Good morning all.

1. There were two new cases of COVID-9 in Victoria overnight. An improvement over the previous day’s figures! Both cases are linked to the current outbreak. 21,192 vaccine doses were administered and 22,814 test results were received.

2. The number of Victorian exposure sites has risen above 300 again. 18 new tier 2 sites, including a petrol station, fast food chains, and a pharmacy were added last night – you can see the list below:

3. The number of job advertisements grew 7.9% over May, ANZ Research states, signalling that unemployment could drop faster than expected — and potentially spark an interest rate hike. ANZ predicts unemployment of 4.8% by the end of this year, with further falls potentially serving as a catalyst for wage growth and inflation. Those figures should interest the Reserve Bank of Australia, which states wage growth and inflation will remain too low to lift interest rates until 2024, at the earliest.

4. More than half of all searches for Melbourne houses on Realestate.com.au are now for properties valued over $1 million. Conversely, searches for properties in the $750,000 and under price range has tanked over the past three years. The data suggests widespread price hikes are forcing Melbourne’s would-be homebuyers to stretch their budgets even further.

5. Some payment experts are calling time on the hot and overcrowded buy now, pay later sector. With little regulation, a packed field of new entrants and little prospect of profitability for many, smaller platforms are unlikely to make it, consultant Brad Kelly told Business Insider Australia. “The BNPL market is saturated and two things are happening. One, a higher level of risk appetite is entering the market – that is regulatory risk and customer risk, where the customers profile is becoming riskier,” Kelly said, noting credit checks aren’t part of the business model. A similar view has been echoed by incumbents themselves, with both Humm and Zip anticipating a period of consolidation.

6. The NSW government has revealed new proposed laws it says will solve problems around food delivery rider safety that lead to the deaths of five workers last year. The announcement follows the conclusion of a joint task force examining delivery worker safety, which the Transport Workers Union (TWU) left, claiming the government was caving to pressure from the global delivery giants. TWU national secretary Michael Kaine says the proposed laws show the NSW government has failed to meaningfully address gig worker rights, and argues that they are a surrender to the terms of the big food delivery companies.

7. Australian influencers are jumping on a growing global trend: boosting cryptocurrency on social media. A notable example is 20-year-old influencer Atis Paul, who along with his sister and his girlfriend have been recommending a token called Hushcoin to their followers. While the government has dismissed the dangers of financial influencers on social media, such activity risks running afoul of advertising and financial regulation.

8. Australians lost a record $851 million to scams in 2020, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission reports. The COVID-19 pandemic and widespread lockdowns left victims financially and emotionally vulnerable to financial exploitation. Scammers turned to Bitcoin over the year, with $26.6 million of the cryptocurrency siphoned away from victims.

9. Apple unveiled its iOS 15 software update during its developer conference overnight. iOS 15 will feature redesigns and upgrades in FaceTime, Maps, Weather, Messages, Photos Wallet, and more. You can see the list of updates here. There are some interesting further salvos in Apple’s war against ad trackers, too.

10. Jeff Bezos announced he’s going to space with his brother, Mark Bezos, on July 20. The two plan to be on the first human flight of Blue Origin’s New Shepard spacecraft. The 11-minute flight is expected to have six seats, one of which is up for auction. It’s not blasting off to Mars, though – it’s just one of those outer orbit deals.

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