Friday, 18 July - C-O-L-A, cola...

Good morning, it’s Friday, 18 July. In your Squiz Today…

• Tassie’s heading to the polls tomorrow

• Unemployment hits an unexpected high

• And a zesty lentil barley salad 🍋

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said US President Donald Trump, claiming that Coca-Cola is going to change its US ingredients to replace corn syrup with cane sugar (which is what it uses here). Coke seems less sure the switch is happening, though - maybe it needs something to sweeten the deal…

Crunch time in the Apple Isle

The Squiz

We love elections almost as much as we love potatoes at The Squiz, so imagine our glee that this weekend features an election where one of the candidates has a spud connection… We’re talking about Tassie, which will go to a second state poll in as many years tomorrow. After a successful vote of no confidence was moved last month by Labor leader Dean Winter against Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff, forcing him to either resign or go to an election, he chose the latter - and after a short campaign, we're now at the business end.

Who are the players in this one?

Rockliff has been Premier since 2022, and was running a minority government with the support of some independents. (He's also the spud-adjacent one - his family built Tasmania’s Big Potato.) He says he's the only leader who can successfully form government, but Winter says the Libs' management of Tassie's finances means they should be turfed out. The 2 leaders have been going head-to-head on key issues like the budget and health, but they largely agree on some other important topics to Tasmanians, like salmon farming (both pro) and the proposed new sports stadium at Macquarie Point (ditto). Another big player is the Greens, led by Rosalie Woodruff - she's the only one of the 3 who wants Tassie to abandon its plans to build that stadium, a decision that would scupper the AFL’s plans for its planned 19th team, the Tassie Devils.

How might it play out?

Complicating the calculations is Tassie's tricky Hare-Clark electoral system - and look, we're pretty good at explaining stuff, but we might let only the real election junkies wander through that labyrinth. The key thing is that to win a majority, a party needs 18 seats - but if neither the Liberals nor Labor can get there, one of them will have to form government with the support of minor parties and independents - and Labor has ruled out working with the Greens. The latest polls reckon that no clear majority is the likely result, which would basically bring the whole situation back to where it started, and would also mean the wheeling and dealing with the crossbench to try and get enough support to form government will begin in earnest. So when we're back in your inbox on Monday, the whole thing might be far from over…

For more info on the issue of the sports stadium at Macquarie Point, check out our Squiz Shortcut, which dives into why it’s become such a political, uh, football…

Sweet dreams are made of this

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Squiz the Rest

Pakistan’s monsoon is getting worse

The country's National Disaster Management Authority says extremely heavy rains killed at least 63 people and injured 290 more in the province of Punjab over the last day or so. That means the overall death toll from the monsoon, which started late last month, is now at least 180 people. Pakistan is vulnerable to intense flooding - you might remember the floods of 2022 that killed more than 1700 people and caused at least $46 billion worth of damage, which were linked at the time to the impact of climate change, partly because the country is home to many large glaciers. So authorities in Punjab have declared an emergency and are asking people to stay inside, as the rain isn’t likely to stop anytime soon. Forecasters say the next 72 hours will involve more torrential rain and “exceptionally high” flood levels.

An arrest linked to an antisemitic attack

We got an update on the Adass Israel Synagogue attack investigation yesterday, with a 20yo Melbourne man arrested and charged. Police allege he stole a Volkswagen Golf used in the December arson, with detectives from Victoria’s Joint Counter Terrorism Team calling it a “communal crime car”. They say it was stolen a week earlier and used in several other unrelated crimes across the city. In May, CCTV was released showing 3 people getting out of the car at the synagogue, setting it alight, then driving off. The synagogue was destroyed, and it's being investigated as a terror attack - but detectives haven’t figured out who ordered it. Executive Council of Australian Jewry President Daniel Aghion says “until we find those who are ultimately directing these violent crimes, we have no prospect of stopping them”.

An unexpected rise

Our jobs market notched a dubious milestone last month: the highest unemployment rate in nearly 4 years. The Bureau of Stats released the June jobs data yesterday, and it shows the number of Aussies who were unemployed increased by 33,600, compared to just 2,000 who found a job. That brings our unemployment rate to 4.3%, up from 4.1% in May, and it was tipped to hold steady, so that's worse than expected… Many economists say it's a sign our Reserve Bank (which held interest rates steady at its meeting last week, against expectations…) might have to move faster on cutting rates. Abhijit Surya from Capital Economics reckons “the sharp rise in unemployment … makes the RBA’s decision to leave rates on hold earlier this month look like a policy error”. The board’s next meeting is scheduled for August…

Rugby fans are roaring to go

Tomorrow night, for the first time in 12 years, the British & Irish Lions will take on the Wallabies in a rugby union test on Aussie soil. It's the first of a 3-game series played over the next 3 weekends - starting in Brisbane tomorrow, before jetting off to Melbourne next weekend and finishing up the following Saturday night in Sydney. It's a rare occasion because the Lions only tour every 4 years, alternating between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The team is made up of players from England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland, which are all pretty good rugby teams in their own right, and given the Wallabies have a few injuries and a spotty recent win record recently, they're going into this a bit more green than gold. So the Lions are heavy favourites to win all 3 games as a result, but you'll never know until you try…

A multimillion-dollar rock

We should say, it’s not just any rock - this one’s the biggest Mars meteorite (yep, the planet…) that's ever been found on Earth. FYI - meteorites are the remains of a meteor/comet that don't burn up when it passes through Earth's atmosphere. You might remember that we spoke about this one a couple of weeks ago when Sotheby's New York put it up for auction, and on Wednesday, an anonymous buyer forked out more than $7.6 million for it. If you're thinking that's some pricey space rubble, the 24.5kg/38cm reddish-brown rock, which was found in a remote region of Niger in November 2023, is considered "unbelievably rare". Sotheby's Vice-Chairman of Science, Cassandra Hatton, says the odds of it getting to dry land, rather than landing in the ocean, are "astronomically small". So it was a solid find…

Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week

Any fans of the long-running detective series Bosch, based on the Michael Connelly novels, will also probably like Ballard, the new spin-off starring Maggie Q as a police detective forced to investigate cold cases due to internal police politics. It’s got some great reviews…

With its sci-fi bent and frenetic pace, the new Superman movie might not be for everyone, but it’s also getting great reviews and we had a lot of fun watching it. Plus, this time Supes has his dog pal Krypto in tow, who steals the whole movie like it’s a stray sock…

We know it's been chilly around most of the country, but if you're after an easy-to-meal-prep salad that you can have on hand for lunch, this lentil and barley one with lemon-thyme dressing might hit the spot. Pro tip: best served with some chicken/chicken of the sea…

Squiz the Day

Friday
10.00am (AEST) - Giddy up… the Boulia Camel Races - aka the ‘Melbourne Cup of Camel Racing’ - are on (until 20 July) - Boulia, outback Queensland

6.00pm (AEST) - The annual Christmas in July Queensland Parliament party is on - Brisbane

Mexican prosecutors will pursue a robbery-gone-wrong theory in a hearing for 4 people charged in relation to the murder of Perth brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Carter Rhoad on a surfing trip to Mexico - Ensenada, Mexico

It’s Katherine Show Day in the NT

👂 World Listening Day 

Nelson Mandela Day on the anniversary of his birthday (1918)

Birthdays for former Aussie cricket great Dennis Lillee (1949), business magnate Richard Branson (1950), TV personality Shaun Micallef (1962), actor Vin Diesel (1967), writer Elizabeth Gilbert (1969), and actor Kristen Bell (1980)

Anniversary of:

• the debut of Play School (1966)

• the death of author Jane Austen (1817)

• Kim Jong Un being appointed Supreme Leader of North Korea (2012)

Saturday
Tasmanians head to the polls for their state election

11.00am (AEST) - A commemoration ceremony will be held for the victims of flight MH17 in front of the Russian embassy - Canberra

3.00pm (AEST) - Soccer: Wrexham AFC v Wellington Phoenix - Wellington, watch on Paramount+

7.45pm (AEST) - Rugby union: Wallabies v British & Irish Lions in the first of 3 tests - Brisbane, watch it on Stan Sport 

Birthdays for Queen music legend Brian May (1947) and actor Benedict Cumberbatch (1976)

Anniversary of:

• the first US women's rights convention held in Seneca Falls NY, organised by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott (1848)

• the premiere of Mad Men (2007)

• an archaeological dig in Kakadu National Park extending Indigenous Australians' time in Oz from 65,000 to 80,000 years ago (2017)

• the death of Matthew Flinders, the cat-loving leader of the first circumnavigation of Australia (1814)

Sunday
3.30am (AEST) - Athletics: Diamond League meet - London

10.00am (ACST) - Cricket: Australia A v Sri Lanka A in the second 4-day match (until 23 July) - Darwin, watch on Kayo

1.30pm (ACST) - Netball: Minor semi-final between the Adelaide Thunderbirds and Melbourne Vixens - Adelaide, watch on Kayo

2.00pm (AWST) - Netball: Major semi-final, West Coast Fever v NSW Swifts - Perth, watch on Kayo 

Start of National Farm Safety Week (on until 26 July) 

Colombia's Independence Day 

International Chess Day

International Moon Day

Birthdays for Aussie zoo owner/conservationist Terri Irwin (1964) and actor Sandra Oh (1971)

Anniversary of:

• Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin becoming the first men to walk on the moon (1969)

• the CIA releasing documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments (1977)

• death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee (1973)