Good morning, folks. I suppose it’s a day of some historic importance. Let’s do it.

1. Joe Biden is now the President of the United States. He delivered a solemn inaugural address on Wednesday. From the same stage that rioters overtook two weeks ago, Biden made a plea for unity and called to “end this uncivil war.” “To overcome these challenges, to restore the soul and secure the future of America, requires so much more than words,” he said. “It requires the most elusive of all things in a democracy: unity.”

2. Outgoing President Donald Trump made a brief speech before departing Washington, DC ahead of the inauguration. “So just a goodbye, we love you. We will be back in some form,” he said. “Have a good life, we will see you soon,” he added, then walked off stage to the tune of the Village People’s “YMCA,” a song frequently played at his campaign rallies. Man, he loves that song.

3. Just prior to his leaving, he issued a clemency list Tuesday as one of his final actions in office. Steve Bannon, Lil Wayne, and Elliott Broidy were among the names on the list. He did not pre-emptively pardon himself or his family as had been speculated.

4. And the important stuff: The official presidential Twitter accounts have now passed from the Trump administration to the Biden administration. Twitter has said that the Biden administration will not inherit the millions of followers of the accounts associated with the Trump team.

5. The Australian government appears to be divided on when international travel may recommence. Scott Morrison suggested on Wednesday that a “week by week” review could see borders reopen before the years end, as the aviation and tourism industries struggle, contradicting health department boss Brendan Murphy, who said it was unlikely until 2022.

6. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is joining the chorus for relaxed borders, suggesting a Pacific bubble should open this year. “There is no reason why we shouldn’t aim to travel to New Zealand or some of the Pacific Islands well within the next 12 months,” Berejiklian told the Sydney Morning Herald on Wednesday.

7. The second round of Victoria’s $200 regional tourism voucher scheme was exhausted minutes after launch on Wednesday morning. Those 40,000 vouchers will reimburse eligible Victorians who holiday outside of major city centres. The $28 million state government program was revealed last year in response to the business impact of the 2019-2020 bushfires and lingering border closures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

8. More than 155,000 Australians were saved from extreme rental stress due to increased government support during the pandemic, according to a newly published report. Support organisation Homelessness Australia said it was more evidence the federal government should keep elevated JobSeeker payments. Mission Australia meanwhile called for greater investment into public housing to both prevent homelessness from rising and stimulate the economy.

9. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, told a Senate committee that Australia’s proposed media bargaining code risks “breaching a fundamental principle of the web”. His opposition lies in provisions which could compel internet giants like Facebook and Google to pay news publishers for hosting their hyperlinks. The proposal “could make the web unworkable around the world,” Berners-Lee said.

10. The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine works against the contagious coronavirus variant first found in the UK, an early study shows. Researchers studied lab-made versions of both the original coronavirus and the variant, which has spread around the world. Whilst the results are reassuring, they have not yet been peer-reviewed.

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Alright, here’s the clip of Trump leaving to “YMCA”.

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