Monday, 26 October - So give me coffee and TV

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

• MP Helen Haines is now in a serious but stable condition in hospital

• Victorian Coalition leader Jess Wilson is polling well ahead of the state election next month

• And a disappointing weekend for the Diamonds… 🏐

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams, Anna Pykett and Sophie Felice

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said the British Embassy in Washington, pooh-poohing rumours that there might be an effort to return a collection of stuffed Winnie the Pooh-themed toys to the UK, to celebrate Pooh’s 100th birthday. Turns out they’re all happy living it up in New York - except Eeyore, probably…

The House of Reps returns

The Squiz

Federal parliament’s lower house is back in session today, but it’s one person not there that’ll be front of mind: injured independent MP Helen Haines. The member for Indi is now in a serious but stable condition in hospital after she was hit by a car outside her electorate office last week. So in her absence today, some of her colleagues are going to pick up some of the issues she’s passionate about.

Like what?

Regional health, for starters - Haines was a nurse, midwife and medical researcher, and reports say she, along with some of her fellow crossbenchers, raised a $2.7 billion gap in the money that goes towards regional health, compared to the money spent in big cities. It’s an issue Haines has spoken regularly about - in her maiden speech, she said access to mental health services in particular “should not be reliant on your postcode”. The security of our politicians will also be on the agenda - with particular concerns about how exposed and insecure local electorate offices are. And after Australian Federal Police chief Krissy Barrett flagged yesterday that there is a direct link between heated political rhetoric and an increase in threats against MPs, a push to sign a civility pledge for political language - to which Haines was the first and possibly only signatory - will gather steam as well.  

What else will be on the agenda?

While Haines and the circumstances around her injury will be the major topic, there’s plenty more bubbling away. Keep an eye out for inflation and the cost of living to dominate the political discussion (just for a change…) as the Bureau of Stats will release its new inflation figures on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank has forecast that our underlying inflation rate will hold steady at 0.8% for the quarter, but the big 4 banks think it’ll be a touch higher. If it is, that’ll boost the case for another interest rate rise - and give the government’s political opponents more cause to go after its level of spending and economic management. The RBA’s next rate decision is due on Melbourne Cup Day next week, meaning it could be the board meeting that stops the nation…

Squiz the Rest

Brazilians are voting for their next President

Left-wing President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is seeking a fourth term, but he’s in a tight race with far-right candidate Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. If that name rings a bell, it’s because he’s the son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, who’s under house arrest, serving a prison sentence for a failed coup after losing the 2022 election. He can’t run for office, but the younger Bolsonaro has been promising to broadly follow in his footsteps. He won the first round of voting earlier this month, but failed to win an outright majority, and has been cosying up to US President Donald Trump. If he wins, Brazil will become the latest South American country to shift to the right during Trump’s second term. There are a few elections to keep your eyes on this week - polls have just closed in Serbia, Israel votes tomorrow, and the US midterms and New Zealand election are fast approaching, so there’s a bit on…

Victorians might say yes to Jess

That’s according to the latest Newspoll (paywall) from The Australian this morning, which suggests that Victorian Coalition leader Jess Wilson is likely to win government at the state’s election on 28 November. The Coalition is polling at 33% of the primary vote, Labor 24%, One Nation 20% and the Greens at 14%. So the pressure’s on current Labor Premier Ben Carroll, who took over from Jacinta Allan in July. He launched his campaign yesterday by arguing that the Coalition would need One Nation in order to govern, so a vote for one was a vote for the other - but Newspoll suggests the Coalition could win government in its own right. It’s not just Victorians watching the result - this is another big test of One Nation’s polling surge, so Federal Coalition leader Angus Taylor will also be keeping a close eye ahead of the next federal election.

Eagle’s Nest goes up in smoke

A large fire has pretty much destroyed the German mountaintop retreat of Kehlsteinhaus (aka Eagle’s Nest), which was built for Adolf Hitler in the late 1930s. It was Friday night local time when alarms started sounding in the Bavarian Alps, and about 200 firefighters fought the blaze in tough, windy conditions. No one was hurt, and police later arrested a 33yo German man on suspicion of arson - they say he has since been sent to a psychiatric facility, but they’re not ruling out a political motive. Hitler rarely used Eagle’s Nest, and 7 years after his death it became the site of a restaurant and history exhibition. Despite the destruction, the German state of Bavaria says it plans to rebuild - Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann says “we’re not going to leave a ruin there”.

Go west, where the skies are blue

Yesterday, the new airport in Sydney’s west hosted its first commercial passenger flight - a Jetstar trip to the Gold Coast. It’s the first time an Oz capital city has had 2 competing major airports, and the western version has a few advantages over the older one in the suburb of Mascot: fewer people living in the area means flights can take off and land anytime (aka no curfew), just the one terminal, and a more modern design. For everyone outside of NSW, it’s promising to make things a bit easier too - it could mean more flights, more choice of carrier, possibly lower airfares, and more flexibility when moving freight around. It also cost us all money - the federal government pumped in about $5.3 billion over 10 years to make it happen. Today, it’ll get its first international flight, with an Air New Zealand trip from Auckland landing later this morning.

Burned by the Ferns

That’s New Zealand’s national netball team, the Silver Ferns, who have won this year’s Constellation Cup after taking a 3-0 lead over the Aussie Diamonds in the 4-game series yesterday. That marks the Kiwis’ fourth win in the tournament’s 16-year history, and follows their gold-medal-winning performance in the Commonwealth Games a couple of months back. For the Diamonds, it was another tough night in a tough year - and some experts are worried that we’re not blooding enough new talent into the national team. The last game in the series is far from a dead rubber - if the Silver Ferns win, they’ll be the top-ranked side in the world for the first time since 2013. That’s happening on Wednesday night - you can watch through your fingers on Fox Sports and Kayo…

Apropos of Nothing

The Milwaukee Brewers are off to an excellent 2-0 start in baseball’s World Series finals against the Tampa Bay Rays - but the real stars are their Famous Racing Sausages, who run around the field at every Brewers game to decide who’s the best - and who’s the wurst…

Aussie hope Gabrel Tan has made the finals of the World Barista Championship in Panama, where he’s currently competing against 5 other coffee whizzes for the prestigious title. You can brew it, Gabrel…

And we couldn’t get enough of this gallery showing how the Australian outback has been transformed by an unusually wet monsoon season, with pics of unusually green stretches of desert a particular highlight.

Squiz the Day

House of Representatives sits at the Federal Parliament 

7.00am (AEDT) - Motorsport: Formula One US Grand Prix - Austin, watch on Kayo

9.00am (AEDT) - 2026 Australasian Road Safety Conference begins (until 29 October) - Sydney 

Western Sydney International Airport's inaugural international flights 

Advance voting for New Zealand election opens 

QCE exams begin for Year 12s in Queensland 

Australian International Movie Convention begins (until 29 October) - Gold Coast 

Austria’s National Day

World Amyloidosis 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 death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Syria during a US military raid (2019)

• the Uluru climb ban coming into force (2019)

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