Thursday, 21 May - It's the climb

May 21, 2026

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 21 May. In your Squiz Today…

  • Small business owners are railing against the CGT changes in last week’s Budget

  • Rugby league star Jai Arrow is retiring following a Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis

  • And the youngest Australian ever to climb Mt Everest…

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"My savings went down; my weight went up."

Said Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi about writing her novel Taiwan Travelogue which has won this year’s International Booker Prize. Described as a love letter to food and adventure, Yang says she took her research seriously…

A Budget business backlash

The Squiz

The federal Budget might be done and dusted, but if the past couple of days are anything to go by, the political argy bargy over it is just warming up… For the second week, changes planned for the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) have dominated headlines, with Treasurer Jim Chalmers and PM Anthony Albanese copping some serious heat from the business community - particularly from start-ups, investors and younger entrepreneurs who argue that shares and businesses should be exempt.

What’s that about?

For starters, the PM has been the star of a viral meme campaign by start-up founders who claim he’s taken a 47% stake in their businesses. That’s because businesses count as investment assets, and under the new CGT rules, owners who build up a company and sell it face tax rates on any profit of between 30% and 47%. As a reminder, the 50% CGT discount is set to be scrapped and replaced with an inflation indexation system and a base 30% tax rate. Under the new system, founders and small businesses are concerned that they’ll be slugged with a bigger tax bill if they sell - and that could spook future investors. And on that, some of the country’s younger business leaders have also chimed in…

What’s on their mind?

Forty leaders under 40yo have written to the PM describing the CGT changes as “aspiration ambush” that would “suck the ambition, drive and hope” from young business builders. The group includes some heavy hitters like QR menu provider Kim Teo and real estate tech founder Frank Greeff. Defending the reforms, Chalmers explained that shares are included so investments aren’t skewed in one direction, resulting in “a fairer, more neutral treatment of capital gains”. Coalition Treasury spokesperson Tim Wilson said yesterday small businesses need to be consulted on tax changes  - he’s pitching a new Small Business Act that would guarantee they will be going forward. The debate continues…

Winter is coming...

Aussies (should) know that the potential for UV damage doesn't go away when the temperatures drop, and that's why daily SPF is one of those year-round habits worth forming. If you're fresh outta sunscreen post-summer, iHerb has a buy one, get one 50% off deal across its SPF range until 9 June, with products for face, body and sensitive skin. It’s better to be safe than sorry…

Squiz the Rest

A case against Castro

The US Department of Justice has hit former Cuban President Raul Castro with charges including murder and the destruction of an airplane. This harks back to 1996, when 2 small planes that were attempting to help Cubans trying to get to the US were shot down off the Cuban coast. Four Americans were killed, and prosecutors alleged this morning that the now 94yo Castro - who was Defence Minister at the time - played a role in the killing of unarmed civilians. But there’s also a wider context for this - for months, US President Donald Trump has been threatening Cuba with military action to change the country’s communist regime and open it up to American business interests. Current Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel says that’s what the Castro charge is about - he says it’s all to “justify the folly of a military aggression against Cuba”.
*For the background on the ongoing tension between the US and Cuba, we’ve got a Squiz Shortcut for you… 

A Bondi hero’s family fallout

Two brothers of Ahmed Al Ahmed, who intervened in the antisemitic terror attack at Bondi Beach last December, have been accused of trying to extort him. To recap: Ahmed became a household name after he tackled and disarmed one of the gunmen in that attack, likely saving many lives. He was shot in the process and needed multiple surgeries, so the Oz public rallied around him, raising $2.6 million. His brothers, Sameh and Hozifa, allegedly left voicemails threatening to hurt him unless he gave them $100,000 each - police have since charged the pair and ordered them to stay away from Ahmed. The case will return to court in July.

Jai calls time

After 178 NRL games, rugby league forward Jai Arrow announced yesterday that he’s been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) - and will retire from the sport immediately. Arrow was South Sydney’s best player last year, but hasn’t played in 2026 - the club says he’s been doing months of testing/treatment that led to this diagnosis. MND is a neurological disease that attacks muscles that control movement, speech and breathing - it’s diagnosed in around 800 Aussies every year, mostly around the ages of 50-70yo. At 30yo, Arrow’s diagnosis has come unusually early - and he says he wants to “do everything I can - any trial, any medication that will maintain me for as long as I can.”

Never sea-n these before

So it turns out we really know very little about how the ocean works, because over the last year scientists have discovered 1,121 “previously unknown” species down there - 54% more than last year. This stat comes from the Ocean Census, which is a global organisation dedicated to tracking what we learn about the watery depths. Some of the new faces this year include a new species of sea pen (mightier than the sea sword), the ghost shark (which was found in Oz - we’re naming military drones after it) and the death ball sponge, which kinda looks like a baby’s mobile, but you know… deadly. To misquote Mean Girls, that’s why the ocean is so big - it’s full of secrets…

It’s Nep-al ahead of her

Melbourne 18yo Bianca Adler has really raised the bar for teenage achievements - she’s become the youngest Aussie ever to summit Mount Everest. That means she’s raised the bar 8,849m, to be exact… This was Adler’s second crack at the world’s highest peak - she previously attempted it last year, but had to turn back 400m of the summit due to dangerous weather conditions. This time around, she went with her father Paul to Camp 2 - at the mountain’s 6,500m mark - before heading on to complete the climb by herself and set the record. In case you’re wondering, the youngest person ever to scale Everest is Jordan Romero - he was 13yo at the time. Okay, now we’re starting to feel bad about what we were doing at that age…

Apropos of Nothing

Photographs of the same humpback whale taken 22 years and 15,000kms apart have led researchers to believe they’ve stumbled across the longest journey of the species ever documented. Starting in Brazil, the whale went all the way to Hervey Bay in Queensland - and why not, it’s lovely there… 

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary this week. That one calls for something bronze - and Haz not only remembered the type of gift and the date, he gave Megs a statue of 2 penguins because: together for life…

And in the cutest collaboration we can imagine, the search is underway to find a dog that can track down live koalas that need rescuing. Bear, the koala detection dog, retired this year at 11yo, so the hunt is on to replace him. It’s like PAW Patrol IRL…

Squiz the Day

10.00am (AEST) - Australian team Chef de Mission Petria Thomas will be a part of the Australian team’s uniform reveal for the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow - Sydney

11.00am (AEST) - Current Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Joe Longo will make his final public appearance at a Tech Council of Australia panel - Sydney

11.00am (AEST) - A 2-day Carbon Farming Industry Forum begins - Fremantle, Western Australia

6.30pm (AEST) - Australian Book Industry Award ceremony - Sydney 

The Mandalorian & Grogu released in Australian theatres (in case you’re wondering, you may know Grogu better as Baby Yoda…)

The Jewish holiday of Shavuot begins at sunset (until 23 May)

ABS data release: Labour force, April 2026

Birthdays for singer/songwriter Leo Sayer (1948), actor and retired wrestler Mr T (1952) and singer Gotye (1980)

Anniversary of

  • aviator Charles Lindbergh becoming the first person to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic (1927)

  • Amelia Earhart becoming the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic (how about that…) (1932)

  • the birthday of rapper The Notorious B.I.G. (1972)

  • the Labor party led by Anthony Albanese winning the federal election (2022)