The agency spent $163,375 on Qantas lounges.

A number of historic landmarks across Victoria's east have been given protective cover in case a nearby bushfire breaks containment lines.

Productivity commission under fire for failing to consult Australian artists about copyright issues around AI recommendations * Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The productivity commission is under fire for failing to consult artists or model the impact of a key recommendation in its AI report on the creative industry, as the creative community urges the government not to allow data mining exemptions for big tech companies to train AI models. First Nations rapper Adam Briggs said it would be “hard to get genie back in the bottle” if Australia allowed companies to access Australian creativity without fair pay. Continue reading...

Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne It has been 10 years since their last album but you’d be forgiven for forgetting any time had passed at all – they sound as tight as ever Dick Diver embodies a time that is both long gone and ever-present. They may have never been a household name but the Melbourne quartet, or what they represent, are a part of the national cultural fabric. Their lackadaisical affect belies the seriousness of both their musicality and lyrics, which are unpretentiously and undeniably Australian. The band combine the slacker vibes of Pavement with the bookish lyricism (they take their name from a character in an F Scott Fitzgerald novel) and jangly “striped sunlight sound” of the Go-Betweens. Releasing three albums and an EP between 2009 and 2015 through the celebrated Melbourne indie label Chapter Music, Dick Diver’s encapsulation of millennial malaise under capitalism made them the unwitting leaders of a genre jokingly nicknamed “dolewave”. The band, and much of the underground music press, bristled but the moniker nonetheless expressed something true: this was the music of the everyman, suburban poetics for the struggles and quiet joys of daily living. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...