Monday, 24 November - Hitting an all-time low

Good morning, it’s Monday, 24 November. In your Squiz Today…

• It’s the last sitting week of parliament, and environmental protection laws are in the spotlight

• The Northern Territory picks up the pieces after Cyclone Fina

• And Wicked: For Good does nice numbers at the box office 🩷💚

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said new Bureau of Meteorology boss Dr Stuart Minchin of the widely panned website redesign, and just a tad more than the $4 million it originally claimed had been spent. The sun sure ain’t shining on that effort…

Making some climate calls

The Squiz

Federal parliament returns for its final sitting week of the year today, and environmental protection law reform is at the top of the to-do list… The Albanese Government says it will streamline regulatory assessments while improving environmental outcomes, but critics say it will do neither… The man on the spot is Environment Minister Murray Watt - he’s been negotiating with the Greens and the Coalition to try and get support for the changes for weeks. He needs one or the other on board to get those changes through the Senate and into law, but both parties have some demands they want settled first…

What kind of demands?

The Greens say the changes don’t adequately protect the environment, and they’re particularly worried about our native forests. Native forest logging is still allowed in NSW, Tassie and Queensland under specific circumstances, but Watt says he'll amend the laws so that, in 3 years, logging projects can only be approved if they commit to offsetting environmental impacts through restoration efforts, in exchange for the Greens' go-ahead. The Greens say they're looking at it…  On the Coalition side, leader Sussan Ley - who is still battling in the polls - says she's worried the new laws will cost Aussie jobs and has urged the government to make 7 changes. Watt says he’s open to doing a deal with either side, but he wants it sorted this week with a Senate vote set for Wednesday.

It’s been a big couple of weeks on all things environmental…

A big weekend, too… At the United Nations COP climate conference in Brazil, over 190 countries eventually signed an opt-in agreement to "accelerate and scale up climate action" after 2 weeks of talks - though the deal has copped some stick because it doesn't mention the words "fossil fuels" anywhere in the text… And at the opening of the G20 in Johannesburg, world leaders, including Oz PM Anthony Albanese, signed a joint declaration supporting action on climate change via the Paris Agreement (aka that UN COP process). But neither agreement has the support of the world’s biggest emitter, the US… President Donald Trump - who has called climate change a “con job” - didn’t attend the G20 summit or sign the declaration. Good luck ducking it next year because the US is set to host…

Squiz the Rest

The biggest since Tracy…

Hitting Saturday night/Sunday morning, Cyclone Fina was the biggest to hit Darwin in 50 years, smashing rainfall records and becoming the first severe November cyclone in Australian waters in 20 years. While Darwin dodged Fina's 205km/h core winds (recording "only" 107km/h gusts…), the rain was another story - some spots copped over 400mm in 24 hours. Senior Weather Bureau Meteorologist Chris Kent said the winds were ok, but “because of the soaked soil and the relentless 12 hours of winds”, trees came down. Thankfully, no significant injuries have been reported, but there is widespread property damage - the cost TBC…  The small/intense system is now tracking towards Western Oz and could strengthen as it approaches the Kimberley today.
For a reminder of the devastating impact and legacy of Cyclone Tracy, we've put together a Shortcut…

Where are the Russia-Ukraine war/peace talks up to?

Good question - there are intense diplomatic conversations underway over a new/controversial US peace proposal that’s been drafted with Russia. The plan would see Ukraine give up the eastern Donbas region and Crimea, reduce its military, and agree to never join NATO. US President Trump says it’s not his final offer, but he’s imposed a tight deadline for Ukraine to respond - Thursday, aka Thanksgiving. European leaders have pushed back - as has Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - insisting any settlement must include their input and not give away so much to Russia. As that unfolds, heavy fighting continues, particularly in that highly contested region of eastern Ukraine. Long story short, this week is shaping up to be critical…

Aussie tech has a new champ

Well, this is awkward at the next tech billionaires' BBQ... DIY design platform Canva has overtaken workplace tools provider Atlassian to become Australia's most valuable tech company (paywall). To put numbers to it, Canva’s reported $65 billion valuation beats Atlassian’s $58 billion, leaving Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams to buy the drinks for Mike Cannon-Brookes and (now former co-CEO) Scott Farquhar... While Canva’s on the way up, Atlassian’s taken a tumble with a 55% share price drop over investor fears about AI’s potential to steal their thunder. As for the individual wealth of all concerned, they're all still swimming in the top end of Australia's rich list, just in different lanes.

The Aussies are 1-0 up in the Ashes…

Geez, that was a chaotic and fast-paced 2-day first Test in Perth... The English side were actually looking likely winners at lunchtime on Saturday, but a spectacular collapse and then a rapid century from Travis Head led to an 8-wicket Aussie victory, millions in lost revenue for Cricket Australia, and a fair bit of soul-searching for the English before the Brisbane Test starts on 4 December. Also with some thinking to do is Oz F1 driver Oscar Piastri, who was disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix yesterday, along with his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Norris is still the favourite to win the Drivers' Championship, but the DQ brought Dutch driver Max Verstappen level with Piastri on points - and both within striking distance of the lead…

Wicked heads for a good box office

The second part of the movie musical looks like it’ll be an even bigger hit than the first, with Wicked: For Good making major bank over the weekend. The sequel, which adapts the second act of the Broadway musical it's based on, took over $230 million over its first few days in US cinemas - that’s the second-biggest opening weekend of the year behind A Minecraft Movie. It will also beat the $174 million opening weekend for Wicked: Part 1, which came out around this time last year. The critics are a bit more mixed on the sequel, though: For Good has lower ratings than its predecessor on sites like Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. But that’s sure not stopping people rocking up… 

Apropos of Nothing

The largest exhibition of Indigenous art ever shown overseas has opened in Washington DC. The ‘Stars We Do Not See’ show of nearly 200 pieces from more than 130 artists draws from the National Gallery of Victoria’s collection. Wonder if comedian Steve Martin will show up…

A golden pocket watch owned by a victim of the sinking of the Titanic fetched almost $4 million at auction over the weekend. It was owned by Isidor Straus, a co-owner of the department store Macy's, and one of the ship's richest passengers.

Pope Leo XIV revealed a surprising bit of wisdom late last week - while playing the New York Times game Wordle, he uses a different starting word every day. It’s an unusual strategy, but Wordle works in mysterious ways…

Squiz the Day

10:00am (AEDT) - Federal Parliament returns for its final sitting week of 2025

10:30am (AEDT) - A Morning of Remembrance event kicking off 16 days of activism against domestic violence in Australia - Sydney

11.00am (AEST) - The Queensland Coroners Court will begin an inquest into the Gold Coast helicopter crash from 2 January 2023, where 2 scenic flight helicopters collided in mid-air, killing 4 people - Brisbane

6.00pm (AEDT) - Aussie Rules: the W Awards will announce the AFLW's best and fairest winner and All-Australian team - watch live on Kayo Sports

A 2-day European Union-African Union summit begins in Luanda, Angola

The Australian Space Research Conference begins at Monash University, running until 26 November - Melbourne

Chris Hemsworth's A Road Trip to Remember - a documentary about the actor and his father, who was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease - comes out on Disney+ 

Fairy Bread Day 🧚🍞

Unique Talent Day

Birthdays for Arundhati Roy (1961) and Katherine Heigl (1978)

Anniversary of:

• Dutch explorer Abel Tasman ‘discovers’ Van Diemen's Land (1642)

• the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which explained his theory of evolution by means of natural selection (1859)

• Kevin Rudd's Labor defeating John Howard's Coalition to win government (2007)

• the deaths of Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury (1991) and Aussie writer Clive James (2019)