Hey everyone, welcome back to another Flashback Friday. They say there’s two things that are certain in this world, but I’d say there’s actually a third. And that’s news. Let’s get right into it.

We’ll start with Super Saturday. On Saturday, the five by-elections in the seats of Longman, Braddon, Perth, Fremantle and Mayo all took place, after the MPs who held these seats were found to be ineligible due to their dual citizenship, a breach of the Australian Constitution. And after all the campaigning and some close calls, each of the five seats were held by their previous owners, with the Labor Party holding Longman, Braddon, Perth and Fremantle, and the Centre Alliance (formerly the Nick Xenophon Team) holding the seat of Mayo. The Liberal National Party, the government that is, lost all seats that they put forth a candidate for, bringing into question the leadership of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. But what really showed was that people have begun to put their faith in minor parties and independents, with One Nation’s candidate in Longman pulling in over 15% of the vote, and independent Craig Garland pulling in over 11% of the vote in Braddon. It just goes to show that people are losing faith in the major parties, and are instead putting their trust in the minor parties and independents. It’s something that is actually good to see. The five MPs will be reinstated into the Parliament when it resumes later this month. A federal election is now widely expected to occur in May 2019.

In other news, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now seeking assistance from the Australian government, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, after it was revealed that he will soon be expelled from the Ecuadorean Embassy in the UK, where he has had refuge for the past 6 years (since 2012). It came to light within the last few weeks that the new President of the country wanted Assange to leave, however he would ensure that Assange wouldn’t face the death penalty should he be extradited to the US. The new British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also claimed that Assange would face ‘serious charges’ from local police, however it is uncertain as to what these charges would be, as the only charge Assange faces is a breach of bail, a minor charge at that. Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson has spoken out about how the Australian government could help, as they have a good relationship with both the US and the UK, and that they should exercise protection over Assange seeing as he is an Australian citizen, stating they have an obligation to do so. There will more than likely be more to come on this in the coming weeks.

In a bit of business news, today Apple became the first US listed trillion dollar company. Their stock market value is now greater than that of Exxon Mobil, Procter and Gamble, and AT&T combined. Their stock has surged and increased by more than 50000 percent since its initial offering back in 1980. In more recent times, Apple’s sales have been propelled by the introduction and sales of their most recent edition of their smartphones, the iPhone X, as well as subscriptions from the App Store, Apple Music and iCloud services, which have bolstered the company’s business. It’s a great achievement for the company, and there will most likely be more to come from them in the coming months.

And finally, in a bit of television entertainment news, this week has seen a few changes in television shows on the Ten Network. The 2018 season of Masterchef Australia concluded earlier this week, with Sashi Cheliah taking out the competition, with a total score of 93/100 in the Finale. And after the conclusion of the sho, Survivor Australia took its time slot, the new season entitled Champions v Contenders proving to have a good start, with some reasonably big names, such as Steve Willis, otherwise known as The Commando, and three time American Survivor player Russell Hantz, being featured in the Champions tribe. And as always, Russell made sure to make his mark on the competition, finding a hidden immunity idol only a day into the competition. And there is certainly more quality television to come, with this weekend seeing the return of an Aussie legend, one who has been out in the wilderness for 14 years, and is returning to Australian televisions this Sunday night. That’s right, it’s the one and only Russell Coight. Known for his humour and adventures in the outback, Coight will be returning for a third series of his hit television show Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures this Sunday night at 7:30pm. Many Aussies can’t wait to see his return. And right after that, a new television show will premiere on Ten, Street Smart. The show is from the creators of the Australian comedy show Here Come The Habibs, and will feature Tahir Biglic and Rob Shehadie, who both featured on the Habibs. It will premiere at 8:00pm Sunday. But if you do anything, be sure to be watching to see Russell Coight take on the outback when he returns, 7:30 Sunday on Ten.

And that’s it from me for another week. I’ll be back with more in the coming week, and of course Short Story Sunday is this Sunday on the blog, so be sure the keep an eye out for that. Flashback Friday will return next week with more news. Have a good one.

JJ