Developer political donations ban ‘failing’, Hezbollah and Israel on the brink, rare night parrots found in desert

Good morning. We lead today with a Guardian Australia investigation into political donations that has found that laws designating property developers as “restricted donors” have not stopped money flowing from the sector into the campaigns of both main parties in Queensland.

Meanwhile, as our Hot Property series continues, a former boss of realestate.com.au explains why the News Corp-controlled site can just put fees “up and up and up”.

A senior Hezbollah leader says it has entered an “open-ended battle of reckoning” against Israel, as world leaders urge both sides to deescalate.

And: fresh from winning gold at the Olympics, Australian cyclist Grace Brown has won the world time trial title at the UCI championships.

Matt lives in an affluent Brisbane suburb surrounded by wealth, but eats just one meal a day, is behind on rent, and has just received an eviction notice in the mail. A new report from Everybody’s Home shows he’s not alone: Australians on the lowest incomes have been priced out of renting in almost every corner of the country – despite the government’s recent 10% increase to commonwealth rent assistance.

HughSheridanfirst made his name as an actor playing Ben on the family drama Packed to the Rafters. But for the Adelaide-born performer releasing a new album, his true love is music. In the latest of our Three Things weekly interviews about the importance of objects, the LA-based actor and musician shares his collection of sharp tuxedos, a sentimental portrait of his late jazz musician father – and a beautiful necklace now lost to the waves.

Top infectious disease and public health veterans are sounding the alarm that NSW is not prepared for the next pandemic despite the lessons of Covid-19, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. A record number of Australians are raiding their super to fund medical treatments, reports the Age. A proposed hazardous waste disposal facility in Central Australia is back on the drawing board – three years after a developer shelved the plan, reports NT News.

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