in the last several months numbers that are completely extraordinary,” Silva told the SMH.

6. Aussie fintech Airwallex nabbed an additional US$40 million ($56 million) in an extended series D funding round, taking its total funding in the round to US$200 million ($282 million). To date, the company has raised US$400 million ($565 million). The funding will be used to boost Airwallex’s reach in existing markets and further expand internationally.

7. Are you ready for the SUMMER OF CLAW? Dan Murphy’s has opened preorders for the cult hard seltzer brand White Claw, which was something of a meme in the US in 2019 and is just now coming to Australia. Yes, preorders for booze. The retailer says searches for White Claw have surged by 798% on its website.

8. Big Hit Entertainment, the record label behind South Korean pop phenomenon BTS, just held an IPO that made the band’s manager a billionaire, Bloomberg reported. Bang Si-hyuk, the 48-year-old Big Hit founder and CEO known as ‘Hitman,’ is now worth $US1.4 billion, the Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates. Each of the seven BTS band members own stakes in Big Hit worth $US8 million apiece after the IPO.

9. A growing number of British people believe it was wrong for the UK to have voted to leave the EU, according to a new poll. Just 28% of people think the UK government is handling Britain’s exit from the EU well, compared to 61% who think the government is handling it badly. The survey comes as the UK and EU engage in a period of intense negotiations as they try to negotiate a free trade agreement to avoid a no-deal Brexit in January.

10. At least 1 million people have died from the coronavirus worldwide, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Americans account for about 20% of that number, according to the Johns Hopkins data. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on March 11 – merely 201 days ago.

BONUS ITEM

It’s the U.S. presidential debates today, if that’s your bag. Prepare yourself for several hours of two old guys yelling at each other about the administration of empire.

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