Labor’s New HECS Scheme Will Be Waved Through Parliament

Legislation to slash HECS debts by 20 per cent is expected to be waved through parliament; A coroner has found that the death of 41-year-old Prabha Arun Kumar a decade ago was the result of homicide; Murderer Bryan Kohberger planned to blame his victims’ friends at trial; Shia LaBeouf and FKA twigs have reached a settlement; YouTube star Trisha Paytas has given birth to her third child, a son named Aquaman Moses Paytas-Hacmon.

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CREDITS 

Host/Producer: Cassandra Green

Audio Production: Lu Hill

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
You're listening to a Muma Mea podcast. Mumma Mea acknowledges
the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast
is recorded on. Hi. I'm Cassandra Green from Mamma MEA's
twice daily news podcast. To the Quickie with your headlines
for Wednesday, July twenty three, legislation to slash HEX stets

(00:31):
by twenty percent and increase income thresholds is expected to
be waived through Parliament, with the Opposition flagging it will
support the measure. Federal Education Minister Jason Clair said the
changes will make the system fairer, meaning young Australians will
start paying off their Uni degree when it starts paying
off for them By increasing the thresholds. Young Australians will

(00:53):
also have more in their pockets on payday, offering an
additional cost of living relief. Bruce Chapman, the architect of
the HEX scheme, said the changes are fairer, but that
reviewing the price of university degrees should be the priority. Currently,
humanity students finished with the highest debts but end up
being the lowest paid graduates. Following the failure of the

(01:14):
former Liberal government's Job Ready program, the program aimed to
fixed skill shortages by making it cheaper to study in
certain fields while doubling the cost of popular degrees. Mister
Claire said it hadn't worked in reducing the number of
people doing arts degrees as people want to study the
courses they're interested in. Chapman also called for changes to
the way HEX is paid off. Currently, it's taken out

(01:36):
of each pacelip and then deducted as a lump sum
after the full debt has been indexed. The University Accord
recommended the arrangement be changed to make the system fairer.
The Australian Tertiary Education Commission has been established to review
the HEX system over the next twelve months. A coroner
has found that the death of forty one year old
Prapa Kuma in Western Sydney a decade ago was the

(01:59):
result of homicide. The coroner said it was committed by
an unknown person, insisting police continue investigating her death as
a targeted killing. Miss Kuma was stabbed multiple times in
the neck by a person in black as she walked
home alone through Paramatta in twenty fifteen. She was taken
to Westmead Hospital but died the next day. She had
been on the phone to her husband in India at

(02:20):
the time of the attack. The coroner was told her
husband had been having an affair, had renewed his wife's
life insurance and changed the pin on her bank account
just one hour prior to the stabbing. Police is still
investigating if he was involved in her death, but no
charges have been laid and the person who carried it
out has never been identified. A one million dollar award
for information remains in place. Murderer Brian Coburger, who admitted

(02:44):
to killing four university students as they slept in their
beds in Idaho, planned to blame his victim's friends at trial.
He ended up agreeing to a plea deal before it
went to a jewelry. Police obtained a court order filed
just days before the deal was made, which detailed the
deceased's relationships. Aida County District Court Judge Stephen Hippler wrote

(03:05):
that Coburger planned to blame friends who were socially connected
to one or more of the victims, who lived within
walking distance, and who were familiar with the layout of
the home. Judge Hippler also said that the proximity of
these friends to the crime scene was a moot point,
given that the perpetrator had driven a car to the
crime scene and none of their vehicles matched the description
of the killers. The four persons also provided DNA samples,

(03:28):
which lab testing determined were not matches to DNA found
at the crime scene. It's possible the order gutted Coburger's
defense strategy. The following day after it was filed, Coburger's
defense team reached out to prosecutors to discuss the possibility
of a plea deal. His sentencing is set for July
twenty three. Shia lebuff and FKA Twigs have reached a

(03:49):
settlement after she accused him of assault and relentless abuse.
Documents obtained by US Weekly showed that FKA Twigs, whose
real name is Talia Barnett, filed to end the lawsuit
with prejudice, meaning she cannot refile the claims in future.
In her suit and an interview with The New York Times,
Barnett alleged Labouf knowingly exposed her to a sexually transmitted infection,

(04:11):
attempted to strangle her, and slammed her against a car.
Lebouth denied all allegations of wrongdoing. FKA Twiggs's lawyer said
that they settled the case as they were committed to
forging a constructive path forward, adding that the details of
the settlement will remain private. The case is dragged on
for years with little movement. It was originally scheduled to

(04:32):
go to trial last year, but was postponed multiple times.
YouTube star Tricia Petus has given birth to her third child,
a son named Aquaman Moses Petus Hackmann. Aquaman, named after
the Warner Bros. Movie, joins her other children, Malibu Barbie
and Elvis. However, the comments on her post were inundated
due to an Internet rumor that her children are reincarnated

(04:54):
from other celebrities who had recently died at the time
of birth. In this case, Aquamann's birth was announced just
an hour before legendary rocker Ozzy Osborne's death. However, it
turns out Aquaman was actually born on July twelfth. Malibu Barbie,
her first child, was born days after the death of
Queen Elizabeth the second. Just before the news of the

(05:15):
queen's death broke, Tricia announced that she had gone into labor.
Memes began to circulate, with people joking that the queen
would be reincarnated as Tricia's baby. The timing of Peters
announcing she was expecting her second child also sent the
Internet into a spin because King Charles the Third had
just announced his cancer diagnosis and treatment. Peters has said
she does not understand or subscribe to the Internet's theory.

(05:38):
That's your evening news headlines on Thursday's episode of The Quickie,
our deep dive on Trump and the Epstein Files. Listen
to The Quickie wherever you get your podcasts.