One in four Australians don’t have access to essential technology. The Smith Family says a national device bank could help close the gap * Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Westfield shopping centre isn’t an obvious place to get homework done. But for Deborah Botende, it was one of her only options. Botende grew up in foster care in Brisbane and had no internet access at home. Throughout high school, she’d stay back after her retail shift to use the shopping centre’s wifi – completing her schoolwork on a secondhand laptop. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...

Continue reading...

Gig economy workers for Deliveroo and Uber Eats in the city are living in appalling conditions, while putting in long hours, earning low pay and facing mental health problems Two lines of dirt-encrusted, ramshackle caravans stretch along both sides of a road close to the motorway that winds its way into the heart of Bristol. Rats dart between water-filled concrete sluices to rubbish-flecked mounds of vegetation. Drug users stumble out of the nearby underpass while lorries thunder overhead. This is the grim encampment where about 30 Brazilian delivery riders working for large companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats are forced to live to make ends meet. Continue reading...