Good morning all.

1. Labor has promised to slash taxes on electric cars and remove key barriers to uptake as part of a broader climate policy. The Opposition wants to drive down the sticker price for Australians who want to drive electric cars. There are currently no electric cars currently available in Australia for less than $40,000 and just five for under $60,000, and experts have pointed the finger at government policy as the primary cause.

2. Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine program administered 541,761 doses as of Sunday, according the Department of Health. That’s well short of Australia’s initial goal of 4 million vaccinations by the end of the month. Australia’s vaccine rollout lags behind other comparable nations, and will require a rapid acceleration to meet October targets.

3. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has named the four key indicators it is watching as the property market heats up. Wayne Byres, chair of the regulator principally concerned with lending, admitted “household debts are undeniably high” but maintained growth wasn’t yet unsustainable. “There does not seem cause for immediate alarm. Nor, though, for complacency,” Byres said.

4. The Brisbane lockdowns will be a “devastating blow” for Queensland’s tourism industry, according to chief executive of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council Daniel Gschwind. Despite a $1.2 billion tourism rescue package, the sector continues to suffer from tepid consumer confidence as Australian’s question travelling interstate amid the threat of rolling lockdowns. “Now the entire state is affected by the reputational issues because people will not want to travel to Queensland,” Gschwind said.

5. Just 35% of Melbourne CBD offices were occupied in March, the Property Council of Australia (PCA) says. Worker preference for flexibility is keeping office occupancy suppressed nationwide, the organisation said. In a statement, PCA chief executive Ken Morrison said remote work is “here to stay” – a major concession from a lobby which has been pushing hard to get employees back into vacant offices.

6. NSW is letting commuters pay for Ubers, Lime bikes, taxis and ferries with their digital Opal card in a new trial. The trial will provide a $3 discount to travellers who use public transport and another mode of transport as part of their commute in an effort to encourage multi-modal transport. The trial was announced as part of the launch of the Future of Transport Technology Roadmap 2021-2024, which also includes proposals for making the state’s bus fleet zero emissions and trialling autonomous ride-sharing.

7. The CEO of cult US fashion brand Doen went live on Instagram over the weekend to address criticism it misrepresented its sustainability practices and ethical practices. It’s the latest example of a fashion brand being called out for marketing its sustainability bona fides on social media while not walking the walk. As consumers demand transparency around fashion practices, brands are tempted to make claims they can’t live up to, CEO of Australian-based sustainability agency Gordon Renouf told Business Insider Australia.

8. The Ever Given is now sitting in an artificial lake off the Suez Canal while experts work out whether it’s fit to sail. Authorities are trying to figure out what to do with its cargo if it isn’t. The 220,000-ton ship is carrying about 20,000 containers. Many of the ships held up by the Ever Given are also in the Bitter Lake, part of a backlog of some 400 vessels waiting to resume their journeys.

9. The buyers of Beeple’s $US69.3 million NFT dropped their real names in a blog post. They are crypto investors Vignesh Sundareson and Anand Venkateswaran. “These pseudonyms were never meant to be masks,” Sundareson and Venkateswaran wrote in their post. “The point was to show Indians and people of colour that they too could be patrons, that crypto was an equalizing power between the West and the Rest, and that the global south was rising.”

10. SpaceX launched a prototype of its Starship rocket 10 kilometres above Texas on Tuesday morning. Yes, it also exploded. The rocket, called SN11, crashed while landing sending debris scattering everywhere. This is the fourth time a Starship prototype was destroyed during a test flight.

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