Greetings, friends and adversaries. Good morning.

1. Victoria is again flirting with lockdown, a Melbourne University epidemiologist has warned, after new restrictions came into effect last night. The number of exposure sites has grown, with two new ones outside of Melbourne added overnight, along with the MCG and RMIT’s Carlton campus confirming positive cases. The Age has set up a live blog to stay on top of developments today.

2. There have been 19 new allegations of misconduct involving federal MPs since former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins came forward in February, the AFP has confirmed. Of those, 15 have been referred to state and territory police. Senate Estimates was further briefed on Parliament’s own ongoing investigations, but it is looking possible that no findings will be made public by the Morrison government. The head of the public service Phil Gaetjens didn’t give much away.

3. Tony Abbott has rushed in to defend the controversial Australia-UK free trade agreement (FTA) which would increase Australian meat exports to Britain. The deal sees both countries try and mitigate the ongoing fallout from fractured relationships with China and the European Union (EU) respectively. Ironically, British farmers are warning they’ll be priced out if cheap Australian exports flood the local market, the same (so far unsubstantiated) allegation made by China in the ongoing trade feud with us.

4. State and federal governments are asleep at the wheel when it comes to electric vehicles (EVs), the motoring industry claims. Rather than offer the necessary incentives, state governments in Australia are still considering taxing EVs like Teslas twice, preventing the country from reaching a ‘revolutionary turning point’, a new report says. Here’s how it proposes we get back on track. Meanwhile our coal miners are being converted one by one.

5. Australian startup Little Birdie wants to become the ‘home page’ of online shopping. With $30 million in new investment from the Commonwealth Bank unveiled this week, and backed by the founders of Catch.com, it may be a little closer to achieving that.

6. There’s a big fight brewing in Japan to cancel the Tokyo Olympics. The lawyer leading the charge has created a petition with nearly 400,000 signatures and says he is “fighting for these precious lives that will be lost if the Tokyo games go on”. Polls show 80% of Japanese people don’t want them to go ahead, given low vaccination rates and with infections surging.

7. When his entire industry shut down, Jeremy Fleming transformed his live events company into an ecommerce business. Fleming tells Business Insider Australia the story of how he went from staging the Hilltop Hoods pre-pandemic to creating easy-to-assemble office furniture amid a work from home wave.

8. Not one to leave well enough alone, Elon Musk on Monday issued a call to developers to submit ideas for Dogecoin upgrades. Asked why Dogecoin and not another digital currency, he said he preferred the digital asset because “doge has dogs & memes, whereas the others do not.”

9. The United States government is looking at regulating cryptocurrency. The Biden administration is examining how it might increase oversight of crypto to protect retail investors and prevent illegal activity in another obstacle, or opportunity for the multi-trillion dollar market.

10. Kim Kardashian might be about to experience a George Calombaris. The billionaire is being sued by former maintenance staff who claim she didn’t pay them for working overtime and denied them meal breaks. Kardashian’s people tells us she “has never not paid a vendor for their services.”

BONUS ITEM

Phil Mickelson’s replies after becoming the oldest golfer to win a major are all great. Go off, Lefty.

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