Thursday, 13 November - Drop it like it's hot

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

• Oz and Indonesia have agreed to a new security treaty

• Tensions rise between the US and Venezuela in the Caribbean

• And beware the drop crocs…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Prince William to Robert Irwin after the latter missed the Earthshot Prize (he’s an ambassador) to continue his exploits on Dancing With the Stars US. But it was worth it - Irwin notched his first perfect score with this tribute to his late Dad, featuring a cameo from sister Bindi…

Everybody needs good neighbours…

The Squiz

During Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s visit to Australia yesterday, our 2 countries agreed to a new security treaty that PM Anthony Albanese said was “a watershed moment in the Australia/Indonesia relationship”. The key thing to know is that the 2 nations will “consult at a leader and ministerial level” on defence and security matters - and may involve working together to tackle looming security threats. Prabowo, who was on his first trip here since taking office, said “Good neighbours are essential. Good neighbours will help each other in times of difficulties”.

Got any more deets?

Well, we know what it’s called - the Australian-Indonesia Treaty on Common Security - but not a lot else. The PM says it’s based on a similar treaty signed by former Oz PM Paul Keating and former Indonesian President Suharto in 1995. That treaty didn’t last very long - Indonesia tore it up in 1999 after Oz led an international peacekeeping force in East Timor - before the 2 neighbours eventually mended fences in the early 2000s before signing the Lombok Treaty in 2006. The lack of detail around this new treaty might be because it’s not officially locked in yet - the PM is set to travel to Indonesia in January to make things official. He might be hoping he’ll have more luck than when he was supposed to sign that treaty in Papua New Guinea - which did eventually get signed - and the agreement in Vanuatu, which still hasn't… 

And speaking of important meetings… 

Well, we’ve been flagging this decision all week, and the Liberal Party looks likely to formally ditch its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 at midday today, after a 5-hour party-room meeting in Canberra yesterday (which some MPs almost didn’t get to). Reports say the majority of Liberal MPs at the meeting spoke in favour of ditching the policy - including Coalition leader Sussan Ley’s deputy Ted O’Brien - and Ley says the party’s shadow ministry will make the final call today. Once it does, the party will take its decision to the Nationals - who have already ditched the target, so don’t expect much pushback there - and formalise its policy as a Coalition on Sunday. Then we’ll see if there’s any change in the polls - and what it means for Ley’s leadership…

It’s electrifying…

Switching to electric - whether it’s upgrading your home appliances or driving an EV - needs way more copper than you might realise. A typical electric vehicle uses 3 times more copper than a petrol car - now multiply that by thousands of Australians making the switch. BHP is using AI to find new copper deposits more efficiently, to help meet the surge in demand. From suburban renos to apartment blocks going green, we're looking at a massive increase in copper needs. Head here to discover what's driving the copper surge.

Squiz the Rest

Tensions rise in the Caribbean…

…courtesy of the world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford, arriving there yesterday carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of aircraft. US President Donald Trump ordered the ship to the region last month, saying it’s part of the US fight against illegal drug imports via boat from Venezuela. So far, the US has launched strikes on 19 boats, killing 76 people, in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific in recent months. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro takes a very different view… He says Trump and the US are “fabricating” a crisis to justify military aggression, with an underlying goal of ousting his left-wing government. His military (reportedly understaffed and underfunded…) has been preparing a guerrilla-style defence in case of a US ground attack.

Speaking of Trump…

The President has been copping heat over his link to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein again, after his name was mentioned in a cache of more than 23,000 emails released from Esptein’s estate. In one of them, Epstein alleges Trump spent "hours at my house" with sex trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre. The emails date back to 2011, and in one exchange between Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell (who was also convicted of sex trafficking after his death in 2019), he says Trump "knew about the girls". Democrats say they raise “serious questions” about Trump and his knowledge of Epstein's crimes. But the White House says there's nothing to see here... Before her death in April, Giuffre said Trump wasn't involved in any wrongdoing - something he also maintains.
*We’ve dug into the link between Trump and Epstein in a Squiz Shortcut if you'd like some more background to this story… 

An ex-union boss in hot water

John Setka, a former branch leader for the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union, has been arrested after accusations he sent threatening emails to the administrator appointed to the CFMEU’s construction branch. There’s a long backstory to this, but essentially, Setka - a high-profile union leader for decades - quit the CFMEU’s construction branch in July 2024, citing negative media coverage. Claims of union misconduct and links to organised crime later surfaced, prompting Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus to force it into administration… A police taskforce is still investigating, and has charged 61yo Setka with 7 counts of using a device to menace, harass and offend the administrator after a legal notice was served in October. He’ll appear in court on 30 January.

Did somebody say we’re closed?

The food delivery company Menulog announced yesterday that it’s going to shut up shop in Oz in 2 weeks. If you're not a Menulog user yourself, you would have done well to escape their ads, which had big stars like Katy Perry singing the company’s theme song. It's been operating in Oz for around 2 decades, and the closure will mean about 120 employees will lose their jobs - while some couriers will be eligible for 4 weeks' pay. The end of Menulog leaves Uber Eats and DoorDash as the remaining big fish in the world of Oz food delivery. Should you be planning one last blowout meal, your last chance will be on Wednesday, 26 November - the company will stop taking orders at midnight. At least we'll always have the ads… 

Beware the drop… crocs

You read that right - we’re not talking about our notorious drop bears. Scientists have been studying the oldest-known crocodile fossil eggshells (55 million years old, to be precise…) found in a Queensland sheep farmer’s backyard. That discovery was decades ago, but researchers have only recently identified the eggs as a long-extinct group of crocodiles known as mekosuchines - or “drop crocs” as UNSW paleontologist/study co-author Professor Michael Archer says… Growing to about 5 metres, they lived in inland waters about 51 million years before saltwater/freshwater crocs arrived. As for the nickname, Professor Archer reckons they hunted “like leopards - dropping out of trees on any unsuspecting thing they fancied for dinner”. Yikes…

Apropos of Nothing

It’s the end of the road for the humble penny, as the US Mint in Philadelphia manufactured its last ever one-cent coin yesterday. The coins cost almost 4 cents each to make, so President Trump has put a stop to it - over 2 decades after this scene from The West Wing… 

Hundreds of bagpipers in Melbourne broke the world record for the biggest bagpipe ensemble yesterday, with 374 musos besting the previous mark by 41. And of course, they played AC/DC’s It’s a Long Way to the Top - a decent taster for the band’s concert last night… 

And they haven’t given us much to go on, but a teaser trailer for The Devil Wears Prada 2 has just dropped this morning - still, we’ll take a great pair of heels, Madonna and a snarky remark from Miranda Priestly over nothing at all…

Squiz the Day

The Liberals will meet again to finalise their position on net zero, with Energy spokesman Dan Tehan presenting policy options - Canberra

8.00am (AEDT) - The Financial Review’s Infrastructure Summit 2025 will be held at the Fullerton Hotel - Sydney

9.00am (AEDT) - Co-Founder of Atlassian, Scott Farquhar and CEO of Made up Stories, Bruna Papandrea, will be among those to speak at Forbes’s Australia Business Summit at Ilumina - Sydney

9.00am (AEDT) - The final public hearing will take place in the Electoral Matters Committee’s inquiry into the 2025 federal election - Bendigo

10.00am (AEDT) - Former NSW CFMEU leaders Darren and Michael Greenfield will face sentencing over charges of corruption - Sydney

10.15am (AEDT) - The Federal Court will hear corporate regulator ASIC’s case against Superannuation giant Cbus for failing to process over 10,000 death and disability claims in a timely manner - Melbourne

6.00pm (AEDT) - Coalition Leader Sussan Ley is set to deliver the John Howard Lecture, hosted by the Menzies Research Centre - Sydney

6.00pm (AEDT) - The Consumer Health Gala Dinner & Self-care Excellence Awards will take place at NSW Parliament - Sydney

6.00pm (AWST) - The 2026 Australian of the Year Awards for Western Australia will be announced at Government House - Perth

ABS data release: Labour Force, Australia, October 2025

World Kindness Day 🫶

Birthdays for actor Whoopi Goldberg (1955) and comedian Jimmy Kimmel (1967)

Anniversary of:

• the birth of Treasure Island author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850)

• the formation of the Egyptian nationalist political party Al-Wafd al-Miṣrī, which was instrumental in gaining Egyptian independence from Britain (1918)

• the release of Walt Disney's animated film Fantasia (1940)

• the Islamic State carrying out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, killing 130 people (2015)