Thursday, 12 December - I'm so fancy, you already know

December 12, 2024

Gifts that sing with Musica Viva

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 12 December. In your Squiz Today…

  • More antisemitic vandalism in Sydney

  • The US makes contact with Syrian rebels

  • And influencers face off in court…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I feel like we’ve all grown up hearing this as you’re reaching for a beer in the afternoon.”

Said National Film and Sound Archive curator Meagan Loader of Victoria Bitter’s iconic “big cold beer” campaign. It’s been chosen for the 2024 annual Sounds of Australia collection, among several other well-known sounds. You can get it ridin’, you can get it slidin’, you can get it… stuck in your head.

Another act of antisemitism

The Squiz

State and federal leaders have promised to “throw everything” at investigating the latest antisemitic attack in Sydney's eastern suburbs, with NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb saying the perpetrators could face 10 years' jail time. They haven't been found yet, but Premier Chris Minns says a "massive" police effort is going into identifying and locating them. He and PM Anthony Albanese were quick to call it a "hate crime", with the PM saying "this does not change anything that is occurring on the ground in the Middle East; this is an attack against their fellow Australians".

Back it up…

Emergency services responded to reports of a car on fire in Woollahra, a Sydney suburb with a prominent Jewish population, at about 1am on Wednesday. The vandals had sprayed anti-Israel graffiti on the car, another car, the footpaths and 2 nearby homes. The car set alight is said to be the one they drove there in. Police want to speak to 2 people aged 15-20yo seen in the area at the time. It's the second incident in Woollahra in weeks, with MP for Vaucluse Kellie Sloane saying residents feel like they’re “under attack”. It also comes less than a week after the terror attack at Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue, putting police on heightened alert… Operation Shelter, first launched after the 7 October Hamas attack, will resume, with more NSW police patrols in action.

And what’s happening at a federal level?

The new Operation Avalite taskforce, which was launched by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Monday to investigate acts of antisemitism, has been called in. Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin wants the taskforce to bring those responsible “swiftly to justice”, saying the attack was “intended to terrorise” the Australian Jewish community. His organisation has “appealed to the PM” to address what it’s calling an “antisemitism crisis” - something echoed by senior Coalition figures in recent days… They’ve accused the Albanese Government of enabling antisemitic attacks (paywall) by being too slow to act. In response, Albanese, who also copped flak over his visit to the Adass Israel Synagogue this week, has accused the Coalition of stoking division.

A live concert series could be just the ticket

There’s some serious talent performing as part of Musica Viva’s concert series, which will be touring Australia right throughout next year. World-famous Polish pianist Piotr Andersewski and cabaret legend Ali McGregor are two of the performers on offer. Single tickets are $65, or for $171 you can pick a package of 3 concerts that make your heart sing. It’s a great way to spend time with that someone special. To book visit musicaviva.com.au or call 1800 688 482.

Squiz the Rest

Making tentative contact

The Biden administration has been in touch with leaders of the rebel group that ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this week in an attempt to help establish a transitional government. That's not a straightforward process, and making it trickier is the fact that the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (or HTS) is on the US list of designated terrorist organisations… That means the US's Middle Eastern allies have been brought in to help communications. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says they'll recognise a future Syrian government only if there's a formal, credible process carried out to select its leaders, with the support of the Syrian people behind it. Some lawmakers in Washington have gone further than that, saying the Biden administration should lift US sanctions on Syria if HTS plays by the rules…  

* Want to know more about what the end of Bashar al-Assad’s rule means for Syria? We’ve got a Squiz Shortcut for you…

Mangione to plead not guilty

The lawyer for the 26yo charged with the murder of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson said yesterday that he’ll also fight being extradited to New York from Pennsylvania, so it could be a while before he faces trial. Since his arrest, lots more info has come out about Luigi Mangione’s struggles with back pain - friends say it was so bad he was unable to do basic daily activities, and NY police say they’re going to look into that as a possible motive. As he was led into court for his extradition hearing, Mangione shouted about “an insult to the intelligence of the American people” - no one’s sure what he was referring to there. In the meantime, reports say police have matched Mangione’s fingerprints to those found at the crime scene - the first forensic evidence tying him to the location.

ASIC tees off on Rex

Corporate watchdog the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said yesterday they’re suing the regional airline - which went bust in July - for allegedly telling porkies about how much dosh they were going to make. ASIC pointed to a statement Rex made to the Aussie stock market in February last year saying it was 'optimistic the Group will have positive operating profits' for the coming financial year. ASIC says Rex had no basis for that prediction and they were misleading their investors about how well things were going. 4 months later, Rex forecast a $35 million loss - the case is going to the NSW Supreme Court. And while we're talking corporate no-nos, Telstra's been docked $3 million after a triple-0 network failure in March this year - they were found to have breached the rules 473 times during the one-day outage. 

And the winner is… Riyadh

Hosting rights for the 2034 men’s football World Cup have gone to Saudi Arabia - a predictable outcome given they were the only bidders. We thought about putting our hat in the ring but decided against it because the Saudis were considered too heavy a favourite. The decision’s copping quite the backlash, with criticisms of a fast-tracked process, Saudi Arabia’s human rights record, and the practice of ‘sportswashing’ where a government uses the cover of popular sporting events to improve its global reputation. You might’ve heard that term before - it’s caused big issues in other sports like golf. And on the topic of new sporting frontiers, the NRL is expected to grant Papua New Guinea a licence today - it’s the only country where league is the national sport. One thing’s for sure, they’ve got a bunch of interesting possibilities for mascots…

Beige against the machine

A couple of American influencers are heading to court over who’s the beige-est of them all in a legal battle over an aesthetic. If you’re not a social media type, we’re not talking the stuff you get before surgery. To quote The Castle, it’s the vibe… But the question of whether you can actually own one is about to get a workout in court. In April this year, influencer Sydney Nicole Gifford launched a lawsuit against fellow influencer Alyssa Sheil, accusing her of stealing her vibe, which has been described as ‘sad beige’. The 2 women were actually planning to collaborate before things went sour, and a judge said last month the lawsuit has merit and can go ahead. If it’s successful, IP experts say it could open the floodgates - get ready for lawyers at 10 paces over who owns “coastal grandmother”...

Apropos of Nothing

Winners of the annual Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards are in, and a snap of a squirrel stuck in a tree by Italian photographer Milko Marchetti has taken out the top prize. Other highlights include a beak-planting tern, a penguin don’t-argue and a mantis with moves…

Folk who spend their days perusing Google Earth struck gold when they happened upon a horse-shaped rose garden in Launceston. It’s the handiwork of Wendy Carins, and after it was posted to an excited (and 2 million-strong) Facebook group, she said “thanks for noticing”. Worth the wait…

And a male humpback whale has shocked scientists by migrating 13,000km all the way from Colombia to Zanzibar in a journey lasting several years. We’re not sure why - it could be climate change factors or just a really, really long search for a mate. Picky much?

Squiz the Day

8.40am (AEDT) - Public hearings for a parliamentary inquiry into antisemitism at Australian universities continue, with academics from various universities appearing - Canberra

10.00am (AEDT) - The National Museum will launch its new Pompeii exhibition - Canberra

10.15am (AEDT) - A judgement is due to be handed down in the defamation case brought by Victorian MP Moira Deeming against the state’s Liberal leader John Pesutto - Melbourne

10.30am (AEDT) - PM Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea PM James Marape are expected to confirm the new PNG NRL team - Sydney

12.00pm (AEDT) - Natural Hazards Research Australia will host an online webinar: After disaster: learning from Cyclone Tracy and the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami - online 

The Albanese Government is set to reveal the details of a plan to force big tech companies to pay for Aussie news content on their platforms

ABS Data Release - National, state and territory population, June; Labour Force, November 

Term 4 ends for school kids in Western Australia

Gingerbread House Day

Anniversary of:

  • The deadly Wieambilla ambush which led to the deaths of Queensland police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, and local man Alan Dare (2022)

  • Washington DC being established as the capital of the USA (1800)

  • the birthdays of painter Edvard Munch (1863) and crooner Frank Sinatra (1915)

  • the creation of UNICEF (1946)