News In Brief

Welcome to our ‘News In Brief’ column in which we digest all the news releases for you in no more than five paragraphs.
Below are snippets of all the media releases we received from April 27 till the end of the week.
This article updates throughout the week.

Kiwa Initiative Launches Four Projects

Perth. April 27: The Kiwa Initiative announced four new projects at its 12th Steering Committee Meeting in Suva, Fiji, expanding its portfolio to over 45 projects across 17 Pacific Island Countries and Territories. The multi-donor programme is managed by the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and funded by France, the European Union, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
Three new regional projects were unveiled alongside one local project, all focused on scaling Nature-based Solutions for climate adaptation across the Pacific. The regional projects include Kiwa cFISH, led by Multiplier/cChange and operating across French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands with a budget of €4.97 million; Pacific CIRCLE, led by ActionAid Australia across Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Vanuatu with €4.81 million; and Kiwa PRESERVE, led by WaterAid Australia across Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Timor-Leste with €5 million. All three regional projects will run from May 2026 to September 2029.
The local project, REPLANT’NC, will be implemented in New Caledonia by the Environmental Observatory of New Caledonia (OEIL) from March 2026 to March 2027 with a budget of €99,978, focusing on developing a centralised digital platform for forest and mangrove restoration data.
“The launch of these four new projects today is a testament to the donors’ shared resolve to stand by Pacific communities as they face some of the most severe consequences of climate change. Through the Kiwa Initiative, we are investing not just in ecosystems, but in the resilience, livelihoods, and futures of Pacific peoples,” said Erik Lindebo, Team Leader for Climate Change and Natural Resources at the Delegation of the European Union to the Pacific.
Since 2020, the Kiwa Initiative has mobilised €79.5 million, targeting more than 127,000 direct beneficiaries, with 19,580 hectares already benefiting from biodiversity conservation and restoration actions across the region.

Seven in 10 Workers Report Toxic Bosses

Perth, April 27: Seven in 10 Australian workers (71%) have experienced a toxic manager, with one in five saying their current boss fits this description, according to new research from job site Indeed released ahead of the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada.
The findings show that toxic leadership is driving real workforce attrition, with more than half of workers (58%) having resigned because of a toxic manager, and for nearly a third (31%), it was the primary reason for leaving.
The most common toxic behaviours identified were poor communication or unclear expectations (55%), lack of recognition for work (50%), favouritism or unfair treatment (47%), excessive workload or unrealistic deadlines (41%), and micromanagement (39%). Workers in small (23%) and medium-sized businesses (21%) were more likely to report having a toxic manager than those in large organisations (15%).
Early-career professionals were found to be particularly vulnerable, with more than six in 10 workers (62%) saying they felt pressure to accept unreasonable requests or conditions to gain experience in their first job or internship. Despite this, more than three-quarters (76%) of those who worked with a toxic manager said they gained valuable skills or experience from the situation.
“Toxic leadership isn’t always loud or extreme. More often it shows up in everyday, ongoing behaviours like poor communication, unclear expectations, and a lack of recognition. It’s these behaviours that gradually wear people down,” said Amanda Gordon, Workplace Psychologist at Indeed.

3.2 Million Aussies Cut Insurance

Perth, April 28: Millions of Australians are downgrading or cancelling their car insurance altogether as cost-of-living pressures reignite, according to new research by comparison site Finder.
A Finder survey of 1,011 respondents revealed 15% of Australians, equivalent to 3.2 million people, have lowered or ditched their car insurance policy over the past 12 months as premiums and the cost of living soar. Of these, 5% have cancelled policies entirely, while 10% have downgraded to lower levels of cover such as third-party insurance only.
The research also found that more than a quarter (27%) of Australians currently list petrol as one of their top three most stressful expenses, while 3% of respondents said they had no insurance beyond compulsory cover to begin with. Not all drivers are cutting back, with 10% reporting they had switched providers to secure a better deal while maintaining the same level of cover.
“Australians are looking for ways to cut spending, and car insurance is one area where some are scaling back. While it may offer short-term savings, going without adequate cover can leave drivers financially at risk in the event of an accident, theft or severe weather damage,” said Taylor Blackburn, personal finance and insurance specialist at Finder.
Blackburn warned that driving without sufficient insurance carries real financial risks, noting that an at-fault accident could result in substantial out-of-pocket costs, particularly if multiple vehicles are involved.

Women Lose Trust In Employers

Perth, April 27: Australian women’s trust in employers to actively address the gender pay gap has plummeted by nearly a third, from 51% to 35% in just one year, according to HiBob’s fifth annual Women in the Workplace report. In contrast, over half of men (51%) believe their organisation is taking action to close the gap, revealing a stark divide in how men and women perceive their employers’ commitment to pay equity.
The findings come as new obligations under the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (WGEA) require large organisations to select, achieve or make progress on gender equality targets, affecting nearly 2,000 employers and benefiting 3.9 million Australian employees.
The research also showed nearly a third of women (32%) received no promotion, pay rise or benefits increase last year, up 6% from the previous year, while women were passed over for advancement at nearly twice the rate of their male colleagues. Just 14% of women received a promotion in 2025, compared to 27% of men. Only 17% of women received a benefits increase in 2025, down from 28% the previous year.
“When women are consistently passed over for promotions, miss out on pay rises and see their benefits fall further behind their male colleagues year after year, trust in their employers erodes. This dramatic dip in women’s expectations is a direct reflection of businesses failing to reward and advance female talent, and should act as a serious wake-up call for business leaders,” said Anna Volkova, Head of People and Culture at HiBob.
Looking ahead, only 17% of Australian women anticipate a promotion in the coming year, down from 30% the previous year, while over one in four women (28%) expect to receive nothing at all in 2026, compared to just 16% of their male counterparts.

TeamViewer Launches AI-Driven Scripting

Perth, April 27: TeamViewer has introduced AI-driven scripting for Tia (TeamViewer Intelligent Agent) at the Gartner Digital Workplace Summit 2026 in London, marking a significant step in the company’s Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM) roadmap.
Building on more than one million AI session summaries produced since launch, Tia can now learn from an organisation’s support history and turn resolved issues into ready-to-run automations, giving IT teams a faster path to standardising proven fixes. The new capability addresses a persistent inefficiency in IT operations where applied fixes are rarely captured in a way that prevents the same problem from recurring.
Tia now operates in two connected steps. It draws on AI insights from real support sessions to ground troubleshooting recommendations in an organisation’s actual support history, surfacing proven remediation steps from past sessions. IT teams can then choose to turn any resolved session into a script that Tia generates based on documented remediation steps, ready for review and refinement before deployment to selected devices or device groups.
“IT teams are under pressure to do more with the resources they have, and too much of their time is still spent resolving the same issues over and over,” said Mei Dent, Chief Product and Technology Officer, TeamViewer. “Tia’s new capabilities mean that every resolved incident becomes an asset: one that can be tested, deployed, and used to protect other devices from the same disruption. That is what consistent, scalable IT operations en route to AEM looks like in practice.”
TeamViewer is presenting two sessions at the summit, “Building the Autonomous Workplace with a DEX Knowledge Layer” on April 28 and “The Top 3 DEX Myths Sabotaging Your Digital Strategy” on April 27, with attendees able to visit the company at Expo Booth 207 or the Engagement Zone in the foyer on Level 1.

Peloton, Spotify Launch Global Fitness Partnership

Perth, April 28: Peloton Interactive has announced a global partnership with Spotify to bring its fitness and wellness content to hundreds of millions of Spotify Premium subscribers as part of Spotify’s new fitness category, marking a significant expansion in Peloton’s international reach.
The collaboration will see more than 1,400 classes spanning Strength, Pilates, Barre, Yoga, Stretching, Meditation, Floor Cardio, and Outdoor run and walk sessions made available to Spotify Premium members in most countries where the streaming service operates. Classes will be delivered in English, Spanish and German, led by Peloton’s roster of fan-favourite instructors, with new content added regularly.
“We’ve always believed that the best workout is the one you actually do, which is why accessing world-class fitness content should be as easy as tuning into your favorite Spotify playlist. With this partnership, we are instantly activating a global footprint that makes the magic of Peloton accessible to Spotify Premium subscribers anywhere,” said Dion Camp Sanders, Chief Commercial Officer at Peloton.
“For nearly two decades, Spotify has been the soundtrack to the world’s workouts. But listening was only the beginning. Today, we are expanding Spotify to become a true daily wellness companion,” said Roman Wasenmüller, VP and Global Head of Podcasts at Spotify.
The partnership represents Peloton’s continued shift toward a more diversified business model, allowing the company to expand into previously untapped international markets while leveraging its floor-based and outdoor modalities alongside its wellness content.

Rate Hike Tipped

Sydney, May 1: Three in four experts expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise the cash rate on Tuesday, according to Finder’s latest RBA Cash Rate Survey.
The survey of 36 experts and economists found 75 per cent expect another rate rise in May, which would mark the third hike in the latest tightening cycle.
Finder said a 25 basis point increase would lift the cash rate to 4.35 per cent and cost the average borrower with a $736,259 home loan an extra $2,657 a year compared with January.
More than half of the experts forecasting a May hike also expect another increase as soon as August, while others believe the RBA may wait before moving again.
Experts were also divided on whether it is too late for homeowners to fix their mortgage, with 41 per cent saying it is too late and the same proportion saying it is not.

Mercedes Upgrades IT

Perth, May 1: TeamViewer says the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team has upgraded from TeamViewer Tensor to TeamViewer ONE ahead of the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
The platform gives the team real-time visibility and control across thousands of IT and operational technology endpoints, from its Brackley factory to its trackside garage.
TeamViewer said the AI-native platform is designed to detect and resolve IT issues before they affect operations, where even minor disruptions can influence race outcomes.
Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team, said: “During a race, I rely on dozens of streams of data from telemetry to weather to radio, and the technology behind it has to work without fail. In Formula 1, every vendor has to earn their place. There are no free passes. TeamViewer delivers on the two things we never compromise on: reliability and performance. Moving to TeamViewer ONE is a deliberate step up, and a signal that our partnership is built for where this sport is heading, not just where it is today.”
TeamViewer said the system combines endpoint management, secure remote connectivity and Digital Employee Experience tools, allowing trackside operations to continue even when network conditions are challenging.

Indigenous Health Tracked

Perth, May 1: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults averaged about 8,400 steps a day and slept for just under seven and a half hours a night in 2023, according to new Australian Bureau of Statistics data.
The figures come from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, which used wrist-worn accelerometers to measure physical activity and sleep among volunteers aged five and over.
James Eynstone-Hinkins, ABS head of health statistics, said: ‘On average, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in 2023 did almost two hours per day of moderate physical activity like brisk walking and three minutes of vigorous physical activity like running.’
Almost one in 10 adults did three hours or more of moderate physical activity a day, while children averaged about 10,800 steps daily and slept for just under eight and a half hours a night.
‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children did nearly an hour of moderate physical activity on average per day, and nine minutes of vigorous physical activity,’ said Mr Eynstone-Hinkins.
The broader survey also found 63.8 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults were always able to access healthy and nutritious foods in the four weeks before interview, while 46.6 per cent of people consumed sweetened drinks the day before their interview.