1. Nearly a third of Australians who received the Federal Government’s first coronavirus stimulus payment saved the money, ABS data shows. Out of around 6.5 million people that received the one-off $750 payment in March, 29% saved the money, 28% spent the money on bills and the remaining 43% spent the money on purchases such as food and alcohol. New South Wales residents were more likely to spend the money to pay household bills (35%), while 22% saved the money.
2. Joe Biden raised US$26 million in the 24 hours after he named Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate.
3. The former COO of Pinterest, Francoise Brougher, filed a gender discrimination lawsuit on Tuesday against the company after she spoke out about ingrained sexism. Brougher published her experiences in an article in Medium, “Although 70% of Pinterest’s users are women, the company is steered by men with little input from female executives,” she said. “Pinterest’s female executives, even at the highest levels, are marginalized, excluded, and silenced.”
4. Figures released by the Reserve Bank of Australia show $4.2 billion have been shed off Australia’s national credit card debt and almost 400,000 credit card accounts have been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March. Credit card debt accruing interest has dropped by 16% to $22.79 billion, the lowest since October 2005.
5. The Government’s ongoing support to the childcare sector has led to an undervaluation of childcare stock prices despite the second wave in Victoria, according to latest research from Morningstar. A group of predominant women-led businesses are calling on the Government to make early childhood care and education free in the ‘Make It Free’ campaign – as Australian parents spend approximately 31% of their household income on childcare and 50% of families struggle to afford childcare costs.
