Thursday, 15 October - Tick tock on the clock

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 15 October. In your Squiz Today…

• The small business sector is ticked off over a plan to tax income from discretionary trusts

• Pope Leo XIV has had surgery for lung cancer

• And a timely vote over the leap second… ⏰ 

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Hentley Farm head chef Kyle Johns, after it became one of 11 South Oz venues to receive a Michelin star during the fine dining guide’s first-ever local edition last night. Michelin experts have been hard at work for 12 months testing the state’s best eateries to work out the winners - tough gig…

Trust issues in Canberra

The Squiz

Small business owners had barely finished putting the Tax Office in the doghouse over its (delayed) plan to stop accepting credit card payments, and now they’re squeezing the Albanese Government in beside it… Yesterday, the government tabled the next part of its tax reform package in Parliament, which would whack a minimum 30% tax on income from discretionary trusts. Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it’s to make the tax system fairer, but the Coalition has accused the government of “waging war on small business” and wants the tax scrapped. 

Not all trusts, we trust?

No, a lot are exempt... This bill focuses on discretionary trusts. That's a legal arrangement where someone (the trustee) holds money or assets for a group of people (the beneficiaries), and the trustee gets to decide each year how any net profit is divided up. They're often called family trusts in Oz because families commonly use them to hold investments, run businesses, protect assets and help reduce tax. By spreading income across family members in lower tax brackets - for example, distributing it to a spouse who works part-time or a uni student - they can substantially lower the tax they pay. And this has brought them to the government's attention…

So, what’s in the new bill?

If it passes, from July 2028, income from discretionary trusts will be taxed at a minimum of 30% upfront - even if it goes to a low-earning family member. Chalmers reckons 90% of small businesses won't be affected, but the bill has come in for heavy criticism, with the Coalition saying it'd effectively lift the base tax rate for small businesses structured as discretionary trusts from 25% to 30%. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry says it's a "double hit" that could cost a small business more than $50,000 in advice fees, before stamp duty. But the Greens reckon the bill doesn’t go far enough. They want loopholes tightened so private school fees can’t be paid from trusts. At this stage, it’s set to head to a Senate inquiry, so there’s still a way to go before it’s put to a final vote.

Why affordability can pay off over time

When it comes to property, affordability isn’t just about getting onto the ladder - it can also shape how things play out down the track. We spoke to Alan Yang, Head of Group Research & Valuations at Stockland, who pointed out that over the past 35 years of Aussie housing cycles, homes at the more affordable end of the market have usually taken smaller hits when prices dip. Their values have also tended to grow around 1% faster than the rest of the market… and that small edge can add up to a lot over the years. The upshot? Over the long haul, they’ve often done better than many would guess.

Squiz the Rest

A falling Starlink

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s relationship with the US isn’t getting any better - after a clash with President Donald Trump over the weekend, he’s now having problems with the world’s richest man, Elon Musk. After Trump accused Zelensky of ignoring a US request to stop striking Russian oil refineries, Musk posted on X that Zelensky had “gone too far”. Now, Ukraine says its access to Starshield has been limited - that’s the military version of Musk’s satellite internet product, Starlink - which it says is causing problems for its drone operations. Ukraine is asking questions of SpaceX (which operates Starlink) about why that is, and Zelensky is looking elsewhere for help - he’s currently in the UK, where he was welcomed by King Charles and has met with UK PM Andy Burnham. 

Pope Leo XIV’s had surgery for lung cancer 

The Vatican says the first US-born Pontiff’s operation went well, and there were no complications. We first learned that the 71yo was due for medical treatment on Sunday night, when he posted to his official X account (we're still not used to writing that sentence…) that doctors had found a small nodule in his lung. After an examination, surgeons confirmed that the nodule was lung adenocarcinoma, a form of lung cancer - but because doctors caught it early, Leo's prognosis is expected to be good. The 267th man to become Pope has been in the role for almost a year and a half after he was elected in May 2025. It's been a busy time, so he'll take a break from official engagements until at least 20 October. 

Offline in Alice

About 2,500 homes in Alice Springs are still without power after a thunderstorm hit the town on Monday afternoon. That number was as high as 9,000 on Monday night after the storm brought winds of nearly 100km/hr which blew the roofs off some houses, damaged cars and brought down dozens of trees. Authorities are working to restore power, but it could take until the weekend because several parts are being shipped in from Darwin. The threat of more storms is complicating things, as power workers have to down tools and come down from high work platforms if there are thunderstorms or lightning in the area. One bright spot: the Northern Territory Government says anyone still waiting for power to be restored today past 3pm ACST can access a $250 power outage assistance payment. 

The Rugby League World Cup kicks off…

…for the 17th time tonight at 8.05pm AEDT as the Kangaroos, our men’s team, face off against the Kiwis (no prizes for guessing which country they play for). This event’s a bit different because it’s actually 3 tournaments - the men’s, women’s and wheelchair formats will all take place over the next month as one integrated event, hosted across Oz, NZ and Papua New Guinea. The Kangaroos and Kiwis are hot favourites in the men’s competition, and things get even less competitive in the women’s, where our Jillaroos are considered basically certainties. In the wheelchair version, England and France are the hot tips to take the trophy. You can watch all 53 matches across the 3 World Cups on 7plus.

Every second counts

A group of timekeepers at the thrilling-sounding General Conference on Weights and Measures has been meeting in France to figure out if we should ditch the leap second. It took us more than a second to get our heads around this, but the world runs on 2 kinds of time that don’t quite match - one is from atomic clocks, which are steady, but the other is based on how long the Earth takes to turn, which varies. To stop them drifting more than 0.9 seconds apart, timekeepers add an extra leap second. This has happened 27 times since 1972, but computers hate it because leap seconds mean minutes with 61 seconds, and plenty of software isn’t built to handle that. The vote is happening tonight, and not a moment too soon…

Apropos of Nothing

It’s not only the Rugby League World Cup beginning today - our Women’s National Basketball League is also getting started with a new team, the Tasmania Jewels, taking on the Geelong Venom. Let’s see if the Jewels can take the crown… 

Scientists have identified a new species of dinosaur, which has been called the Invictibellatrix amberina (hey, there’s a couple of fun baby name ideas…). They reckon it’s a cousin of the T-rex that “would have chased” humans. OK, we might be glad that one’s extinct… 

After tickets for their 2027 tour sold like hotcakes, Aussie band Powderfinger has added some new shows for Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. Not sure what Adelaide and Cairns fans did wrong, but maybe their time will come.

Squiz the Day

8.30am (AEDT) - Victorian Premier Ben Carroll to deliver the keynote at CEDA's State of the State forum for Victoria -Melbourne 

9.00am (AEDT) - Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia national conference with an address from PM Anthony Albanese (until 16 October) - Canberra 

9.30am (AEDT) - Mention for 18yo Indika Bambrick Samarasinghe on dangerous driving-related charges after allegedly driving into a crowd of fans sending off the Newcastle Knights NRL team before the 2026 Grand Final - Newcastle

12.30pm (AEDT) - Communications Minister Anika Wells to address the National Press Club on 'A global reckoning: Why Australia needs a Digital Duty of Care' - Canberra, watch on ABC iView

1.00pm (AEDT) - Rugby union: the Wallabies to name the team for game 2 of the Bledisloe Cup against the New Zealand All Blacks on Saturday - Sydney 

8.05pm (AEDT) - Rugby league: Men's Rugby League World Cup Pool A Australia v New Zealand - Sydney, watch on 7plus

Basketball: WNBL season begins 

ABS data release: labour force, September 2026

Bank of Queensland full-year financial results 

The latest adaptation of Sense and Sensibility released in Aussie theatres 

Global Handwashing Day

World Students' Day

Breast Health Day

International Day of Rural Women 

Anniversary of:

• the first ballet performance, Ballet Comique de la Reine, in Paris (1581)

• the execution of Dutch exotic dancer Mata Hari for spying for Germany during WWI (1917)

• the premiere of I Love Lucy (1951)

• a 112m steel section of the West Gate Bridge in Melbourne collapsing, killing 35 workers (1970)

• the publication of EB White's Charlotte's Web (1952)

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