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Next week’s Federal Budget has many Australians wondering how they will be affected. 

The government has strongly advocated for building a more resilient economy than their predecessors, yet in recent months, the economy is suffering due to a rapid rise in inflation. This has pushed up interest rates and is squeezing the cost of living with both consumers and businesses feeling the pressure. 

Following groceries, the leading financial stressors for Australians are petrol, rent, mortgage payments and energy bills. And just to make ends meet, Aussies are making more considered purchases, seeking higher paying employment or working multiple jobs. Australians are already anxious about inflation with growing concern there’s no end in sight. 

Will the government restore their trust in Australians and keep their pre Federal Budget promises?

Cost of living crisis

Latest data from CHOICE’s Consumer Pulse survey, revealed that cost of living pressures are a major concern, with 90% of Australians seeing an increase in their household bills and expenses over the past year. 

Inflation pressures are intensifying and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) continues to drive up interest rates - their highest level in 7 years. The government has promised a long-term and sustainable approach to cost of living support in the form of a relief package. 

Concerned about their mortgage payments, up to a third of mortgage holders could struggle to keep up with future repayments, with younger generations particularly concerned about surging interest rates. 

Using Isentia data, during an eight week period from early August to early October 2022, 18% of Australia’s front pages featured cost of living stories. Even in a time of large local and international news such as the war on Ukraine and the Optus security breach, the cost of living crisis was still making front page news.

According to Pulsar data, anxieties around the cost of living, peaked following the RBA's interest rate announcements on 4 September and 4 October. For the sixth consecutive month, Australians have had to tighten an already lean household budget.

Apprehensions around security increased on 24 September as a result of the Optus security breach and again on 10 October when the government announced changes to the country's defence projects.  Also on 10 October, cost of living concerns spiked after growing speculation surrounding the Stage 3 tax cuts being recalibrated. Australians also felt a heightened sense of unease after the announcement of a future surge in energy costs, following a recent  35% rise.

Childcare fees are at their highest in 8 years, with child care subsidies failing to keep out of pocket costs to a minimum. On 16 September, conversation around child care spiked, as Treasurer Jim Chalmers promised to reduce the cost of childcare, yet pledged to keep spending restrained in light of budgetary constraints. 

As part of the cost of living relief package, this reduction won't come into play until mid 2023. Can Australian families wait this long?

Problematic climate conditions such as excessive rain and floods are leading to localised food price increases and diminished food quality. Even in the same area, poorer households are faring far worse than affluent counterparts. Across the board, there has been  a surge in the cost of fruit and vegetable prices (7.3%) and meat, seafood and bread rising by 6.3%. 

On top of these climate issues, labour shortages in both warehousing and transportation have resulted in added disruption to the supply chain. Freight costs are on the rise, putting intense pressure on importers and exporters. 

Are Aussie consumers looking at a continued supply chain that is more disruptive than the 2020 toilet paper shortage? The rise in the cost of living weighs on households' spending, and Australians are seeking alternate ways to make extra cash.

The thrifty shopper

As the cost of living rises, many Australians are seeking alternate ways to make or save cash; trimming budgets where they can; cancelling home entertainment subscriptions, and reducing insurance coverage for lower fees to name a few. Purchases at all levels are becoming more involved and highly considered, with discounts heavily sought after.

As Millennials and Gen Z shoppers are gaining more buying power, their passion for sustainable commerce is stronger than ever. Selling personal items to make extra cash has been on the rise with retail e-commerce platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and ‘Recommerce’ platforms like AirRobe, are booming. Not only are Australians becoming more financially savvy, they are conscious of the need to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ - a criteria these platforms adopt.

Following the money

There’s no doubt that inflation is changing salary expectations. And for those in industries where movement and remote working is possible, many Australians are following the money.

Data from the Reserve Bank of Australia, shows organisations have reported higher rates of employees leaving to achieve higher pay packets as a way to provide temporary relief for  the rise in cost of living. Interestingly, this higher voluntary turnover was especially concentrated in professional services. 

In response to labour shortages, organisations are implementing a range of non-base wage strategies - e.g bonuses, flexible work practices, more internal training and hiring staff with less experience, as opposed to increasing base wages.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) figures also show Australians are taking on multiple jobs, as full-time work forces employees to juggle several roles to make ends meet. Although multiple job holding is more common in low-paid industries, a record high of 900,000 people held multiple jobs in the June quarter of 2022. 

This is an increase of 4.3 per cent from the previous quarter and is a reflection of wages growth stagnating and nominal wages barely keeping up with consumer prices. The result; people needing to work more hours to make ends meet. 

Using data insights from Pulsar, wages is one of the ‘most anticipated’ topics in this year’s Budget. The Wage Price Index (WPI) rose 0.7 per cent in the June quarter and 2.6 per cent over the year, which represented a substantial fall in real wages given inflation rose 6.1 per cent last quarter. 

Social media conversation around wages is evolving with other indicators suggesting wages are still climbing alongside extreme uncertainty surrounding global growth and rampant inflation. 

Will Australians see more dollars in their pocket after the Budget is handed down?

Australians taking action

With Australians taking a greater interest in living a sustainable lifestyle, the government and organisations are prompted to influence the lever of positive change and create actionable outcomes.

Despite a great deal of politicians pledging change, governments are often swayed by the media and public opinion which can derail policies wanting to address complex, longer-term challenges. Millennials and Gen Zs have long pushed to see societal and economic change. 

Results from the 10th Annual Deloitte Global 2022 Gen Z and Millennial Survey shows they are increasingly becoming more politically involved. These influential cohorts are progressively showing interest in political issues, and turning to social media to discuss their opinions. Moreover, they are consciously making calculated career decisions and spending their money with organisations who share the same values.

Social engagement shows left wing millennials are showing concern over the budget and economic issues, with Treasurer, Jim Chalmers gaining the most chatter. Similarly, baby boomers are equally vocal, using the same keywords as millennials but they also seek strong leadership and a strong economy.

For younger demographics, their interactions or relationships with organisations is dependent on the organisation's treatment of the environment, their policies on data privacy and their position on social and political issues. 

For governments, tackling environmental, economic and social issues and their impact requires a huge transformation across all sectors. Market forces alone will not solve the problem, and the onus is on governments to take a lead to meet the sustainability challenge. 

The October Federal Budget is an opportunity for the government to show they are the lever of change by creating actionable outcomes and a positive impact. Australians are concerned for the welfare of the country and previous governments have fallen short. 

The government promises to back clean energy and build new renewable infrastructure across the country, will they succeed or disappoint?

The Federal Budget can be an overwhelming time, with an abundance of promises and policies, it can be hard to stay on top of the latest news. We have a comprehensive range of political news services available to help you navigate the political media coverage at this October Federal Budget. Want to learn what’s being said at this Federal Budget?

Click here to start navigating the announcements that may impact your organisation.

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We sat down with Brendan McGreevy, recently appointed Country Manager for Australia (2017) and discussed his viewpoints on leading the Australian team and the latest release of Custom Reports on Mediaportal.

Tell us who you are and how you came along with your Isentia journey

My name is Brendan McGreevy and I am the Country Manager for Australia [here at] Isentia. I joined the company in January 2004 as a tele-sales consultant, selling media intelligence services and data distribution. I’ve managed the tele-sales team and the Slice products over a number of years before we brought that back into the [Isentia] family, I’ve been a BDM, a Service Consultant, a Sales Manager and now I’m Country Manager. I have done many, many jobs and have always been in client facing, which is what I like, and I hope to continue my career throughout the company in a client-facing role.

What job haven’t you had at Isentia?

I haven’t been Chief Executive yet, so maybe at some point in the future! I am keeping my options open though.

What are you 100% passionate about and what gets you going every day?

Probably two things – one being the media and how it rapidly changes, the different forms and the different platforms that are popping out pretty much every month or every year. The other is clients – dealing with communicators – people in PR and Corp Comms.

It’s fast paced, and every day is a new and different day. If one client is on the news on a Monday, it’s going to be someone different on a Wednesday. [It’s] that kind of variety that keeps you getting up in the morning and keeps you coming into work. 

What are you most proud of, a moment of time of your life at Isentia?

I can’t think of one defining moment. I suppose each year when you see the achievements of the team, achievements of the clients, and you are hitting those targets – seeing the client growing every year and seeing that we’re doing all those things right that keeps the clients coming back for more and more. I would say that is probably the proudest achievement. 

Can you talk about what makes the Australian customer base unique and what is different about them?

I think what makes it unique from the rest of the company is that there are clients that have used us for many, many years. We’ve been through the evolution of their businesses and their careers and they’ve been through the evolution of our business.

From the hard copy clipping agency in the 80’s and 90’s through to the digitally media intelligence company we are now. Personally, I’ve worked with a lot of them [the clients], since the early 2000’s and it does create a bit of uniqueness within our business. We do find that a lot of people in the Account Management team and the Sales team have been here for 20 to 30 years, and they tend to stick around because they know the people that they’re working with. Whether they move from government to private sector [or elsewhere], they always move back again, so you tend to meet the same people over and over again – it gives that sense of familiarity with all of the clients. 

Looking at the new Custom Reports feature, what do you think would excite them most about it?

Probably the levels of customisation that we can now offer – like adding in the client’s logo and customising the look and feel of it. 

Even though it is our content that we’re sending to the clients, it is their work. Allowing them to personalise their work and distribute that internally in a format that actually gives them the kudos and credit for what they’ve done and what they’ve achieved. I think that is going to get on pretty well. 

What do you think makes Isentia brilliant?

What makes us brilliant is the people that are here.

I think the people that works here takes a very specific breed of person – you’ve got to love the media, you’ve got to love communications, you’ve got to love PR, you’ve got to love marketing, and you’ve got to love what we do, you’ve got to love the industry.

I think that is everybody that is here – evident in the high tenure of service across the business. People love what they do, they love that it is fast-paced, and they love that it is continually changing. And at the same time there is a level of familiarity at what we do as well. So yeah, it is definitely the people. 

What is your favorite feature within the latest Custom Reports release and why?

To be honest, that is my favourite feature – the customisable view of it. In previous reports you could only use the PDF and that was very much a standard, static document. This is the client’s document, and it is important that when we build our products and services that they are all about the client and not about us. It’s not about the media, it is not about the content, it is actually about that client and their business and what they need to use the information for, and how they can customise it for different stakeholders, and different audiences internally. So, the more it looks like their document and the more they can customise it, the better it is. 

Given your recent promotion to Country Manager, what excites you about the year ahead?

What we just completed in Australia is a slight restructure of the sales and services team. Previously we had an account management structure. We’ve [since] taken client success out and created a new division for Client Success and a new division for Sales.

These changes excite me because now we’ve got a dedicated focus on service for our clients and trying to understand what our client wants from us and how we can make that service better, and that is the dedication of that team. They don’t have to sell, or have find a new revenue stream, their job is purely to service our clients. Going back to that value and Isentia being client obsessed, this structure allows us to actually be client obsessed – to focus on our clients and their needs on a day-to-day basis, but to also have consultants from a different team to help clients with different services when the need arises. 

Watch the video here.

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A weekly tracker tracing the stories, figures and policies driving media and social coverage in the 2026 Victoria State Election across Online News, TV, Radio, Newspaper, Magazine, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Blogs and Forums. This edition covers conversations and coverage from 26th October - 2nd November 2026, highlighting what’s shaping the election conversation.

1. Election Conversation

Media = news coverage of the Victorian state election (TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, online news). Social = public posts across X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Forums and Blogs — everyone posting, not just media outlets. The two are counted separately and summed, with no overlap between them.

2. Media Issue of the Week

Party Leaders Agree to Four-Way Election Debate

The week began with a long-running political standoff over the election debate format finally breaking. Opposition Leader Jess Wilson had spent weeks demanding a one-on-one contest with Premier Ben Carroll, framing it as a straightforward choice between the two major parties. Carroll, however, had pushed for a 'three-way contest' that included One Nation's Warren Pickering, a move some commentators saw as an attempt to split the conservative vote. The deadlock ended on Tuesday when Wilson reversed her position, agreeing to a four-way 'People's Forum' hosted by News24 and the Herald Sun, but only on the condition the Greens' Ellen Sandell was also included. Wilson then told media that Carroll was 'hiding' and needed other leaders as 'comfort blankets'. The final agreement, confirmed on Wednesday, will see all four leaders face questions from undecided voters in a single event next week.

The debate format is part of a wider contest over how the campaign is framed. Wilson's initial position would have presented the election as a choice between government and opposition. Carroll's push to include Pickering was seen by some as an attempt to draw support away from Wilson on the right. By agreeing to a four-way format on the condition that the Greens were included, Wilson presented Carroll as avoiding a direct contest and herself as open to a broader discussion. Wilson's 'comfort blankets' line became the week's most repeated soundbite.

The story dominated political coverage from Monday through Thursday, generating over 220 articles. It was largely a story about campaign process rather than policy. Headlines like 'Snags and snipes: Leaders sizzle over debate' focused on the personal friction between the leaders, while sustained coverage also followed each change in the negotiations.

3. What's happening across media and social?

How the same issues and parties are landing in the news versus in public conversation

One Nation is punching above its media weight online, drawing a bigger share of social conversation than news coverage. Campaign & Election Process is a bigger talking point in public conversation than it is in the news.

4. Party Share of Conversation

Combined share of media + social mentions this week — attention, not polling

Shares add up to 100% of the six parties shown. Share of conversation measures how much each party was mentioned across media and social this week, not polling, voter intention or electoral support.

5. Top candidates this week

Ranked by combined media + social mentions · share of mentions among the five candidates shown

Mentions measure attention, not popularity, approval or electoral prospects.

6. Election issues

Top themes this week

Top themes this week, media + social combined · share of mentions among the four themes shown

What's inside each topic?

The specific stories driving each theme above, as a share of that theme's own coverage

What's driving conversation about each party?

Each party's top issues in social conversation this week

7. Top election promises

This week's most-covered costed pledges, media + social combined

8. Where the coverage came from

Media type and social platform split this week

Top outlets: 3AW, News24, ABC Radio Melbourne
Most active accounts: JackLit10200548, Commoncents21, Dedicatedlyfirm

9. Issues to watch

What communicators should keep an eye on next week

• Monitor the debate's impact on leader credibility, as the four-way format could elevate minor parties and reshape voter perceptions of competence, forcing communicators to prepare for a more fragmented narrative landscape. Watch for post-debate polling shifts and which leaders' styles resonate on key issues like cost of living.
• Track how business groups respond to Victoria's 'worst for business' ranking, as parties will face pressure to address economic confidence in their messaging. Look for new policy announcements aimed at reversing this perception and any attempts to link it to government integrity debates.
• Assess the fallout from candidate controversies, as One Nation's social media scandal and the assault charge could test party discipline and public trust. Watch for how each party manages these reputational risks and whether they shift focus back to core policy pledges like health and infrastructure.

---

If you want to find out more about how Isentia can help you understand the Victoria state election media landscape, please reach out to us here.

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How do I navigate aged care in Australia? How easy are government services to deal with? How well supported are people with disabilities? These are big questions about life in Australia, and many people now put them to an AI tool before they visit a website, pick up the phone or speak to anyone. They rarely mention a government agency by name, yet the answer they get still shapes what they believe about the services behind it: whether the system works, who is responsible and whose information they can trust. That is reputation taking shape, in a conversation no communications team is part of.

To see how that plays out, we used Your Prompts, a new feature in Isentia's AI View, to track how leading AI models answer these questions. Here's what we found, whose information the models used, how each model goes about sourcing its answers, and what it all means for public-sector communicators.

Starting with the question

Most AI visibility tracking starts with an organisation's name. Your Prompts lets you set your own questions, which gives public-sector teams a much wider view of their reputation. People rarely ask an AI tool about an agency by name; they ask for help with whatever problem is in front of them, whether that's getting a parent into aged care or working out what support is available for a carer. Or they ask something bigger, such as how well the country looks after older people.

We tracked six sets of questions across leading AI models, covering the things people deal with at different stages of life: finding their way around government services, getting older, living with disability and caring for someone, raising a family, staying healthy, and making ends meet. For this article we focused on three of them: access and navigation, aged care, and disability and carers. These are the moments when people depend most directly on the government, which means a wrong or incomplete answer can have real consequences for someone trying to get help, and can colour how they feel about the system as a whole.

We compared answers from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Google AI Overview, looking at what each model said, which sources it cited and which organisations it named. The questions were set up for tracking rather than drawn from a survey of what the public actually asks, and the findings reflect a single point in time, using the latest data from 27 October 2026. Even so, the patterns in how AI finds and presents information about public services were clear and consistent.

How easy are government services to deal with in Australia?

We asked this alongside a second question: how well government support reaches the people who need it. Most models landed on a similar view: digital services work well for simple tasks, while complex cases, phone contact and people in vulnerable situations are where things get harder. The more interesting part is where that view comes from. The models formed it largely through oversight bodies, with the national audit office's findings carrying particular weight.

Government's own voice only came through when a model cited official pages, as when one model described digital services as a major strength, using a government website as the source. In other words, when AI assesses how the government is performing, it largely takes the word of the ‘referees’. Owned content can earn you a line in the answer, but auditors, commissions and advocates write most of the scorecard. For reputation, that gives an audit finding a second life. Well after the news cycle moves on, it can still be part of the answer people get when they ask how the government is doing. That brings us back to a question we raised in our article on AI visibility for government agencies: is your organisation still seen as the main authority on its own services?

How do I navigate aged care in Australia?

Almost every model named government services as the place to go for financial assessments, payments and in-person help, and the tone was neutral to positive. One model went as far as recommending that people complete a means assessment early so they don't end up paying more than they need to.

The catch is that the agencies people were being sent to were rarely the source of that information, which mostly came from other government portals and guides written by aged care providers and advocacy groups. In one answer, even an agency's own contact details were taken from a seniors' advocacy group's website. Being named in an answer, then, is quite different from being its source. It builds recognition, but someone else is setting people's expectations of what they'll find when they get there, and if that guide is out of date, it's the service they feel let down by.

Zoom out to the bigger question of how well Australia looks after older people, and the agencies that were the first port of call in the practical answers didn't appear at all. These answers were framed by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which concluded in 2021, with most models opening on its findings and some giving them more weight than the reforms that followed. This is the reputational point that's easiest to miss: the practical question tells people where to go, while the big question tells them what kind of system they're dealing with. As we covered in why content freshness matters for AI visibility, old stories have a habit of shaping AI answers long after the facts have moved on.

How well supported are people with disabilities in Australia?

The models discussed income support payments without naming the agency that delivers them, focusing instead on the NDIS and the gaps in support. That said, not every absence is a problem. Some questions genuinely aren't about a particular organisation, so it makes sense for it to sit them out. The useful distinction for communicators is between a relevant absence, where the question simply isn't about you, and a missed opportunity, where your work is being discussed and you aren't getting the credit. Repeated across enough answers, a missed opportunity leaves people with a picture of support that doesn't include the people delivering it.

Questions about caring for someone played out differently. Every model gave almost the same answer and pointed people to the same national carer support service. When official information is clear and consistent across agencies, peak bodies and support services, AI repeats it faithfully. There was one notable exception, where a model explained the government's carer payments using a blog from a private company that sells personal medical alarms. The information was mostly accurate, but it shows how far an explanation can travel from its original source. The good news is that consistency across your wider network really does pay off: when the organisations around you describe your services the way you do, AI is more likely to get them right, and that shared story becomes part of your reputation.

Why each model tells the story differently

Across all three categories, each model showed clear habits in the sources it reached for. We can see what each one cites, even if we can't see exactly how it decides, and the patterns are consistent enough to act on. In practice, your reputation can look different depending on the tool someone uses. These habits also build on what we found when we looked at how different LLMs represent your organisation.

Model	Where it gets its information	Example from our research	What it means for communicators
ChatGPT	Official statistics, audit reports and formal reviews. It pairs almost every claim with a figure or finding, much like a policy analyst writing a briefing note.	When asked whether government support reaches people in need, it built its answer around the national audit office’s findings. It was also the model most likely to cite the website of the agency delivering a service.	Oversight reports shape how ChatGPT judges your performance, while your own pages shape how it describes what you do.
Claude	The widest mix of sources, including advocacy groups, provider guides and commentary alongside government material. It tends to explain the reasons behind an issue and present more than one side.	When describing the Royal Commission’s “national disgrace” finding, it relied mostly on second-hand accounts of the report, such as Wikipedia and a private aged care provider’s website.	The organisations that retell your story effectively become your spokespeople.
Gemini	University research and international bodies such as the OECD, drawn from Google’s broad index of academic platforms, video and international sources.	On aged care, it drew on an overseas policy institute’s summary of Australia’s new aged care legislation.	Published research and evaluations carry real weight, as do secondary sources describing your work, wherever in the world they are published.
Perplexity	The most recently updated pages, quoted closely. It is built around live search with visible citations, so it favours recent, easy-to-access pages.	On access to services, it quoted a government corporate plan published only weeks earlier.	This is where keeping your own content current pays off fastest.
Google AI Overview	A small number of sources, summarised briefly, because it is designed to give a quick answer at the top of search results.	On disability support, it relied mainly on the scheme’s own website and summarised criticism in general terms, without naming who made it.	The few sources it chooses carry a lot of weight, so clear, well-structured official pages give you the best chance of being one of them.

One question, several versions

Put together, the same question can produce an audit-style answer, an advocacy-informed analysis, a research summary or a current snapshot, depending on which tool someone happens to open. Two people asking the same question can come away with quite different impressions of the same service. There's no single AI view of an organisation to manage, because each model has its own sources and each needs a slightly different approach.

Zooming out: how these answers add up to reputation

Look at any one of these answers and it can seem like a visibility issue. Put them together and it's a reputation issue. For public-sector organisations, reputation has always been about more than what's said about you by name. It rests on whether people believe the system works, know where to turn and trust what they're told, and those impressions are now forming in AI answers, one question at a time.

Across these questions, four things shaped the impression an answer left:

• Who gets named. Whether you appear when your work is being discussed, and get the credit for it.
• Who does the explaining. Whether people hear how your services work from you, or from a provider, an advocate or a company blog.
• Who acts as referee. Whose assessment of your performance gets repeated as the verdict.
• Which story sets the frame. Whether the answer opens on where things stand today, or on a finding from years ago.

None of this shows up if you only ask AI about your organisation by name. You see it when you ask the questions your audience is asking. And it matters, because AI is now one of the main places where people go for information about the things that matter to them.

What this means for public-sector communicators

Government organisations can't control what AI says, but they can do a lot to influence the information it draws on, and with it the reputation that forms around them. Five practical steps came out of this research.

• Track the big questions, not just your name. The most useful insights came from questions about services and real-life situations rather than about any one organisation, so start with what your audience is trying to do or understand, and check what AI is telling them.
• Work with the bodies that assess your performance. Auditors, commissions and advocates shape how AI judges your work, so respond to their findings publicly and make sure your progress is recorded in the sources they, and AI, rely on. That way an old finding doesn't have to stand alone.
• Support the organisations that explain your services. Sister agencies, peak bodies, providers and advocacy groups often explain your services for you, so give them clear, current information to work from. As we found in our analysis of Tier 1 and Tier 2 media in AI answers, specialist and niche sources often matter more to AI than their profile suggests.
• Keep practical information clear and up to date. Plain-language pages on eligibility, processes and how to get help are what AI repeats when people ask how to do something. Organisations that deliver services directly rely on this more than most, because outdated information can lead someone to miss out on support they're entitled to.
• Check answers across several models regularly. Each model uses different sources, so one model's answer is a poor guide to the others, and because answers shift as new content is published, regular tracking shows whether your updates are reaching the sources AI uses.

Whose information is AI using?

AI is already answering big questions about life in Australia, whether or not the public-sector organisations involved are part of the conversation. This research shows that an organisation can be mentioned often and still have surprisingly little say in how its services are described or how its performance is judged, with other organisations doing much of the explaining and each AI model weighing those voices differently.

For communicators, the job is to understand that wider network of sources and make sure accurate, current information runs through all of it. It's worth asking what AI says about your organisation. It's just as worthwhile asking what AI says when nobody mentions you, and whose information it's using to say it. That's where much of your reputation is now taking shape.

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