Thursday, 13 March - I am titanium

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

• The US goes full steam ahead on tariffs - including on Aussie steel

• There’s movement on a Ukraine peace deal

• And a new game of great still… 🧘

🎧 Listen to the podcast

🤓 This email will take you 5 minutes to read

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said astronomy researcher Dr Edward Ashton after he and his team discovered that Saturn has 128 more moons than we knew about. It’s running rings around Jupiter as the reigning ‘moon king’, and the team reckons that’s the full moon complement - for now, anyway…

There’s a new tariff in town

The Squiz

The reactions to the US going ahead with tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium came in thick and fast yesterday, with PM Anthony Albanese leading the charge by calling them “entirely unjustified”. It means, as of yesterday, there’s now a 25% tariff (aka a tax) for our steel and aluminium producers who send their materials to the US. It’s not clear if they’ll stay in place permanently, but nevertheless, Albanese isn’t happy… He says the move is “against the spirit of our 2 nations’ enduring friendship” and at odds with our longstanding economic partnership. 

But what about the exemption…?

It’s a fair question. You might recall that when the Trump administration announced these tariffs (following similar ones on Canadian, Mexican and Chinese exports…) the Albanese Government asked for Australian exports to be exempt. The hope was that we could replicate our success in securing a similar exemption during Trump’s first term in office - but no dice… Analysts say the new administration is taking a more hardline approach to Trump’s “America first” promise to encourage more manufacturing in the US. That’s despite growing pushback - even from some of Trump’s allies - as his trade agenda causes issues for global stock markets and recession fears in the US.

So what’s the reaction been?

Foreign Minister Penny Wong backed up Albanese’s comments, saying it’s “not the way to treat a friend and partner” and that American consumers “will pay the price”. But unlike the retaliatory tariffs Canada has imposed, she and the PM have ruled out reciprocal tariffs, saying they’d just “add to Australians’ cost of living”. As for the industries affected… A spokesperson for BlueScope Steel, which exports 300,000 tonnes of steel to the US, says the company is “disappointed” but will continue pushing for an exemption. Experts also say our manufacturers might start looking for new markets to send their products to. In the meantime, the Coalition is pushing for Albanese to continue negotiations with the Trump administration.

Canberra’s art scene is calling

If we said the words 'Canberra' and 'art', your mind might go straight to the National Gallery of Australia - but as Canberrans will tell you, there's a lot going on in their local art scene. We've teamed up with VisitCanberra to shine a light on why our capital city should be on your travel itinerary in 2025, and sat down with local glass artist Hannah Gason. She spends a lot of time at the iconic Canberra Glassworks, but, as she says, the art scene is thriving in specialty galleries across the city. We get her tips on where art lovers should visit, along with the best spots to take advantage of Canberra's breathtaking nature. Check out the video here.

Squiz the Rest

A ceasefire hangs in the balance

The world is waiting for Russia to agree to a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine after the US and Ukraine came to terms following a meeting in Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says if Russia doesn’t accept the terms, which would pause fighting on the front lines as well as in the air and sea, “we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here” (hint: not Ukraine…). The meeting in Saudi Arabia also led to the US resuming both military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine after pausing both last week, and reports say White House special envoy Steve Witkoff will be heading to Moscow soon, where he might even present the plan to Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. 

A fight for rights

Traditional owners in north-east Arnhem Land had a win in the High Court yesterday, with the Commonwealth losing its appeal over a ruling that it’s liable for compensation. To explain, a 2023 Federal Court ruling found that the Gumatj people’s land in the Northern Territory wasn’t acquired “on just terms” before being leased to mining company Nabalco back in 1968. The Commonwealth argued against that, but yesterday’s result means it could be liable for up to $700 million in compensation - as well as opening the door for other claims by Indigenous groups. Late Indigenous land rights activist and Gumatj man Dr Yunupingu originally took the legal challenge to court. Yesterday, his brother Djawa Yunupingu called him the “mastermind” behind the case, saying “justice has been served for my people”. 

Suing over super delays

The corporate regulator ASIC is taking Australian Super to court for allegedly being too slow to pay out death benefits. ASIC says the biggest super fund in Oz - it’s got $355 billion of our retirement savings on its books - took over 3 years in some cases to pay out benefits to relatives of its members. The fund says it will look at the lawsuit before it responds officially, but did point to COVID as a potential cause, given it caused an increase in deaths and a decrease in staff. This is the second suit ASIC has launched along these lines following one against Cbus, which is currently in mediation, and comes a month after a Senate inquiry led by the Coalition found our super industry needs to change, pronto. 

Local equipped with a heart

Some very clever Sydney medicos have pulled off the first ever Aussie example of a completely artificial heart implant. A NSW man who was dealing with heart failure received the titanium heart - called a BiVACOR -  and lived with it for 100 days before a regular heart transplant was available. Not only were the surgeons and the patient Aussies, but the inventor of the BiVACOR is too - his name is Dr Daniel Timms and he’s an Australian of the Year nominee.. And while it’s still early days, the plan is that more of these artificial hearts will keep patients alive longer while they wait for a donor, which are pretty hard to find - and eventually be able to eliminate the need for donors entirely. Nothing like some Aussie ingenuity...

A test of still

If you're near Melbourne in June and you're really, really good at staying as still as possible, you might want to have a crack at a Space-out competition. It might sound like a game parents with little kids try on the daily, but it's an actual 90-minute competition where entrants compete to zone out. You're out if you laugh or check your phone - likewise if you doze off. Of the people left at the end, 2 finalists get picked - the person with the most stable heart rate and the crowd favourite - and one gets declared the winner. It's the brainchild of South Korean artist Woopsyang, and it's going to be part of the Rising festival in Melbourne, which runs from 4-15 June. Tickets go on sale Monday - you snooze, you lose…

Apropos of Nothing - Aquatic edition

A new study reckons that the megalodon - the prehistoric shark that has ‘mega’ in its name for a reason - was even more mega than we thought. And more lithe, too - scientists now think it was as long as 24m… Might need to redo those scientifically accurate Jason Statham movies… 

Experts reckon that 90% of creatures living in the depths of the ocean remain a mystery to us. But the Ocean Census scientific project is looking to change that… It’s discovered 866 new species, including a venomous sea snail with harpoon teeth. That one can stay where it is, thanks…  

And a lawsuit over the idea for Disney film Moana hasn’t gone very far, with a US jury taking just a couple of hours to knock back animator Buck Woodall’s claim that Disney pinched the idea from him. The trial included a full screening of Moana - that’s winning the jury duty lottery…

Squiz the Day

6.10am (AEDT) - Tennis: BNP Paribas (Indian Wells) Open, round of 16, Alex de Minaur vs Francisco Cerundolo - Indian Wells, CA, and streaming here

8.00am (AEDT) - Airport City Summit, where PM Anthony Albanese will announce a $1 billion pledge to connect southwest Sydney to the new Western Sydney airport by rail - Sydney

9.00am (AEDT) - International Institute of Finance Forum, hosted by Westpac - Sydney

10.48am (AEDT) - SpaceX will launch its Crew-10 mission to the ISS which, after a handover of a few days, will return to Earth with NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who’ve been up there since June - Florida, and watch live here

11.30am (AEDT) - Clive Palmer, Chairman of Trumpet for Patriots, will address the National Press Club on how his new party will impact the 2025 federal election - Canberra

12.00 noon (AEDT) - ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr to deliver the State of the Territory address - Canberra

5.50pm (AEDT) - Melbourne Supercars, SuperSprint main race (until 16 March) - Melbourne

ABS data release - Corrective Services, December; Monthly Business Turnover, January

Purim (until 14 March)

World Kidney Day 

Anniversary of:

• William Herschel discovering the planet Uranus (but he mistook it for a comet) (1781)

• Labor PM Paul Keating's election win “for the true believers” (1993)

• the election of Pope Francis (2013)