Monday, 26 August - Take the long way home

Good morning, it’s Monday, 26 August. In your Squiz Today…

• A landslide victory in the Northern Territory

• Israel and Hezbollah launch the biggest strikes at each other in years

• And a plan to get 2 astronauts stranded in space home - next year… 🚀

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said historian consultant Amy Clarke who reckons the iconic “big thing” should take centre stage at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. It’s reopened after 14 years of a “Game of Thrones style ownership jostle”. And we thought the Paris Opening Ceremony was controversial…

Winning is just the beginning

The Squiz

There’s a reason Antony Green’s an election expert… As he predicted/we mentioned on Friday, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) has swept into power in the Northern Territory, winning 16 out of 25 seats in Saturday's election. It's a huge turnaround for the Coalition-aligned party after 8 years in opposition and being left with 2 seats in 2016’s crushing election defeat. Former lawyer/CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro will become the territory's 14th Chief Minister. She says her victory marks a “new chapter” with tackling crime the top priority and she's promised to “do whatever it takes to restore community safety".

That sounds like quite the result…

Yep, a landslide… Labor’s been left with 4 seats, with many on their frontbench - including now-former Chief Minister Eva Lawler - losing their spots in parliament. But that doesn’t mean the CLP will have an easy ride... Along with tackling crime, dealing with around $11 billion of government debt is a big problem. The NT Government’s dire financial situation is due to several factors, including a big/expensive public service, rebuilding after several natural disasters, and a fall in mining royalties from projects impacted by those disasters. But the Coalition is taking the win as a good sign ahead of next year’s federal election… Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley says it’s “not just an indictment” on Labor in the NT, but also PM Anthony Albanese “for leaving the people of the Territory behind”.

Any other changes in our politics to know about?

Yep… There’s been a political shakeup in Tassie after the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) evicted 2 of its state MPs on Saturday for their “cosy relationship” with the Liberal government there. A statement said Bass's Rebekah Pentland and Braddon's Miriam Beswick "no longer represent" the JLN's "values of accountability, transparency and integrity". The pair - elected 5 months ago - say they became frustrated with Senator Lambie's interference. Reports say they are set to sign a deal with Premier Jeremy Rockliff this week, which is notable because he's running a minority government and needs their ongoing support. A week is a long time in politics…

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Squiz the Rest

Bystanders injured in Engadine stabbing

Six people were injured after a car crash and alleged domestic violence attack at Engadine in Sydney's south yesterday morning. Police claim a 58yo man was stabbing his 48yo partner with a box cutter while driving "erratically" along the Princes Highway before crashing into another car - injuring 2 people inside - around 9am. Witnesses say the man "was ranting" that the woman "changed the radio station.” Assuming it was a regular crash, several bystanders went to help… One of them was Cronulla Sharks Chairman Steve Mace, who helped the woman out of the car despite the man "slashing" at them. A police officer is in serious condition after being cut while arresting the man, who ran from the scene after giving himself "self-inflicted stab wounds". The woman is in critical condition in hospital. PM Anthony Albanese thanked the "brave members of the public who helped at the scene".

Israel and Hezbollah heat things up

Israel and Lebanon-based terror group Hezbollah yesterday went at each other with airstrikes overnight in some of their heaviest fighting in the region in months. Israel’s military said it pre-emptively targeted thousands of Hezbollah rocket launchers in southern Lebanon because an “extensive” attack on Israeli territory was coming. After that, reports say the Iran-backed militants fired 320 rockets and drones toward residential areas of northern Israel. Some analysts say fighting like that between the 2 hasn’t been seen since 2006. Hezbollah says their end of it is ‘phase one’ of its response to Israel’s killing of its senior commander Fuad Shukr in a strike on Beirut on 30 July. The significant escalation in tensions alongside the war in Gaza has experts renewing warnings that an all-out regional war is possible.

Hitting the off button

Our new federal ‘right to disconnect’ laws are kicking in today for businesses with over 15 employees. There's a bit to wrap your head around, but the thing to know is that Aussies will be legally allowed to ignore any out-of-hours work comms they receive, following similar moves in other countries. Many workplace experts are positive about the change, saying it’s a move towards better work/life balance - but not everyone’s happy… Business leaders say the laws go too far and could hurt productivity. But before you go dark, legal experts have warned the new laws may be "toothless" because heaps of Aussie workers already have clauses in their contracts that say work outside regular hours is ok. Note: If you work in a small business, the laws don't come into play until this time next year. 

SpaceX to the rescue

No doubt you’re all over the NASA astronauts - Barry ‘Butch’ Wilmore and Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams - being stranded on the International Space Station (ISS) after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft ran into problems in June because it was the topic of last week’s Squiz Shortcut. Right? Well, yesterday, NASA confirmed that Elon Musk’s commercial space company/Boeing rival SpaceX will bring them home - but they won’t board the Crew Dragon spacecraft anytime soon…  A planned SpaceX mission will be reconfigured to take 2 astronauts up, rather than the 4 planned, to save space for Wilmore and Williams on the way back to Earth in February. That's a lot longer than their original 8-day mission, but reports say they’ll have plenty to keep them occupied… Earlier this year, Williams said she missed walking her dogs when she was in space. Here’s hoping her dog walker is a bit flexible… 

Didn’t get to the derailed NASA/Boeing mission Shortcut last week? Here you go...

Going cuckoo for cucumber

If there’s one thing non-TikTokers should know about those who use the platform, it’s that they’re quick to jump on a trend. That’s something Logan Moffitt (or ‘Cucumber Guy’, as he’s known on the platform…) knows all too well after carving out a niche for himself and (you guessed it…) cucumbers by using them as the base ingredient in too many salad and pickle recipes to count. They've gone down a treat during the Northern Hemisphere summer - particularly in Iceland, where they've experienced a cucumber shortage as a result. Icelandic food tour guide Gudny Ljosba Hreinsdottir summed it up best, saying “we are, just literally, eating it up”. Put that on your end-of-winter prep list as we head towards warmer weather…

Apropos of Nothing

The new celebrity residents of Adelaide Zoo have been named - 3yo pandas Xing Qiu and Yi Lan will arrive from China later this year, replacing platonic friends Wang Wang and Fu Ni. Here’s hoping the new pair find Adelaide a romantic setting…

As the US Open reaches full swing in New York tomorrow morning, a piece of the tennis tournament’s history has been unearthed in the tiny Queensland town of Theodore. That’s thanks to local Mal Anderson, who donated his 1957 Grand Slam trophy to his old club in 2022. What a good sport…

A Californian woman tired of having her post stolen has used technology to track down her mail miscreants… Authorities busted the parcel pinchers after the woman sent herself an Apple AirTag locator device so they knew where to find them. Her method is unorthodox but she got the stamp of approval with a result.

Squiz the Day

8.30am (AEST) - The Hydrogen Connect Summit is on, detailing Queensland's efforts to produce renewable hydrogen, with Premier Steven Miles and Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest among the speakers - Brisbane

11.30am (AEST) - Justin Laurens Stein is set to be sentenced for the murder of 9yo Charlise Mutten - Sydney

11:30pm (AEST) - The US Tennis Open swings into action (until 8 September) - New York

The 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting (PIF) gets underway (on until 30 August) - Tonga (Note: PM Anthony Albanese heads there tomorrow…)

Company results - Bendigo Bank, Star Entertainment, Viva Energy, Endeavour Group, NIB Holdings

 🐾 International Dog Day

Birthdays for former Governor-General David Hurley (1953), Macaulay Culkin (1980) and Chris Pine (1980)

Anniversary of:

• the birthdays of Mother Teresa (1910) and Katherine Johnson (1918)

• the release of The Beatles’ Hey Jude (1968)

• The first electric power being generated at Niagara Falls (1895)