Thursday, 16 July - There's magic in my bones

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

• The reviews are in for the Albanese Government’s AI plan

• Oz GP clinics have been caught up in a cyberattack

• And a T-Rex named Gus becomes the world’s most expensive fossil…

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

It’s survey time…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said comedian Trevor Noah after a pic of soccer legend Lionel Messi holding young Spanish star Lamine Yamal as a baby resurfaced and broke the internet. If Argentina sends England home this morning, the 2 will face off in the World Cup final on Monday…

Plan A for AI

The Squiz

There was a heap of buzz ahead of PM Anthony Albanese’s speech on AI yesterday - and it generated just as many headlines afterwards… If you missed it, the federal government has created an Office of AI to develop a set of national standards for the tech as more companies look to Oz to build data centres and train their AI models. The idea is that the new standards would protect the environment, jobs, our national security and Aussie intellectual property. The PM said the legislation won’t cover off every risk posed by AI, but if we’re “true to our values and our standards, we can make AI work in Australia's national interests”. 

Wind it back a bit…

We mentioned yesterday that the PM wanted to set some boundaries for big tech companies and address public concern over job security, copyright and the massive energy needs of data centres. It comes as the AI industry is ready to inject billions of dollars into our economy - but we’ve got to iron out those issues first. That’s where the national standards will come in… They’ll set rules for where data centres can be built, how much power and water they can use, and ensure they don’t drive up electricity prices for us locals. And when it comes to IP, the PM says Aussie writers, musicians, artists and journalists will retain ownership and control of their work, and “our laws will spell that out, plain as day”.

How has it gone down?

The PM reckons we’ll be world leaders in setting standards around AI, although some critics say the stronger stance has been too long coming. Coalition leader Angus Taylor said the government is “creating more bureaucracy” with another office, while the Greens are pushing for a pause on data centre construction until the new laws are in place. Repping workers, the Australian Council of Trade Unions supports the stronger stance, particularly in relation to IP. On that, our copyright laws have been a handbrake on the AI company Anthropic making further investments here, but the PM says he’s not worried about these new rules leading the AI giants to invest elsewhere - and Anthropic says it will “respect the process”. As for what’s next, the national standards will be run by state and territory leaders next month, ahead of the new laws being put to parliament.

Before you hit send…

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Squiz the Rest

The war rages on

There’s no sign of any pause in the fighting between the US and Iran, with a fourth straight night of strikes overnight. Iranian officials say that at least 35 people have been killed and hundreds of people have been wounded in this latest round of fighting - but didn’t clarify how many of those were military personnel. The US has also brought back its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and says it’s “redirected” 2 ships that tried to pass through. As for what happens next, US President Donald Trump has once again promised to hit Iranian bridges and power plants if they don’t come to the negotiating table - you might remember a similar threat from before the ceasefire took place. He says he wants talks to start again by next week…

Aussie Rules takes action

Former Australian Rules footballer Nicky Winmar has been removed from the Australian Football Hall of Fame, following a domestic violence conviction earlier this month. During his trial, a woman - whose name is being legally protected - told the court that Winmar had hit her head against a door multiple times, twisted her arm and dragged her by her hair. Winmar was a significant name in Aussie Rules not only because of his 251-game career, but also thanks to his 1993 onfield protest, where he lifted his jumper and pointed to his skin after being racially abused by spectators. But following this conviction, a statue of that moment outside Perth Stadium has been taken down and he’s out of the Hall of Fame. He’ll next appear in court in August.
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Tracking a medical hack

We learned overnight that hackers have stolen the medical records and personal info of Oz patients in a major cyber attack back in June. The company Partnered Health - which operates over 50 GP clinics across Oz - says it found out about the cyber attack on 23 June, and says at least 16 clinics have been affected. They stretch across NSW, the ACT, Queensland and Victoria - while the company says it’s still looking into the possibility clinics in Western Oz have also been hit. You can see the full list here - the story’s become public now because Partnered Health started reaching out to patients who might have been affected yesterday afternoon. It apologised for the breach - and says it’s working with our law enforcement agencies to try and keep the data private.

Telstra gets ready to pay up…

…to Aussies who lost income in last week’s outage. The disruption was caused by a software bug that made the network's clocks go out of sync, and because 80,000 businesses rely on it for their payment systems, it caused chaos across Oz. Some advocates are unhappy, because it won’t be an automatic process, you’ll need to prove you were impacted. Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman Cynthia Gebert says the true scale of the outage is not yet clear, while the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network boss Carol Bennett says Telstra's compensation process puts too much responsibility on affected customers. Investigations into whether Telstra was negligent are continuing - we might learn more when its bosses face a Senate Inquiry tomorrow…

Gus makes bank

We mentioned on Tuesday morning that a T-Rex named Gus might set a record for the most expensive fossil ever sold at an auction this week - and did it ever. Some well-off individual - who is remaining anonymous - has forked out $71.8 million dollars for the bony memento. Whoever they are, they’re now the proud owner of a 61%-complete dinosaur skeleton, which is 11.6 metres long and consists of 183 bones. Gus was found on a South Dakota ranch in 2021, and that’s notable because it’s the reason it could go up for auction in the first place - auction house Sotheby’s says that the USA is the only country in the world where fossils are seen as personal property. We just really hope the buyer thought ahead about where they’d put it - otherwise that’s an awkward conversation with the household…

Apropos of Nothing

Princess Kate has completed the Three Peaks Challenge in the UK to raise money for cancer therapies. The Princess announced she was in remission from cancer last year, and said the event was a "chance to explore life beyond diagnosis and give something back”. 

In a first-of-its-kind mission, rescue workers in the NSW Snowy Mountains launched a new AI-powered remotely piloted drone to find and bring 2 hikers to safety in just 5 hours. The drone means quicker rescue times and less risk for emergency workers - a win/win…

And Aussie mountaineer Oliver Foran has completed the fastest-ever human-powered journey from sea level to the summit of Everest. The 27yo did the climb to raise money for youth mental health services, and not even an avalanche could stop him from breaking the record…

Squiz the Day

10.30am (AEST) - Hearing in the independent public inquiry into AUKUS  - Adelaide 

Bastille Festival in Sydney (until 19 July)

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey released in Australian cinemas 

🐍 World Snake Day

International Drag Day 

Birthdays for actor Will Ferrell (1967) and golfer Adam Scott (1980)

Anniversary of:

• the birthdays of Ida B Wells (1862), Ginger Rogers (1911) and Shirley Hughes (1927)

• the first successful testing of the atom bomb (1945)

• the publication of JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

• the launch of the historic Apollo 11 mission sending Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon (1969)