Thursday, 16 April - Everyone's a winner, baby

April 16, 2026

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 16 April. In your Squiz Today…

  • A long-running court battle involving Gina Rinehart wraps up

  • One of Australia’s 2 remaining oil refineries catches fire

  • And Tom Cruise branches out…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“How do I check that it’s not a hoax?"

Said Ari Hodara, a Parisian man who won a raffle where the prize was a Pablo Picasso painting worth well over $1 million. Fair question, given that his ticket only cost $165 - but while the painting is worth a lot, the anecdote is going to be priceless…

What’s mined is yours

The Squiz

The pockets of Australia’s richest person Gina Rinehart are set to be a bit lighter, following a decision by the Supreme Court in Perth yesterday. After a years-long legal case, her mining company Hancock Prospecting could pay hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty claims from the Hope Downs iron ore mines to the family of Peter Wright, her late father Lang Hancock’s business partner. But it wasn’t a total win for the family - their company Wright Prospecting also staked an ownership claim over the mines, which was dismissed. In a 1,600-page judgment (yikes…), Justice Jennifer Smith said “Wright Prospecting won half of its case and lost half of its case”. 

Remind me about Hancock and Wright…

Back in the 1950s and 60s, Lang Hancock and Peter Wright were considered mining pioneers, and together they unlocked rich iron ore deposits in the Western Oz Pilbara in a partnership called Hanwright. It not only made them wealthy men, but it changed the Oz economy - we were suddenly a resource-rich nation able to export the valuable commodity to the world. The patriarchs signed an agreement decades ago to divvy up their fortune - ironically so their families wouldn’t fight over it - and this is what the case hinged on. Justice Smith ruled that it was legally binding, forcing the royalties to be shared, even though Rinehart argued her company had done all the work to develop Hope Downs. As a joint owner, Rio Tinto has also been ordered to help foot the bill.

What about the family feud?

Well remembered… We mentioned yesterday that family tensions had been aired in the case, with 2 of Rinehart’s children - John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart - claiming a share in the Hope Downs mine under a trust set up by their grandfather. But their allegations that Rinehart used the trust for her own gain were dismissed by Justice Smith - a separate court battle over their inheritance is still ongoing. Following the ruling, John says he wants to end the fighting and “finally put these events from decades ago behind us”. No word from Rinehart herself, but with an estimated personal fortune of $38 billion, even hundreds of millions in royalties might not make too much of a difference…

Steady jobs, rising costs...

The latest data from CommBank’s Wage and Labour Insights report (which you can dive into here...) shows that Aussie wages and jobs are holding steady. Wages rose 0.8% over the first three months of the year, and around 23,000 jobs were added in March alone. That points to some resilience in the labour market despite the rocky economic conditions. But at the same time, inflation pressures are still building and many households are feeling the pinch. So even though parts of the economy are doing okay, cost-of-living pressures remain sticky....

Squiz the Rest

Small ceasefire steps

There are some signs of progress towards a peace deal in the Middle East this morning, with a delegation from Pakistan arriving in Iran to try and move things forward. Pakistan has been acting as a key mediator in trying to end the war, and the latest reports say that the US and Iran are “getting closer” to that goal - though it might require an extension to the current ceasefire, which is set to end in just under a week. In Israel, the country’s security cabinet is set to meet later today to discuss the possibility of a ceasefire in Lebanon - which is important to also locking in a long-term peace with Iran. Early indications are that it might be a week-long pause, but we should find out more details today…

Fertile ground

While those talks continue, PM Anthony Albanese has signed an agreement with the Asian nation of Brunei to try and keep fuel and fertiliser flowing to Oz. It’s a similar deal to the one the PM signed in Singapore last week - essentially a promise to keep the supply chain open between the 2 countries over the coming months. Albanese is now off to conduct further talks with Malaysia, one of our biggest suppliers of refined oil and the major supplier of crude oil to our 2 remaining refineries. And as it happens, a major fire has broken out overnight at one of those refineries - the Viva Energy facility in Geelong. It’s not yet under control, and a Watch and Act is in place for locals - you can check the latest updates here…

Swinging for the defences

Keep an eye out for Defence Minister Richard Marles today - he’s set to announce we’ll be spending an extra $14 billion on defence over the next 4 years. The plan is to raise our spending to 3% of GDP by 2033, using a model that includes things like pensions and housing subsidies. In his speech today, Marles will argue that the lift is necessary because Oz is facing “its most complex and threatening circumstances since the end of World War II.” And a bit of a backdrop to this - Oz has been under pressure from the US - and particularly Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth - to lift defence spending to 3.5% of GDP, so it’s not quite at the levels the US wants yet. We’ll find out more today - and if there’s a reaction from the White House…

A rather large problem

Aside from a legacy of drugs and crime, something else the late drug boss Pablo Escobar left behind in Colombia is… a growing population of hippos. There are about 200 of them roaming the swamps in the wild - the descendants of 4 animals brought over from the US by Escobar for his private zoo in the 1980s. Known as the ‘cocaine hippos’, they’re the only wild herd outside of Africa, but they’re now threatening local villagers and the habitats of native animals. To bring things under control, the nation’s leaders are planning a cull of 80 hippos, but it’s proving divisive. Diseases and genetic concerns mean they can’t be sent to overseas sanctuaries, and leaders say it’s the only option, but animal welfare agencies have called the plan “cruel”.

A Cruisy new role

There’s a big movie industry event going on in Las Vegas at the moment - it’s called CinemaCon, and it’s where lots of big blockbusters show off teasers and footage to get fans (and distributors) hyped for upcoming releases. Sadly, most of the footage usually doesn’t end up on the (legal) corners of the Internet, so we have to make do with reports… This year, one of the big-ticket items was Tom Cruise’s new movie Digger, which sounds… weird. It’s a comedy where Cruise has a thick Southern drawl and plays an oil baron who might have accidentally set off a nuclear war. Apparently, he’s unrecognisable in it, which, given his role in Tropic Thunder, is a high bar to clear…

Apropos of Nothing

Prince Harry has been shown the Aussie Rules ropes by the Western Bulldogs, stopping by on the second day of his visit for a Movember event. The club gifted him jerseys with his kids’ names, so maybe they’re players in the making…

While Harry was off kicking the footy, Meghan Markle had an announcement of her own - she’s going to be a guest judge on the new season of Masterchef Australia, which begins on Sunday. We expect she’ll treat all the recipes with love… 

And an outback nurse in Western Australia has amassed a social media following by sharing his “adventures” and hoping to shine a light on the healthcare gap experienced by rural indigenous communities. You can check it out here…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (ACST) - Day one of the Adelaide Equestrian Festival, which will host the biennial Oceania Eventing Championships (until 19 April), Adelaide Parklands - Adelaide, watch it on Horse & Country TV, if you have a stable Internet connection…  

10.15am (AEST) - Judgment for former US marine fighter pilot and Australian citizen Daniel Duggan’s appeal on his extradition to face trial in the US over claims that he trained Chinese pilots. Check out our Squiz Shortcut on him for the background to that - ACT Federal Court - Canberra 

10.00am (ACST) - Oil and gas group Santos will hold its AGM - Adelaide 

12.30 midday (AEST) - Deputy PM Richard Marles to address the National Press Club on the launch of the 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program - Canberra

7.00pm (AEST) - Pamela Anderson ‘In conversation’ speaking event. It’s described as an intimate, long-form discussion focusing on her ‘second act’ - Sydney 

Wealth manager AMP is set to report its Q1 cashflows and provide a business update

ABS data release: Labour force, March 2026; Prisoners in Australia, 2025 

Season 2 of Beef will drop on Netflix

🍌 Banana Day

Birthdays for singer Akon (1973), actor Claire Foy (1984), rapper Chance the Rapper (1993), and AFL player Tayla Harris (1997)

Anniversary of:

  • Harriet Quimby becoming the first female pilot to fly across the English Channel (1912)

  • Swiss scientist Dr Albert Hofmann discovering the psychedelic effects of LSD (1943)

  • the Virginia Tech massacre (2007)

  • Kendrick Lamar becoming the first rapper and non-classical or jazz musician to win the Pulitzer Prize for music with his album Damn (2018)