Morning Buzz: Australian internet lags behind

The $49 billion National Broadband Network was meant to spearhead a digital revolution. Instead, the botched project risks becoming a poster child for government mismanagement.

Australia's biggest-ever infrastructure investment has turned into a political football, plagued by cost overruns and construction delays. With the network years behind the original schedule and only about half finished, Australia has slumped to 50th place on a global ladder of internet speeds, behind Kenya and a string of former Soviet bloc nations. Read more.

Sydney health authorities are on high alert after two people were diagnosed with measles after visiting multiple public spaces in the city's north and south. 

Melbourne is in the grip of an outbreak of the highly infectious condition, with 11 cases recorded in the past fortnight after infectious people visited a number of crowded areas including the MCG, central business district and Melbourne Airport. Read more.

Demolition works have started at the site of the old Hope Christian School in Narellan.

The Richardson Road site is slated to become a school for children with special needs. Read more.

Students are offering other students up to $10,000 for a place in post-graduate law classes at UNSW, amid complaints that courses frequently fill up within a minute after online enrolments open.

Posts offering money for places started appearing on Facebook after 9am on Tuesday, when the online process for students to secure a spot in summer classes began.

It is understood that places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, and all summer classes were full minutes after 9am. Read more.

Hawkesbury charity Fly High Billie will donate all money raised from the sale of its books and greeting cards between now and Christmas to suicide prevention charity R U OK?.

Fly High Billie (which is currently in the process of becoming a registered charity) was set-up by the Kinder family of Pitt Town, in memory of their beloved daughter and sister Billie who was killed in a freak horse accident in May last year when she was 12 years old. Read more.

Australians appear to be unmoved by anti-same-sex marriage warnings of creeping gender ideology, social destruction, or sexual confusion, with the case for change surging ahead.

With more than a month to go in the government's controversial postal survey, an aggregation of public polling and some recent unpublished research shows the "yes" case for legalising same-sex marriage has maintained its strong lead among ordinary voters. Read more.

Sutherland Shire’s first “vertical pub”, Highfield Caringbah, is on track to open in early December.

The hotel will have similar styling, but will be significantly different to The Prince at Kirrawee, which was also built by the Feros Group. Read more.

The sisters of the Las Vegas gunman's Australian girlfriend, Marilou Danley, say she holds the key to shedding light on the motive behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

Fifty-eight people were killed and more than 500 injured when Nevada man Stephen Paddock, 64, fired on people at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival from his 32nd floor room at the Mandalay Bay hotel late Sunday evening local time. Read more.

The Dragons will be the first club to grant the wish of TV broadcasters and play more NRL games in smaller stadiums, increasing the amount of fixtures at their spiritual bases as the Tigers reduce their matchday presence at Leichhardt and Campbelltown.

St George Illawarra will scrap a permanent home-game presence at ANZ Stadium, increasing their allocation of fixtures at Kogarah and Wollongong to five games each in 2018. 

It comes a week after Fairfax Media revealed rights holders Fox Sports and Nine have approached the state government and NRL about prioritising upgrades of suburban grounds and Allianz Stadium to create a more intimate TV product. Read more.

NSW Origin fullback James Tedesco called the Italian World Cup team offering his services within hours of being left out of Australia's squad.

Tedesco has previously made three appearances for the Azzurri, but coach Cameron Ciraldo admits he had already written off the 24-year-old for the upcoming tournament. Read more.

On this week’s podcast, we give our thoughts on the Melbourne Storm’s grand final win, the Kangaroos squad, and predict how teams will go next season.

This year’s grand final might have gone according to script for the Storm, who narrowly lost in 2016’s grand final to the Sharks.

Will they be able to back it up next season with a few changes pending on their roster? 

Paceman James Pattinson will miss the Ashes after yet another flare up of the stress fractures in his back which has left his international career in limbo.

The 27-year-old hasn't represented Australia in any format since February last year due to recurring back and shin problems, and will now be rested indefinitely following his latest setback.

His latest injury robs Australia of its dream pace quartet against England this summer, which in a perfect world would have included a firing Pattinson alongside NSW trio Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins. Read more.

Supercars will race under lights in 2018 after a night race was confirmed at Sydney Motorsport Park next August.

The 16-event championship calendar was released on Wednesday with the night race and a new event at the $110 million Tailem Bend circuit in South Australia the main changes.

The 2018 calendar also boasts a full championship round at the Australian Grand Prix for the first time.

The night race at Sydney Motorsport Park will be a 300-kilometre race from 7pm on August 4. Read more.