Thursday, 13 August - It's actually romantic

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 13 August. In your Squiz Today…

• The property market slump is felt by the big banks

• Japan weighs in on ‘melon-gate’

• And the extreme mating habits of redback spiders…

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🙋🏻‍♀️ This newsletter was written by Andrew Williams, Anna Pykett and Larissa Huntington

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said an online commenter watching a Cleveland dad break the world record for running the fastest mile (that’s 1.6 kilometres) in 4 minutes and 17 seconds while pushing his daughter in a pram. Why crawl when you can fly…

Property prices hit home

The Squiz

Aussies’ barbecue chat is sorted for a while, with experts predicting more falls in property values across the country and our 2 biggest banks reporting significant drops in home loan applications. It’s led economists to say there’s now clear evidence of a downturn in the Oz property market (paywall). But Treasurer Jim Chalmers reckons it’s too early for doom and gloom. He says housing is a long-term investment and “we expect to see more modest growth over the course of the next couple of years”.

Wind it back a bit…

After introducing changes to tax laws for investors in the May Budget, Chalmers predicted that housing prices would continue to rise over the next 2 years, but at a slower rate… But auction clearance rates since have fallen to their lowest levels in 6 years, and prices nationally have dropped by around 2%. Experts are pointing to those tax changes, but also at play are 3 interest rate rises and the war in the Middle East which has brought uncertainty and inflation. Yesterday, Coalition Leader Angus Taylor said Labor’s “toxic taxes” and successive interest rate rises had “tanked the housing market” but PM Anthony Albanese said it’s a correction we need because housing prices have risen much faster than wages. 

And the slowdown is now being felt by the banks… 

Both Westpac and Commonwealth Bank have reported drops of 20% and 15% in home loan applications since May. And while CommBank’s profit rose 7% to $10.9 billion, CEO Matt Comyn said “growth is slowing, with higher interest rates and inflation placing uneven pressure on household incomes and economic activity”. As for the other banks, ANZ’s third quarterly update is due today, while NAB has flagged a 15% fall in home loan applications ahead of its numbers on Monday. Comyn says applications from investors had dropped the most (28%...). But he noted there were some early positive signs from this month. Westpac’s Chief Economist Luci Ellis is also playing things down, saying the property market’s in an “air pocket” - aka a temporary drop in altitude - rather than a crash.

Squiz the Rest

Japan weighs in on ‘melon-gate’

The country made its first public statement yesterday on the ongoing debate over PM Anthony Albanese’s comments on the Bush Deep podcast, where he’s been accused of disrespecting Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi. The Coalition has accused Albanese of endangering the Oz-Japan relationship with his comments, but Japanese Ambassador Kazuhiro Suzuki says it accepts the government’s defence that Albanese "did not make the comments in the way that has been reported". But reports say Japanese officials were caught off guard by the leaking of a diplomatic memo earlier this week that called the reporting on the incident "sensationalised". The Coalition wants an AFP investigation into the leak, but the PM has dismissed that as a stunt.  

Luxon hangs on

That’s New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon, who survived an emergency party-room meeting over his leadership yesterday. Luxon heads up the centre-right National Party (similar to our Liberal Party), and he’s been Kiwi PM for around 3 years. But with an election just a few months away, he’s been battling in the polls… Political analysts across that ditch put that down to a struggling economy and Luxon being a bit gaffe-prone - like when he told small business leaders that they had a “parent-child mentality” with the government (implying they’re too dependent on it). But after rumours his leadership was in strife earlier in the week, he emerged unscathed and “with the full support of our caucus.” For now, anyway… 

The News Bargaining Incentive hits parliament today… 

…but it’s been going through some changes. This is the legislation to force big tech companies (like Meta and Google) to either pay for Oz news by striking deals with Aussie outlets or pay a percentage of their revenue to the government. But following a discussion between the PM and Coalition leader Angus Taylor, Labor has reportedly backed down on a change that would have encouraged those companies to spread the wealth amongst big and small publishers - meaning more money is likely to flow to places like News Corp and Nine once the new rules come into effect. Digital Publishers Alliance Chair Tim Duggan says while some parts of the NBI are welcome, it "will short change many small and medium-sized independent publishers." 

Things are looking up in Europe

Millions of people will be carefully casting their eyes skyward this morning to catch a glimpse of a major solar eclipse - the biggest since 1999. A solar eclipse is when the moon moves into a position where it partially or completely blocks out the sun - making for a spectacular sight. In Iceland, Greenland and Spain, a total eclipse has taken place, whereas it peaked at 90% in the UK. Across the continent, there are reports of special eclipse glasses selling like hot cakes - you need them to be able to see the eclipse without burning your eyes, as US President Donald Trump was hastily reminded back in 2017. And if you’re reading this in Europe and you feel the urge to look directly at the eclipse without glasses, follow the late, great Bonnie Tyler’s advice and turn around, bright eyes… 

From redback to deadback

We're going to word this one as delicately as we can… There's some new research into an unusual mating ritual amongst redback spiders, where the male does a somersault into the jaws of the female during copulation - and is often eaten as a result. We’ll let you read all the specific biological details if that’s the sort of thing that appeals to you over breakfast, but researchers reckon it’s a tactic the males are employing on purpose to boost their chances of successfully reproducing. If their mate is snacking away on their abdomen, the whole act lasts longer, and the better the chances the pair will make lots of spider-babies. It’s just a high-risk strategy because the chance the male will die in the process is about 65%. At least they died happy…

Apropos of Nothing

Take a seat if you will and enjoy this roundup of creative bathroom signs from seasoned travellers. We personally relate to the bla bla bla one and maintain some of our most meaningful convos have been in line for the loo…

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake shook the Cocklebiddy Roadhouse on the Nullabor Plain, about 1,000km east of Perth, yesterday morning. Because it was so remote it was felt by only one person: Tyson Allamson, who apart from thinking “that’s not normal”, was just fine.

And in big news for soccer fans, Portuguese star striker Cristiano Ronaldo married his longtime partner, model Georgina Rodriguez, in Portugal on Tuesday. It was a quiet affair - the only guests were their 5 kids…

Squiz the Day

10:30am (AEST) - Cricket: First Men's test: Australia v Bangladesh - Darwin, watch on 7plus

7.15pm (AEST) - AFLW: Hawthorn v Melbourne - Melbourne, watch on 7plus

PM Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns will announce a deal to bail out Tomago Aluminium, the largest aluminium smelter in Australia, which is expected to cost taxpayers $2.5 billion over 10 years

The Clacton by-election is on in the UK (the one featuring Nigel Farage and Count Binface)

Zambian Presidential and National Assembly election

ABS data release: Average weekly earnings, May 2026

ANZ Q3 update

Full year results for IAG, Orora, Origin Energy, Transurban, Telstra 

🥂 National Prosecco Day

Anniversary of:

• the fall of the Aztec Empire after Spanish conquistadors capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan (1521)

• Berlin being divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees (1961)

• the premiere of South Park (1997)

• the birthdays of Alfred Hitchcock (1899) and Fidel Castro (1926)

• the deaths of Florence Nightingale (1910) and Julia Child (2004) 

Housekeeping

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