This year, eight in ten Aussies are ditching the flowers and chocolates and are craving for quality time. 

With the cost of living increasing, two in three Aussies have stated that it has made them less likely to expect expensive gifts for Valentine’s Day, with only a third of couples’ plan to give or receive gifts on February 14.

The research also indicated that the top tanked thing that partners would want on the annual day of love is for them to ‘fix something around the home’ (21 percent). With others stating they would like gifts (20 percent), handmade gifts (15 percent), chocolates (14 percent) and flowers (12 percent). 

But as 14 February looms, the topic of love languages has risen as a way to understand how couples best express and receive love. The Bunnings research outlined that ‘act of service’ was the most popular choice for Aussies (30 percent). This was followed by quality time (20 percent), words of affirmation (17 percent), physical touch (11 percent) and gifts (7 percent).

However, relationship psychologist Emma Cholakians says doing an act of service is more than doing household chores.

“An act of service can demonstrate that you have a deeper emotional understanding of your partner’s needs through doing something that will help them in a practical sense,” she says. 

“This can alleviate your significant other’s stress or worry about completing a task, as well as showing that you are thinking about them. For an act of service to truly land it requires thought, planning, time, effort, energy and also needs to be completed in a positive and willing way for it to demonstrate an expression of love.” 

But, Bunning’s Workshop D.I.Y expert Mitch Mclean stated that Aussies have on average a list of 10 tasks to tend to around home, explaining it is no surprise that Aussies want a fix-it service over flowers. 

“Your Valentine’s Day gift this year could be as simple as hanging a picture, weeding the garden or painting a door that’s in need of a refresh and the best part is it will be easy on the wallet whilst making for a meaningful gesture for your partner,” he explains.

“Every second of 2022, 10 internet users have lost their data ” says lead researcher at Surfshark, Agneska Sablovskaja.

Research by Surfshark has outlined the countries that suffered the most data breaches, with Australia in ninth place. The top five countries that were involved in the most significant data leaks in 2022 were Russia, China, United States, France and Indonesia. The report stated Russia had the highest breach density, affecting 718 accounts leaked per thousand people. 

The Medibank breach affected more than half of all Australian email accounts that were leaked. But, Australia’s situation has improved by 65 percent compared to 2021 results. Globally, the report indicated that a total of 310.9 million accounts were breached in 2022, as opposed to the 959 million accounts in 2021. 

“While these numbers remain unsettling, we’re happy to report an immense global decrease of 68% compared to last year.” 

“Some countries, including U.S., India and Brazil, managed to improve their situation, while Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Russia experienced the biggest surges in data breaches year-over-year,” Sablovskaja says.

Australia was ranked 15th in 2021, but experienced the most severe data breaches in Australian history in 2022. Healthcare provider Medibank lost 2.1 million email accounts, with 1.8 million of those being Australian origin. Furniture giant, Amart, was also among the biggest in 2022 for Australia, 103,000 accounts were leaked with warranty details. 

Russia was the most breached country

On a worldwide scale, European accounts made up half of the total breaches in 2022, with nearly 70 percent of them being leaked were Russian accounts. Up until 2021, the United States remained the single most breach country until the invasion of Ukraine. 

A third of all accounts in Russia were leaked with the courier service CDEK and news portal NGS.ru exposing 19 million Russian accounts each. Following this, the third-largest Russian breach was of Gemotest, a medical laboratory network, which exposed another 6 million Russian users. 

An Australian history podcast, The Last Outlaws, took home the top award for Podcast Of The Year giving listeners a memorable audio experience. The prize was received by Leyroy Parsons, who is a descendant of Jimmy Governor, podcast narrator and co-writer. The podcast focuses on painting the portrait of two Aboriginal men, as well as an exploration of the society that would become Australia – the painful history of stolen ancestral remains. 

Leyroy delivered his acceptance speech highlighting, “(Jimmy) may have committed those crimes, at the end of the day he was a husband and he was a father and people forget that about him, and doing this podcast has enabled my family to claim him and own him and be proud of him as a man.”

Osher Günsberg presented the award, saying “the podcast skilfully blends both archival research and oral history into an enthralling narrative, with exquisite sound design, beautifully visual moments, and careful scripting all for a very important story.”

Among the winners, for a consecutive third year in a row, Laura Byrne and Brittany Hockley’s Life Uncut took home the Listener’s Choice Award. Dan Ilic’s A Rational Fear took home the Best Comedy Podcast for the third year in a row, claiming their titles as the official Queens and Kings of the Australian podcast industry. 

Director at the Australian Podcast Awards, Matt Deegan, expressed his excitement about the talent. 

“Each year Australia leads the way with amazing talent and creativity that entertains, informs and inspires. This year we have seen another incredible [number] of entries and the awards winners truly represent the best in the country. It is incredible to see creators on different paths be celebrated at the Australian Podcast Awards ceremony. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees across our 31 diverse categories.”

The Australian Podcast Awards is an annual celebration of Australian podcast creatives. The entries are judged by a panel of experts that are selected across the industry, alongside a public vote – the Listeners’ Choice. 

The full list of winners can be found below:

Research from Wotif outlined that three in four Aussies are planning to travel domestically over summer. The categories from this research are described to celebrate the quintessential, delicious, and understated travel experiences that Aussies look for on a local holiday – ranging from classic meat pies and homemade ice cream to our picturesque island getaways and of course, our raging festivals.

Managing director of Wotif, Daniel Finch highlights his excitement, “There’s plenty to love about Australia, whether it’s quirky baked goods or breathtaking hotel views, and every year the Wotif Uniquely Aussie Awards prove just how much Aussies love sharing their local knowledge. We know a third of Aussies (33 percent)* think local recommendations are often the best recommendations, so, once again, we’ve done the very hard work of gathering up some of Australia’s best so travellers can get out there and explore what Australia has to offer this summer.”

The winning contenders

Without a doubt, Aussies love their pies, the winner is from Kincumber, New South Wales, Shhmoakesys Gourmet Pies are prepared over eight hours. This next line will make your mouth water, as they describe the pie crust as a “delicate melt-in-your-mouth pastry” with smoked meat filling. Delicious indeed. 

Australia has a wealth of landmarks and the best hotel view was awarded to the Shangri-La in Sydney. The elegant sanctuary with unparalleled panoramic views of the Sydney Harbour really showcased a winner.

Since the iconic selfie with Roger Federer and a quokka, there is no doubt that the best island award went to Rottnest Island in Western Australia. The island is described as a “bucket-list location for every Australian” as its home to sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and the cutest accommodation.

Australia is home to one of the best festivals ever, embracing culture and art, the Adelaide Fringe takes it away. The festival runs from 17 February to 19 March in 2023, bringing in eclectic and vibrant events ranging from cabaret, theatre, comedy, circus, music, visual arts and workshops.

Aussies take their ice creamery very seriously, as Planet 72 in Hervey Bay, Queensland takes the prize. It has the largest display of scooped ice cream and gelato in Australia. Locals say the Snickers-flavoured ice cream tastes like “heaven on a cone.”

The best neenish tart was awarded to Gumnut Patisserie in Mittagong New South Wales, where they produce the perfect combination of icing, filling and pastry base – really there’s nothing like them.

Since the pandemic, there has been an increase of pet-owners across Australia, where three in four Urban List audiences are now pet owners, over-indexing the Australian population by almost 20 percent. Pet Circle is Australia’s largest online pet supplies store, and was quick to connect with the launch opportunity. 

The partnership consists of scaling content by addressing the needs of two thirds of pet owners who regularly shop for their pets online as well as creating hyperlocal content for them, with 70 percent of their audience eager to source more things to do with their four-legged friends.

Urban List chief commercial officer Jacqui La’Brooy says the collaboration demonstrates Urban List’s commitment to the community.”

“As the number one destination for Australia’s culture seekers, we have a duty to anticipate our audience’s ever evolving needs, deepening our connection to their lives and always prepped to support the new wave of booking and buying decisions they have to make.”

Pet boom in Australia

Pet Circle’s director of brand and communications Ella Lymbereas sees this partnership as an important step in helping two thirds of Aussie households with pets understand how to best care for them and discover with confidence what they need.

“As a result of the pandemic pet boom and growing pet humanisation trend, Aussie pet parents are hungry for educational and entertainment content to help them connect and care for their furry loved ones. Urban List Pets will address this need with a fresh approach to content marketing,”  says Lymbereas.  

“At Pet Circle, we are passionate about helping pet parents, pet better and our partnership with Urban List Pets is a natural extension of this vision. The hyper-local, search-optimised editorial and social content we’re creating through Urban List Pets will provide a unique resource which taps into the heart and minds of pet-owning culture seekers.

Urban List is well known for their ability to pair brands with audiences actively in market, and I am looking forward to seeing these connection and conversion opportunities come to the fore through our launch partnership.”