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Posted: 2021-05-03 23:29:12

Good morning.

1. Set your watches, team – the backpedaling on the India travel ban penalties has begun. Following strident criticism from across the political spectrum, Scott Morrison has said that the risk of fines and jail time for those who manage to get back to Australia from India during the period of the ban is “pretty much zero.” There are about 9,000 Australians trying to get home from India. The ban is set to be reviewed on May 15.

2. Australian property prices roared another 1.8% higher in April. It comes off the back of an even stronger first three months, with CoreLogic director of research Tim Lawless noting the “slowdown” came as property outpaced wage growth. “With housing prices rising faster than incomes, it’s likely price sensitive sectors of the market, such as first home buyers and lower income households, are finding it harder to save for a deposit and transactional costs,” he said.

3. Vaccine development experts say it will take at least $250 million to set up mRNA manufacturing in Australia, significantly challenging any hope it could happen this year. It would also take the support of a major pharmaceutical company. Pfizer has already ruled out making its vaccine in Australia in the short term, and Moderna did not respond to the Sydney Morning Herald’s request for comment.

4. More than 90,000 people have come off government support since the JobKeeper scheme ended in March of this year, signalling Australia’s economic recovery is translating to the job market. The news comes as analytics firm Deloitte Access Economics predicts in a new report that next Tuesday’s Budget will reveal a $100 billion boost to the bottom line thanks to Australia’s economic recovery.

5. Christine Holgate has threatened to sue the federal government and Australia Post if it does not respond to her demands for mediation. In a statement issued on Monday, the former CEO said she had offered directors and federal MPs in charge of the postal service the opportunity to find a resolution to their ongoing dispute surrounding her dismissal. With neither able to meet the deadline, she said they had until May 17 before she would consider proceeding with legal action.

6. Australian workplace safety startup SafetyCulture has reached a valuation of $2.2 billion following a $99 million funding round. That’s well beyond the $1.3 billion valuation of April last year, which gave it coveted ‘unicorn’ status. The company said it will use the funds to “support the expansion of the business as it continues to evolve from a checklist app into an operations platform for working teams.”

7. Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their marriage after 27 years. “After a great deal of thought and a lot of work on our relationship, we have made the decision to end our marriage,” a joint statement said. “Over the last 27 years, we have raised three incredible children and built a foundation that works all over the world to enable all people to lead healthy, productive lives.” Details about the divorce are unclear, but the settlement will almost certainly be one of the largest ever.

8. US telco giant Verizon just sold AOL and Yahoo for $5 billion, and the new company will be known as ‘Yahoo’ going forward. The new owner is private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Verizon originally purchased AOL back in May 2015 for $4.4 billion, and Yahoo in July 2016 for $4.83 billion – making the sale of both companies for $5 billion about a 50% overall loss.

9. Tesla’s compensation package for Elon Musk is worth more than $30 billion after he reached half of his targets. Tesla’s first-quarter earnings met revenue and profit milestones to unlock 17 million shares for Musk. Musk now has the option to purchase more than 50 million shares of the company for just $70 apiece.

10. Facebook’s Oversight Board will announce its decision on the future of Donald Trump’s banned account on Wednesday. Facebook suspended Trump’s account on January 7, after the Capitol Siege. Mark Zuckerberg created the board in 2018, and it operates as a type of “Supreme Court” at Facebook that can overrule the company’s content moderation guidelines, as well as the CEO.

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