Friday, 25 October - Don’t blame it on the sunshine

October 25, 2024

Good morning, it’s Friday, 25 October. In your Squiz Today…

  • It’s Queensland’s turn to vote

  • WiseTech CEO Richard White steps down

  • And on World Pasta Day - a recipe for spaghetti with pangrattato… 🍝

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“May God bless this ava.”

Said King Charles as he sipped on a cup of the narcotic root drink kava (also known as ‘ava’) during a traditional ceremony welcoming him to Samoa. In good (or maybe bad…) news for the King before he begins his CHOGM duties today, reports say the brew’s only “mildly intoxicating”...

The Sunshine State heads to the polls

The Squiz

One more sleep until it’s polling day in Queensland, with voting kicking off at 8am local time tomorrow, that will see the Liberal National (LNP) led by David Crisafulli looking to unseat Premier Steven Miles and the Labor Party from power after nearly a decade… The state’s Electoral Commission expects a bit less than half of the state’s 3.6 million voters will turn out tomorrow after strong early voting - but that doesn’t mean we’re likely to see the results any earlier, though - counting begins when the polls close at 6pm tomorrow night.

What are the big issues?

Cost of living pressures and housing are top of mind for Queenslanders going into this vote according to the polls - and Miles has announced measures like slashing public transport costs, one-off payments for electricity bills, and free primary school lunches. Meanwhile, Crisafulli and the LNP have campaigned strongly on youth crime, promising to introduce adult-level penalties for serious offences. And then there's abortion laws… Katter Party leader Robbie Katter says he'll introduce a private member's bill to wind back abortion rights, sparking a conscience vote, and there have been weeks of questions over Crisafulli and his candidates’ views… For his part, he says changes are “not part of our plans” - but the debate has given Miles and Labor plenty of ammo in the final weeks of the campaign.

So what’s going to happen?

Insert shrugging lady emoji… Despite the LNP being well ahead in the polls in recent months, the race has been tightening up with the Labor Party fighting it out to the end. On that note, Miles is on a campaign blitz to visit “36 seats in 36 hours” leading up to tomorrow’s vote - even making a final promise to serve up democracy sausages at future elections’ pre-poll booths if Labor wins a fourth term of government. But with Labor currently holding 51 seats in Queensland’s 93-seat parliament - and 23 of them expected to flip to the LNP - it’s a big ask… And with regional voters feeling a lack of love, analysts say there could be a swing to minor parties and independents in the bush - which could also take away from the 47 seats Labor or the LNP needs to form a government in their own right. Have your popcorn at the ready…

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:

🥭 Calypso mangoes - They’re the pink-coloured ones with a smaller seed inside, meaning lots of juicy goodness…

❤️ Raspberries - Our favourite way to have ‘em is in our brekky smoothies…

🥒 Lebanese cucumbers - These are smaller than Continental cucumbers, but just as crunchy

🌽 Sweet corn - When you’re shopping, look for bright green husks - the corn inside will be sweet and ready to roll…

Squiz the Rest

Taking the stand to make a stand

Gisele Pelicot - the woman allegedly drugged by her husband and raped by dozens of men - has told a French court she wants other victims to know “it’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them”. The 72yo waived her right to anonymity in the case in order to help other women and shine a light on what advocates say are outdated views of consent in France. The majority of the defendants have denied raping Pelicot - arguing they did not realise she was unconscious. She told the court it was “unbelievably violent" for them to suggest she agreed to what happened or was faking sleeping. Some French politicians are looking into making changes to the laws in the wake of the case because there’s currently no clear mention of the need for a partner’s consent - a definition that’s out of step with the rest of Europe.

Thorpe changes tune on swearing-in

Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe is drawing more flak from the major parties after making - and then walking back - a claim that she said ‘hairs’ instead of ‘heirs’ when being sworn in to take her spot as a senator. Thorpe caused a stir by giving King Charles a spray during his visit to Parliament on Monday, and on Wednesday she told the ABC that “I swore allegiance to the Queen’s hairs”, which raised questions about whether the ceremony was invalid. Yesterday, she moonwalked it back, saying the mispronunciation was an error, but not before the Coalition’s Senate leader Simon Birmingham said they were talking to lawyers about it. Labor’s Katy Gallagher didn’t go that far - she says the government is looking at a censure or take some disciplinary action for the Senator’s behaviour, possibly next week. 

White out - sort of

Australian billionaire Richard White, who made plenty of headlines this week, has resigned as CEO and director of WiseTech - the company he founded 30 years ago. We spoke about this earlier this week, but to regroup… White settled a bankruptcy lawsuit on Tuesday with wellness entrepreneur Linda Rogan after Nine’s newspapers reported (paywall) that his direct messaging habits led to White being labelled ‘The LinkedIn Lecher’. But the announced move won’t see him going far - after a bit of time off, he’ll be returning to the company as a consultant. The announcement was made to investors after the Australian Stock Exchange closed yesterday, so keep an eye out for how WiseTech’s share price goes today. It’s already down around 20% so far this week...

Hurdling into the Hall of Fame

We’ve got 8 new members in the Australian Sport Hall of Fame - with hurdler Sally Pearson, surfer Mick Fanning and motor racing driver Mark Skaife some of the names in this year's class of inductees. They're all a bit shocked - Fanning says he was "pretty flabbergasted, to be honest" and Pearson said it was "surreal". She's no stranger to the HoF though, being a 2-time Don Award winner as an inspiring athlete... Needing a boost of inspiration this weekend are the Diamonds. It's been a rough week for our women's netballers - they're down 0-2 in the 4-Test Constellation Cup against New Zealand's Silver Ferns. But they can still bounce back if they win the next 2 Tests - which are on Aussie soil - at which point, extra time will decide the winner of the whole shebang.

A sparkling serpent comes to Canberra 

The National Gallery of Australia in Canberra has unveiled its priciest purchase since Blue Poles - a 13 tonne metal sculpture of a snake eating its own tail… The $14 million ‘Ouroboros’ is the work of artist Lindy Lee, and it required precision planning - and a few road closures - to get it from Brissy to its new home. NGA director Nick Mitzivech copped plenty of criticism when he commissioned the piece in 2021- but says “nothing of this complexity has ever been made in Australia. It is both complicated and sublimely beautiful”. The sculpture is made from mirrored stainless steel, pierced with 46,000 holes and will be lit up every night out the front of the gallery… And if a visit to the national capital isn’t on your itinerary any time soon (which is a shame - Canberra’s awesome…), a smaller version made from $10 million worth of gold will tour the country next year.

Wanna be in the Saturday Squiz?

This week, an Aussie hiker got herself stuck in a tight spot after dropping her phone in a crevice. Thankfully she was saved, but the phone was not so lucky…

What’s the strangest/worst place you've dropped your phone?

Click to cast your vote and tell us the story behind it. We'll share 3 responses in Saturday's newsletter.

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Friday Lites - 3 things we liked this week

If you’re of a certain age, you’ll remember Trinny and Sussanah - the UK’s style duo who taught women what (not) to wear. These days, Trinny Woodall is a wildly successful cosmetics entrepreneur and Susannah Constantine is an author and podcaster. And now their girls are coming through… This Tatler piece on the next generation is a fun read on mothers and daughters.  

If you’re into crime dramas, we can recommend Blue Lights on SBS OnDemand. It’s on every list as one of the best shows going around, but it still feels like a bit of a secret. Set in Belfast, it’s about new coppers trying to police in tricky circumstances. Five stars, Margaret… 

Today’s World Pasta Day - and this Neil Perry recipe for pangrattato is what we’ve got a hankering for. Sounds fancy but it’s just spaghetti, toasted breadcrumbs, chilli, parsley, garlic, lemon and olive oil. Prego…

Squiz the Day

Friday
11.00am (AEDT) - Motorsport: Supercars Championship, Gold Coast 500 (on until 27 October) - Gold Coast 

5.00pm (AEDT) - Sleep Under the Stars, a sleepout to raise money and awareness for children facing homelessness - Sydney

6.30pm (ACDT) - Senator Jacqui Lambie heads off on a South Australian road trip with Senate candidate for SA Rex Patrick - Mt Gambier, SA 

Company AGM - Qantas, CSL

ABS data release - Australian System of National Accounts, 2023-24 FY

Day for Daniel (Morcombe) 

World Teachers Day

World Pasta Day

🍾 International Champagne Day

Birthdays for Anne Tyler (1941), Zadie Smith (1975) and Katy Perry (1984)

Anniversary of:

  • Vegemite appearing on Aussie supermarket shelves (1923)

  • the release of Taylor Swift's third studio album Speak Now (2010)

  • the death of 4 people on a theme park ride at Dreamworld (2016)

Saturday
5.00am (AEDT) - ESPN Women's Soccer International Friendly: Matildas v Switzerland - Switzerland, and watch on Paramount+

5.40pm (AEDT) - The Cox Plate - Melbourne

Queensland election

Victorian council elections

An exhibition of works by Belgian surrealist René Magritte opens at the Art Gallery of NSW - Sydney

🐕 Dog Lovers Festival - Melbourne 

Austria’s National Day

Birthdays for Hillary Clinton (1947), Keith Urban (1967), Seth MacFarlane (1973), and Guy Sebastian (1981)

Anniversary of:

  • the eradication of smallpox, with the last natural case of smallpox discovered in Somalia (1977)

  • the release of the film The Terminator (1984)

  • Jacinda Ardern being sworn in as PM of New Zealand, becoming the world’s youngest female head of government (2017)

  • the Uluru climb ban coming into force (2019)

Sunday
9.00am (AEST) - Walk4BrainCancer - Brisbane

1.35pm (AEDT) - Women's Rugby League - Pacific Cup - Australia v New Zealand - Christchurch, and watch on 9Now

4.05pm (AEDT) - Men's Rugby League - Pacific Cup - Australia v New Zealand - Christchurch, and watch on 9Now

4.00pm (AWST) - Netball - Constellation Cup Game 3- Australia v New Zealand - Perth, and watch on Kayo

WBBL begins 

2024 Uzbekistan parliamentary election

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

Birthdays for John Cleese (1939) and David Warner (1986)

Anniversary of:

  • China announcing its population had reached 1 billion people (1982)

  • the release of the groundbreaking film Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

  • the release of Amy Winehouse's 2nd and final studio album Back to Black (2006)

  • the release of Taylor Swift's fifth studio album 1989 (2014)

  • the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting that left 11 people dead (2018)

  • the birthdays of James Cook (1728), Theodore Roosevelt (1858), Roy Lichtenstein (1923) and Sylvia Plath (1932)