Monday, 23 March - 2,000 light years from home

March 23, 2026

Good morning, it’s Monday, 23 March. In your Squiz Today…

  • Labor dominates the South Oz state election

  • Ex-tropical cyclone Narelle is bearing down on the Northern Territory

  • And Project Hail Mary takes off at the box office

🎧 Listen to the podcast

🤓 This email will take you 5 minutes to read

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"How do I put this politely… none of you f***ers would do it?”

Said comedian Tina Fey when she was asked during yesterday’s premiere of Saturday Night Live UK why the first British episode of the long-running comedy show had an American host. But maybe she just wanted the chance to deploy an F-bomb on live TV…

Labor romps home in South Oz

The Squiz

As the polls predicted, it was a thumping victory for Premier Peter Malinauskas and his Labor government on Saturday night, with the incumbents picking up at least 32 seats - the party’s biggest victory in the history of the state. But the other big story of the night was the performance of One Nation, where Pauline Hanson’s party won 21% of the vote - outperforming the Liberals on 19%. Despite the high vote count, One Nation has only won one actual seat in the lower house so far, compared to 4 for the Libs…

How does that work?

First of all, lots of seats are still in the balance - and many of those are in 3-way races where preferences will be crucial - but if One Nation doesn’t win enough preferences from other parties, it makes it tough to actually win seats. Counting could continue for a while yet, and once it’s complete, analysts are predicting One Nation could win anywhere between 2-6 seats and the Liberals 5-7, so thanks to preferences, the Libs might remain the official opposition in the state, but only just. As for Hanson herself, she’s confident that the party will have a major role in the next South Oz parliament - she told Premier Malinauskas that she’s “leaving you some landmines…they’re called One Nation members of parliament”, and that “the rest of Oz will be watching what’s happening here tonight.”

What does this mean going forward?

It means One Nation’s rise in the polls has largely been borne out by its first major test at the ballot box, with the party’s primary vote largely in line with what the polls suggested going into the election. Given it’s also polling very well federally, all eyes will turn now to Farrer - the federal seat in NSW vacated by former Liberal leader Sussan Ley - which has a by-election coming up on 9 May. If One Nation wins there - and it might - it’ll mean more momentum for the party at the expense of the federal Coalition. Which makes for an interesting challenge for federal Coalition leader Angus Taylor as parliament returns today - reports (paywall) say he’s set to take on One Nation directly, so watch this space…

Making every adventure a safer one

With Easter coming up, many of us will be packing up the car and hitting the road… To help make the holidays a safer one for hosts and travellers, Airbnb has partnered with organisations like Surf Life Saving Australia, the Victorian Country Fire Authority and the New South Wales Rural Fire Service to get safety messaging out to more Aussies. They’re doing that by helping distribute safety resources and tips put together with the experts. You can read some of that safety advice here.

Squiz the Rest

Trump sets a deadline

As the Iran war enters its fourth week, US President Donald Trump has given Iran’s regime 48 hours to re-open the Strait of Hormuz. If it doesn’t (by around midday AEDT tomorrow), he says the US will launch a massive attack on Iran’s power plants - a big change of tune from Saturday, where he said that the US was considering “winding down” the war. Iran has said it will respond by hitting the US’s energy infrastructure in the Middle East - if it doesn’t reopen the Strait, it’ll mean no relief for the global oil crisis. That will likely be a hot topic in our federal parliament today, as Energy Minister Chris Bowen said yesterday that the “flow of oil to Asian refineries has slowed” - refineries we’re heavily reliant on in Oz. In the meantime, Bowen says Aussies should “buy as much fuel as you need, but no more.”

Narelle causes havoc in the north

The weather troubles in the Northern Territory aren’t letting up, with ex-tropical cyclone Narelle causing power outages and flooding in the town of Katherine and surrounding areas this morning after moving across from far north Queensland. It’s the second major weather event to hit the area in 2 weeks, and despite Narelle being downgraded to a tropical low on Sunday, it’s still capable of causing major damage. A field hospital has been set up and more disaster relief payments have been made available for locals, while there are promises for improved warning systems after some residents complained they didn’t receive enough of a heads-up about incoming floods. Tomorrow, Narelle is expected to hit Western Oz - where forecasters say it might “redevelop into a tropical cyclone” as it does.

Saying goodbye to some famous names

We’ll begin with former FBI director Robert Mueller, whose death at 81yo was announced over the weekend. Mueller was the agency’s director in the years following the September 11 attacks on the US, but he became arguably more notable for his role leading the inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 US election. Also being remembered today is Rhoda Roberts, who died at 66yo on Saturday from ovarian cancer. She was the Indigenous cultural leader who coined the term “welcome to country”, and was the first Indigenous woman to ever host a prime-time current affairs show on Oz TV. And a couple of Hollywood names have also left us - martial arts actor Chuck Norris, and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Nicholas Brendon.

The Tillies fall just short

The Aussies missed out on taking home the women’s Asian Cup on home soil, going down 1-0 to Japan on Saturday night in the tournament final. It was a wonder strike by Japanese star Maika Hamano in the 17th minute that proved the difference, with the Matildas unable to score an equaliser despite a thrilling last 10-15 minutes in front of a raucous crowd in Sydney. The game did score a huge audience, though, dominating Saturday night TV ratings with over 2.66 million viewers tuning in via broadcast TV and streaming. Aussie Alanna Kennedy was named the player of the tournament, and along the way, the Matildas also became the first team to qualify for next year’s women’s World Cup in Brazil. So still plenty to look forward to…

A Hail Mary pays off

We have a new box office champ for 2026, with Ryan Gosling’s space flick Project Hail Mary doing big numbers in its opening weekend. The film made around $200 million worldwide - the biggest total for the year so far. If you haven’t seen it yet, it features Gosling as a science teacher who wakes up aboard a long-range space flight with no memory of who he is or how he got there - until he eventually works out he’s humanity’s last hope to save us from a dying sun. And as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, you can add critical success to those commercial numbers - the film has a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes and is said to be “an old-school crowdpleaser”. Moviegoing - there might be life in it yet…

Apropos of Nothing

And speaking of space, these previously unseen photos of Neil Armstrong’s Gemini 8 mission are worth a gander. They document the aborted 1966 mission which almost cost Armstrong his life - meaning he might not have walked on the moon 3 years later… 

The South Korean boy band BTS has made a triumphant return to live performance after a 3.5-year hiatus for military service, with a gigantic concert in the Korean capital of Seoul. It was a pretty spectacular scene - and the whole thing’s on Netflix if you’d like to watch it back…  

Somewhat less successful at live performance was this dancing robot in a Californian restaurant, which went a bit off-piste while jamming out, knocking items off a table in the process before being restrained by staff. Look, we’ve all been there… 

Squiz the Day

9.30am (AEDT) - Local court sentence for NRL legend Wendell Sailor on charges of assault, intimidation and resisting arrest, Downing Centre Local Court - Sydney  

10.00am (AEDT) - Trial begins for the three men charged with Newcastle shooting of Anthony Nugent, NSW Supreme Court - Sydney 

12.30pm (AEDT) - International Energy Agency executive director Dr Fatih Birol addresses the National Press Club on "The Outlook for Global Energy Markets and implications for Energy Security, Competitiveness and Sustainability" - Canberra

House and Senate sitting in the federal parliament (until 26 March)

European Union President Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Oz today for a 3-day visit, where she’s expected to meet PM Anthony Albanese and sign an Australia-EU trade deal - Sydney

Australian Rowing Championships (until 29 March) - Tasmania 

International Puppy Day 🐶

Birthdays for former US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (1952), celebrity blogger Perez Hilton (1978), and Eugenie, Princess of York (1990)

Anniversary of:

  • the 1st recorded use of "OK" [oll korrect] in the Boston Morning Post (1839)

  • the premiere of soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (1987)

  • the death of Elizabeth Taylor (2011) and Madeline Albright (2022)

  • Syria declaring the last Islamic State-controlled territory had been retaken (2019) (1999)