It’s Friday baby, and you know what that means. It means that you’re tragically stressed about your weekend plans potentially flopping. And is there anything more relaxing than that?
However, between trying to find a last-minute babysitter or a brunch buddy, you should make some time to go through today’s biggest headlines. Oh, here they are right now:
Daniel Andrews Has Voted Early
The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, has broken all the traditions by voting early in the state’s triennial election. Moreover, he did this outside his electorate of Mulgrave and with no media present.
“Free kinder. Government-owned renewable energy. Making V/Line fares fair,” said Andrews soon after casting his vote.
“Like so many other Victorians, we’ve got a few things happening on Saturday, so we voted early and on the way to somewhere else.”
This move was critiqued by the likes of Jeff Kennett, the Former Premier of Victoria.
“A Premier, a local MP, does not vote in his own electorate on Saturday. Never heard of that before,” said Kennett.
“Why? Given up? Scared to be in a public place?”
Important note: The pre-polling location that Andrews voted at is public.
Victoria’s election is taking place tomorrow, November 26. During this election cycle, over 1,600,000 Victorians have voted early. These folks represent around 37% of the state’s entire enrollment.
There’s Been a Massive Ford Motor Recall
The Ford Motor Company has been forced to recall 634,000 of its vehicles. This is because certain versions of its Bronco Sport SUV and its Escape SUV are apparently potential fire risks.
The 2020 — 2023 models with 3-cylinder, 1.5-litre engines have fuel injectors that can crack. If these injectors break, a fire might start under the hood.
Ford has said that there have been 54 under-hood fires. Four of these vehicles had cracked fuel injectors, while another 13 fires might have been caused by leaking fuel injectors.
At this time, Ford isn’t telling the owners of these vehicles to stop driving them. Instead, Ford is encouraging its customers to give their vehicles a checkup.
Ford is working on some solutions for these problems. Dealers will be able to install a tube that may dramatically reduce the risk of some cracked fuel injectors starting a fire.
Additionally, Ford will update these vehicles’ software to identify a cracked fuel injector. If this happens, the vehicle’s driver will receive a notification on their dashboard.
Ford said, “If a pressure drop in the fuel rail is detected, engine power will automatically be reduced to minimise any risk, while also allowing customers to drive to a safe location and stop the vehicle and arrange for service.”
Related: An ‘R’ Plate Tells Other Drivers You Need Space
Related: Is There Actually a Way of Stopping Young Men From Speeding?
Farmer Mistakenly Grows Opium Poppies
In some wild news, a Tassie flower farmer bought some restricted poppies from a registered Australian seed supplier.
Kate Dixon was planning on selling these pink flowers. Instead, she was contacted by Tasmania’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
“I had an unexpected call from the department saying they’d seen some of my photos on Instagram and suspected that they were restricted poppies that you needed a licence to grow in Tasmania,” said Dixon.
“I was growing them purely for weddings. I had absolutely no idea.”
The Department of Natural Resources and Environment then collected some samples from Dixon’s property. After being analysed, it was determined that some of these flowers were opium poppies.
For obvious reasons, growing of opium poppies is heavily regulated in Australia. This is because they produce opioid chemicals including morphine which can be turned into heroin.
Regarding this matter, a spokesperson for the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said, “The department appreciates the assistance of the property owner.”
“Where prohibited poppies have been found in a garden setting in the first instance our preferred approach is generally education, awareness, and to engage with the owner.”
Read more stories from The Latch and subscribe to our email newsletter.