Friday, 20 December - Celebrate good times, come on

Good morning, it’s Friday, 20 December. In your Squiz Today…

• Aussie household wealth has ticked up

• A verdict in the mass rape trial of Gisèle Pelicot

• 🥔 And we’re sending off 2024 with a most excellent potato recipe…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Is how comedian ​​Steph Broadbridge described her new breakdancing stage show. Her previous attempt - Raygun: The Musical - was canned after Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s lawyers accused her of damaging the Raygun brand. Breaking The Musical seems to have hopped through a loophole…

Aussie net worth keeps ticking up

The Squiz

You might not be feeling it as the end-of-year holiday bills pile up, but Australia’s household wealth has risen for the eighth quarter running to $16.9 trillion. The Bureau of Stats says it’s up 2.4% - or $401 billion - in the July-September quarter and almost 10% higher than last year. There are no prizes in your Christmas cracker for guessing the main driver in our increasing wealth - home values are doing the heavy lifting… The higher value of residential land, homes and apartments made up a big share of the increase. 

Ok, what else is making me rich?

Household wealth (aka our net worth) is the overall value of your assets - think your property, super and savings - so if you’re lucky enough to have all of those, things seem to be going well… The growth in the Aussie share market and a rise in the super guarantee (what employers pay towards it) have helped our collective super balance tick up by 3.5%. We also saved a bit more money - possibly banking this year’s Stage 3 tax cuts - to put away $61.5 billion as a country. But as flagged yesterday, the mid-year budget update from Treasurer Jim Chalmers is not predicting smooth sailing… We've got years of budget deficits to look forward to, mortgage rates are high, the cost of living is high, and our economic growth has slowed. 

Geez, you're a Debbie downer… 

We know, but at least we’re not living across the ditch - New Zealand is now in a recession, and their Reserve Bank is likely to keep cutting rates to try to ease the pain. And while our Reserve Bank has kept its scissors in the drawer, the US got theirs out again this week - but they’ve signalled it might not happen again next year because inflation is proving a difficult beast to bring down. That news prompted Wall Street stocks to fall and the ASX followed suit, ending yesterday 1.7% down overall, with the Aussie dollar also dropping to its lowest level in 2 years. But it’s not all bad news - the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) predicts the global economy will grow at a faster rate in 2025, and inflation is projected to fall. Onwards and upwards…

Your fresh market update…

At the Squiz, we’re all about giving you the useful stuff. So, we’ve teamed up with Woolies to share their top weekly fruit and veg picks. Here’s what to grab this week:

🥔 Washed potatoes - Roast ‘em, mash ‘em, whip up a potato salad - they’re all we want for Christmas.

🥕 Dutch carrots - Thinner than regular carrots, these are easy to roast. And for reindeers to munch… 

🍋 Citrus - Lemons and limes are in season - just in time for your Christmas seafood/beverage needs.

🍓 Berries - Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries = pavlova perfection. You know you want to…

Squiz the Rest

Guilty verdicts handed down in mass rape trial

After a trial that’s dominated international headlines for months, a French court has found 51 men guilty of raping 72yo Gisèle Pelicot repeatedly over a decade. The ringleader was her ex-husband, Dominique, who admitted to drugging his wife and recruiting the other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. He was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 20 years in jail. The 50 other men were found guilty of various charges and were handed jail terms ranging from 3-15 years. At least 47 were found guilty of rape. Pelicot has become a feminist icon for waiving her right to anonymity during the trial, and outside court a crowd cheered as the verdicts were read. She thanked her supporters and said she believes we can "find a better future in which men and women alike can live harmoniously together with mutual respect".

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Christmas chaos in the States

President-elect Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk are trying to knock back a budget bill aimed at keeping the US government ticking along over the holidays. If it isn’t passed, it means the government could shut down within days. Both Republicans and Democrats were on board with the bill, which, aside from keeping the lights on, also provided billions in relief to cyclone-affected communities and farmers. But Trump and Musk said it was too expensive and Democrat-friendly, threatening the political careers of Republicans who backed it. Trump also wants an increase to the debt ceiling (meaning how much the government can borrow) done now so it isn't an issue when he takes office in January. So, just before the holidays, it's back to the drawing board in Washington…

Crunching some LGBTI+ numbers

Population data is something the numbers gurus over at the Bureau of Stats (ABS) know well, but looking into our lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex (LGBTI+) community specifically is new to them… Yesterday, the ABS released stats showing one in 20 Aussies identify as LGBTI+. That’s about 4.5% of our population over 16yo. And it might not come as a surprise that the number’s higher among young people - 9.5% of 16-24yos and 7.5% of 25-34yos are LGBTI+. You can dive into the numbers here, but the ABS Head of Health Statistics Robert Long reckons they’re the “first nationally representative data of their kind in Australia”. It won’t be the last… The Albanese Government faced criticism over its plan to dodge questions on gender and sexual orientation in the 2026 Census, but after backflipping on that, they’ll now be included.

Cruzing to a major tournament

It’s been nearly 9 years since a Hewitt has been in the mix for the Australian Open, but that’s about to change, with Aussie tennis legend Lleyton’s 16yo son Cruz taking to the court… The junior Hewitt has been selected for a wildcard entry into the 2025 tournament. And it’s not just the name that’s gotten him there - reports say he’s one of our most highly rated juniors. There’s also some friendly family competition at play, with Cruz saying the comparisons to his famous dad “just drives me to be better”. And Lley Lley Jr’s not the only wildcard entry - Bernard Tomic, the 32yo former men's world #17, and Simona Halep, the 33yo former women's #1, are both hoping to solidify their comebacks. If you’re gearing up for the tournament, make sure you have 12-26 January in your diary - that's when Melbourne will be pumping.

Finding some trunk in the junk 

A New York man has made quite the discovery in his backyard - a bone sticking out of his soil belongs to a mastodon. It’s the first discovery of a mastodon fossil in the area for over 10 years - and once he twigged this was a bit more than your average backyard animal skeleton, some professionals came to help out. They spent over 2 days digging to find not only some teeth, a bit of rib and the odd toe - but a complete adult mastodon jaw. The experts reckon this might help them learn more about the ancient ecosystem and which other animals were running around the place back in the day. The close relative of the mammoth and elephant died out around 13,000 years ago, and experts say they lived right across the world, with their fossils often holding up quite well through the years.

Wanna be in the Saturday Squiz?

There’s no denying that it’s been a big year in the news, and it’s got us wondering…

Friday Lites - 3 things that jingled our bells this week

First up, hearing that a new series from the singular documentary maker Philomena Cunk isn't far away - her take on a nature doco hits Netflix on 2 January. The first trailer dropped yesterday, and it’s exactly as off-the-wall as you’d expect. Keep an eye out for those long-necked horse monsters…

If you’d like to catch up on some good stuff you might have missed this year, here are some lists of the best movies, best TV shows and best albums of 2024 - and for something a bit more analogue to do during the break, the best board games as well. Those should keep you busy…

And to finish off our year in food, here’s the ham glaze we're opting for this festive season - it turns even the most ordinary supermarket ham into something you’ll go back to the fridge for again and again. And our end-of-year gift to you? These hash brown prawn toasts. No judgement…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - Victorian Liberals will hold a special party room meeting to debate if former Liberal MP Moira Deeming should be allowed to return to the party, after a Federal Court ruling found she was defamed by Liberals leader John Pesutto - Melbourne

9.00am (AEST) - The cases of a Russian-Australian couple in custody charged with espionage are back in court - Brisbane

Sydney commuters are facing the possibility of another train strike, with the Rail, Tram and Bus Union expected to announce industrial action over the holiday period which could impact thousands of people on New Year’s Eve

Schools in NSW and Victoria break for the end of the year

National Ugly Christmas Sweater Day

International Human Solidarity Day 

Anniversary of:

• the publication of Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812)

• the premiere of Christmas classic flick It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

• 30th anniversary of Paul Keating becoming PM after defeating Bob Hawke for the leadership of the Labor party (1991)

• Queen Elizabeth II becoming the oldest ever British monarch when she surpassed Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years, 7 months and 29 days (2007)

🎁 And it's 5 days until Christmas…

So, where to from here?

We’re glad you asked… We’re taking a break for a couple of weeks - we’ll be back on Monday, 6 January. And breathe…

The Saturday Squiz is out tomorrow (and you can sign up below in the section titled ‘Want more Squiz?’ if you don’t receive that excellent newsletter). Spoiler alert: it’s going to be a good one.

The Great Big Squiz Quiz newsletter will be in your inbox on Monday morning. Go up against your people or go solo with our 20 questions - it’s a lot of fun.

And over in podcast land, if you do find yourself looking for a dose of Squiz, some favourite Squiz Shortcuts from the year will be showcased in our Squiz Today show - tune in on Apple or Spotify. That starts on Friday, 27 December.

All that’s left to say is have a merry Christmas and a happy new year. You’re the best - so make sure you stay safe. See you in 2025…