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Speaker 1: You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast.
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Speaker 2: Good afternoon. This is Tamsyn Rose and we've made it to Friday, which means it's time for the weekly debrief where we catch up on the stories everyone's been talking about this week and we look at where they're heading next. And this week, wow, a lot has happened, especially in the US, where voters served Donald Trump and electoral lashing. Democrats enjoyed decisive victories across the country in the midterm elections. Guess who got made redundant today? Yeah, it's me. And on home soil, Canva cut 22% of its workforce. This was Australia's big tech success story. So what happened? And is this when we all panic that AI is coming for our jobs? But first, here are your headlines for Friday, November 6th. Russell Brand faces a lengthy jail term after being convicted of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three more in a London court. The former Hollywood actor and comedian had denied all the charges, saying the incidents, which dated back more than 20 years, had either been consensual, reinvented or reimagined. Brand was found guilty on one count of rape and three counts of sexual assaults, and acquitted of two other rape charges and an attempted indecent assault. Following the verdict, Met Police Detective Superintendent Andy Furphy thanked the women who came forward.
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Speaker 3: Today's verdict is, first and foremost, a testament to the extraordinary courage, resilience and determination of the women who reported what happened to them. Despite intense media and public scrutiny, they chose to come forward, tell their stories and they put their trust in us.
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Speaker 2: The judge will hand down a sentence early next week. Federal MP Helen Haynes is in a stable condition in hospital more than a fortnight after she was critically injured when she was struck by a car outside her electorate office in Victoria. The Indi MP has since had both of her legs amputated in hospital and after weeks of treatment her condition has improved from serious to stable. Fuel prices are expected to stay high throughout next year which will impact the cost of flights. That's according to Qantas who told shareholders that the Middle East war was continuing to affect fuel. The soaring costs shave hundreds of millions of dollars off Qantas' last annual profit, Qantas said they had and would continue to adjust fares and capacity in response to higher costs. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has converted more than 500 death sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Newcomb had already placed a moratorium on executions in California in 2019 and has long opposed the death penalty. He said he did so because he believed that the state-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values and undermines the foundations of our legal system and diminishes each of us. He moved to grant clemency to 548 people sentenced to death, 529 men and 19 women. New Zealand voters are heading to the polls tomorrow for the country's general election. Much like in Australia, the rising cost of living and healthcare are among the key concerns for voters. Final polling ahead of the big day shows the right retaining its lead, but with support continuing to shift towards the left and the centrist Opportunity Party potentially holding the balance of power. We'll dive into those results next week. And in a major departure from business as usual, the 2028 Met Gala theme will be extraordinary. Fashion and the poetics of the everyday. The change comes after backlash to the Costume Institute's earlier plan to honour designer John Galliano, due to his past anti-Semitic and racist incidents. The new theme will apparently explore familiar garments and everyday objects, think jeans, t-shirts and puffer jackets. Now that is a red carpet I could attend. Those are the headlines and now it's time for the weekly debrief where we go behind a few of this week's biggest stories. Today, we're going to look at what experts are saying following mass layoffs at one of Australia's biggest tech companies and what it tells us about how AI is reshaping work. But first.
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Speaker 4: Big moment.
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Speaker 1: We are going to project that the Senate will go to the Democrats. We can project that the Democrats have retaken control of the United States Senate on the back of a win that we are about to project in the state of Iowa.
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Speaker 2: Even those with the least interest in politics would have seen this week that decisive victory from the Democrats in the US midterm elections. The results are huge. We're talking about deeply Republican areas that have almost never supported a Democrat turning blue. And this all has repercussions for us here in Australia. And to help us unpack it, we've called in Bruce Wolpe.
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Speaker 4: I'm a senior fellow at the United States Study Center. I've worked with the Democrats in Congress during President Obama's first term. And here in Australia, I've worked with Fairfax Media, but also was on the senior staff of Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, he worked with Obama. Safe to say he knows his stuff.
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Speaker 4: It was a very profound day. The midterm elections are a referendum on the sitting president and his party. I wish we could say and her party, but that hasn't happened yet. So it was a repudiation of him. He brought the Republicans to victory. They had both houses of Congress and the White House. Yesterday, he brought them to defeat. And there are profound consequences from that. This is a huge victory for the Democrats and breaking out of the fog of Trump.
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Speaker 2: Wolpe's been working in politics both here and in the U.S. for decades, and he's seen a lot. He sees this as a direct consequence of Trump's policies and the way he's been functioning as president in ways that no one's seen before.
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Speaker 4: Trump asserted his power
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in unprecedented ways. The U.S. Constitution is three branches of government, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial, and they are co-equal, and they have checks and balances among them. Trump projected the presidency above both of the others, and he would do things that really are impermissible unless Congress says it's okay. They ultimately get tested in the courts, and guess what? Because of his political appointees in the courts, they've generally gone along with pretty much of what he wants to do. He's dominant. This midterm election restores a sense of balance and accountability and control over the power of the purse that the Congress exercises, who authorizes the money and how is it going to be spent. And then just a political balance. I think also what the result reflected is the American people are tired of being divided.
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Speaker 2: So what actually happened in these elections?
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Speaker 4: When it happened to George W. Bush, he called it a thumping. He got a thumping in 2006. Same thing. George W. Bush, second term, second midterm. If forever wars were going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, the economy was softening and would lead to the global financial crisis. And guess what? Democrats stormed back and took both the House and the Senate. I felt that this year felt a lot like 2006, and it did.
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Speaker 2: In this case, that thumping result means the Democrats will control both houses of Parliament, which means they control the purse strings, and they can significantly curtail the president's agenda. And there's a ton of firsts worth noting. Here are just a few. Keisha Lansbottoms became the first black woman elected governor in US history. Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. Chris Pappas will be the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. Deb Haaland will be the first Native American woman elected governor. And Peggy Flanagan is the first Native American woman elected to the Senate. But what does this all mean for us here in Australia? Well, Wolpe thinks we might do better economically.
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Speaker 4: I think there are going to be moves to roll back a lot of the terrible things Trump has done unilaterally on trade, for example. Australia is suffering under tariffs. I mean, Trump tore up the US-Australia free trade agreement. I think there could be moves to reduce, if not eliminate, a lot of the tariffs. That would be very helpful to Australia economically. And there are still unresolved things on China, big unresolved things. What are they going to do in Taiwan? And what's the ultimate posture in the Asia-Pacific? And below the Oval Office level, and it's existed for decades, very strong ties between the defense and intelligence and so forth principles in both governments. That endures. Australia is seen as a friend. So I think Australia can gain some ground back economically, and that would be really, really good for starters.
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Speaker 2: And he thinks our prime minister's done a pretty good job working with the U.S., despite the instability that Trump brought to most bilateral relations while in office.
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Speaker 4: What Albanese has figured out is if I can have a good transactional relationship, then in fact, I can avoid the worst. And the worst is if he had retaliated, Trump imposes tariffs on Canada. Canada retaliates against America. Trade war erupts and a whole bunch of other stuff. Trump has imposed tariffs on Australia. No retaliation from Albanese in this government. And so they can kind of just work together. I call it transactional and get stuff done. And I think that's working so far. I think it's very pragmatic and so far so good. But tomorrow's another day and anything can happen. Always.
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Speaker 2: And as for what happens next, well, unlike in the 2020 general election, Trump's accepted these results quickly. So we're not expecting any sort of January 6th style response. Much of the thoughts in both major US parties, the Republicans and the Democrats now, turn to who they each put up as their nominees to battle it out for president in 2028. Chances are a video like one of these... has popped up in your scrolls this week.
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Speaker 4: Oh my god Ed, I got laid off.
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Speaker 2: Today I was laid off from my job at Canva so let's run back my Canva journey. I just learned that I've been laid off from Canva.
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Speaker 4: And it's quite a shock.
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Speaker 2: Yes, today I got an email saying I was being let go from Canva, which was my dream company. Dream company is exactly how many employees would have described Australian tech giant Canva before this week, when the company laid off or relocated more than 1,200 workers as part of a major restructure. And it begs the question why, when this company is the darling of Australia's tech industry and so often held up as the gold standard for tech start-ups. Announcing the cuts through email this week, Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins described it as without a doubt the hardest moment of our 13-year history. And the obvious question is, are these artificial intelligence cuts? Is a company founded on the promise of creativity cutting the very humans who made that possible and took them to a valuation of roughly $ 44 billion? The Professionals Australia Union Tech Industry Director, Paul Inglis, says it's really important that large tech companies like Canva are honest about the impact that AI is having on jobs. Canva insists no, that no human tasks will be replaced by AI. A company spokesperson said AI is changing what's possible for our community and the kinds of products we're now building. And these changes are about setting Canva up to build those products, not using AI to do the work of people who are leaving. Canva is a graphic design platform that allows its millions of users to create images and video assets, including with AI tools. And this most recent redundancy round comes after Atlassian trimmed its headcount by 1,600 in March, saying AI had changed the company's needs. And before that, software logistics firm WiseTech Global announced plans to cut 2,000 roles, although it's since revised that down to 1,700, as part of an AI efficiency drive. Right now, it's not clear just how many of the 1,271 roles the firm expects to be impacted by the restructure will end up being cut. And while many are questioning the timing of the cuts ahead of Christmas, the company's generous severance package has been welcomed around the world, some calling it the gold standard for how companies should behave in these situations. Every worker who loses their job will be paid six months of salary. They'll retain their healthcare entitlements for 12 months and can keep their laptops. And they can also apply for a $ 10, 000 grant to start their own business, which Canva will take no shares in. As we learn more, we'll keep you across it. That's all for now. If you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, our inbox is always open. We're at the quickie at mamamia.com.au. And make sure to rate and review us in your favourite podcast app. It helps other people find us. Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.