Thursday, 10 October - One more time

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 10 October. In your Squiz Today…

• Australia gets 2 new political parties

• Hurricane Milton closes in on Florida

• And the fattest bear is crowned…🏆

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta during a speech in Canberra yesterday. He was joking about the time when we secretly recorded their officials during an oil and gas dispute. We can laugh about it now…

New parties left and right…

The Squiz

Have our politicians got a deal for you - not one, but 2 new political parties are setting sail this week to be in the mix for voters at the next federal election. On the left, there’s ex-Labor Senator Fatima Payman, who has launched ‘Australia’s Voice’ following her fallout with Team Albanese over Israel’s war in Gaza. And on the right, former Coalition Senator Gerard Rennick is set to launch his new ‘People First’ party today. He quit Queensland’s Liberal National Party after losing pre-selection last year. 

What are they on about? 

Payman has declared her political venture “more than a party. It is a movement for a fairer, more inclusive Australia.” She wore lapel pins of the Australian flag on one side and the Indigenous and Palestinian flags on the other and invoked Labor and Liberal heroes Gough Whitlam and Robert Menzies while adding a dash of the Democrats... She says her mission is to hold the major parties accountable while putting people first. As for policies - insert shrugging lady emoji - but she says candidates will not be required to oppose the war in Gaza like she does. As for Rennick, he’s said that he wants to bring “bread and butter” issues into the public debate and has talked about tax reform and funding for childcare (in that he’s not a fan…). And he’s detailed one policy position - Australia should end its reliance on "foreign debt" and "repatriate Australia's gold from the Bank of England".

What does that all mean? 

From a practical point of view, there’s something for you to clock about how senators are elected - it helps to be members of a party to have a good chance of reelection. That’s because most of us vote ‘above the line’ for a party block rather than ‘below the line’ for individual senate candidates. Making that all work is ‘preference whisperer’ Glenn Druery, who is working for Payman… And particularly in Australia’s Voice’s case, it’s a case of politics reflecting a big issue of the moment - the conflict in the Middle East - and some voters’ dissatisfaction with the major parties’ response. Whether enough Aussies feel motivated to support them remains to be seen… One group that is not totally on board - First Nations leaders… Tom Calma said Payman’s Australia’s Voice name “could be very confusing” after the Voice to Parliament referendum last year.

Time to save every drop

We know Squizers are partial to a new recipe - and with 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions attributed to food waste*, it’s a great idea to look for new dishes that use up what you’ve bought. Westfield is also committed to reducing its environmental impact by recycling the organic waste it collects to ensure their destinations are doing their bit. To learn more about Westfield’s sustainability initiatives, check out westfield.com.au.

_{*Source: World Wildlife Fund}

Squiz the Rest

Milton moves in…

Strong winds and tornadoes have begun in Florida where millions of people are scrambling to evacuate before Hurricane Milton hits later today. Almost all of the Florida peninsula “is under some type of either a watch or a warning” says Governor Ron DeSantis, with the storm forecast to be “one of the most destructive on record”. Milton is set to land in Tampa Bay, which has a population of 3.3 million - but a much wider area that’s home to 9.3 million people is also expected to be wallopped, and a surge in the ocean level has already begun. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has told residents that if they don’t leave their homes, they will become their “coffins”. Images captured by NASA reveal the scale of the hurricane, while some daredevil researchers who flew through it to gather data posted a video showing some serious turbulence. Fingers crossed for them… 

Israel plans its next moves

Israel is preparing to strike back at Iran in retaliation for last week’s missile attack, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant says the strike would be “deadly, precise and surprising”. He issued the warning by video message hours after Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone to US President Joe Biden - their first conversation in 7 weeks. Details of the call, which was joined by VP Kamala Harris, haven’t been released but reports say Biden is against retaliatory strikes on Iran’s oil and nuclear sites which could result in a major escalation of the conflict and higher oil prices ahead of the US election. But far from reigning things in, as cross-border fighting continues in Lebanon, Netanyahu yesterday issued a warning to the Lebanese people to “free” their country from Hezbollah before a war is launched that could “lead to destruction and suffering like we see in Gaza”.

Lots happening in Laos

PM Anthony Albanese is in Laos for the next 2 days for the 4th annual ASEAN-Australia Summit and the East Asia Summit, joining leaders from our region, the US and Kiwiland. Albanese says the gathering will help ensure a “peaceful, stable and prosperous region” and help create jobs here under his Future Made in Australia policy. Climate change, energy security and investment are also big-ticket items. But reports say Albanese’s focus will be a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang to discuss the lifting of lingering trade restrictions, including on our lobster industry. That’s prompted calls for him to take a tough stance with Li on behalf of countries that are “bearing the brunt of China’s aggression” in territorial disputes in the South China Sea - security expert Michael Shoebridge said it needs to be “more than happy snaps and chat about lobsters”.

Tertiary education takes a tumble

The latest Times Higher Education World University Rankings aren’t painting a pretty picture for unis in Australia. And it’s not one that can be waved away - the ranker is considered one of the most respected in the industry. The University of Melbourne remains our highest-ranked uni, but it’s fallen to 39th internationally - the lowest in 21 years. And it’s all downhill from there… Monash Uni dropped from 54th to 58th, Sydney Uni fell to 61st, and ANU is down to 73rd. The ranker’s Phil Baty says they’re losing ground “in areas of traditional strength” - such as international research collaboration and attracting international talent. Education Minister Jason Clare (who recently introduced caps on international students…) wasn’t buying it - he says “universities are not just about rankings. They should be about students”.

A big fat drum roll, please…

After a tense final flurry of voting, the glorious Grazer has nabbed her second Fat Bear Contest crown, beating Chunk by more than 40,000 votes. It’s a big win for the mumma bear because Chunk is probably/actually the largest and most dominant bear on the Brooks River, where the competitors fish for salmon in Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve ahead of their hibernation. Regardless, fans who cast their votes after watching the bears on a livestream over the past week (and for ardent fans, months…) found Grazer to “best exemplify winter preparedness” as she plumped up to the max. Grazer’s profile on the park’s website says she’s a “formidable presence” on the Brooks River and that “her fearlessness and strength have earned her respect”. That evidently runs in the family… One of her cubs came second in the park’s Fat Bear Junior contest. Huzzah… 

Apropos of Nothing

A snap of some wriggly toad tadpoles has won Shane Gross the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year and proven that even tiny creatures can be majestic. If you prefer your animals fluffy, John E Marriott’s photo of a family of lynxes in the snow is very nice.

Paul Kelly's classic Christmas anthem How To Make Gravy is on high rotation during the festive season, and this year we’ll get to see a movie inspired by the track. With acting heavyweight Hugo Weaving in the cast, Christmas has come early.

They say art is subjective, but that probably isn’t much comfort to French artist Alexandre Lavet after his beer can artwork was accidentally thrown in the bin at a museum in the Netherlands. Lavet's piece is called "All the good times we spent together”... 

The backstory to the US election

If you’re signed up for our weekly Shortcuts email, look out for our first US election series landing in your inbox around midday today. The series is curated by Squiz Founder Claire Kimball, who, over the next 5 weeks will get you across all things US election. This week is about how the US presidential election works, then over the coming weeks we’ll get you across how the race is shaking out and the candidates’ policies.

And if you’re new around here, Shortcuts is the backstory to the big news story. You can sign up here to get the weekly newsletter straight into your inbox.

Squiz the Day

8.30am (AEDT) - The NSW and SA governments will hold a joint Social Media Summit (until 11 October) - Day 1 Sydney, Day 2 Adelaide

10.00 (AEST) - The Australian Transport Safety Bureau will release the final report into the August helicopter crash into a Cairns hotel - Cairns, Qld

10.00am (AEDT) - Supercars: Bathurst 1000 begins (until 13 October) - Bathurst, NSW

12.30pm (AEDT) - ANU Professor of Economics Quentin Grafton will speak at the National Press Club on building a more sustainable water future - Canberra

7.30pm (ACDT) - Soccer: Men's World Cup qualifier - Australia v China - Adelaide, and watch on 10 Play 

10.00pm (AEDT) - The 2024 Literature Nobel Prize will be announced - Stockholm, Sweden

The Apprentice movie about Donald Trump released in Aussie cinemas 

Taiwan's National Day 

Party Foundation Day in North Korea, marking the anniversary of the foundation of the Workers' Party of Korea 

Fiji Day, marking the anniversary of its independence from the UK (1970) 

World Mental Health Day 

World Homeless Day 

World Porridge Day 

Birthdays for Nora Roberts (1950) and David Lee Roth (1954) 

Anniversary of:

• the first dinner jacket (tuxedo) being worn to an autumn ball at Tuxedo Park, NY (1886)

• the formation of the Women's Social and Political Union by Emmeline Pankhurst to fight for women's rights in Britain (1903)

• the release of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations (1966)

• the deaths of Abel Tasman (1659), Orson Welles (1985), Yul Brynner (1985), Christopher Reeve (2004), and Dame Joan Sutherland (2010)