Thursday, 29 May - Let’s stay together

May 29, 2025

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“My heart and compassion goes out to everyone who has traversed the traumatic journey of betrayal.”

Said Australian actor Deborra-Lee Furness, who put out a lengthy statement yesterday after officially filing for divorce from husband and fellow actor Hugh Jackman. The 2 have stayed pretty quiet since splitting up a couple of years ago, but Furness is making up for that now…

The Coalition is together again

The Squiz

It turns out a week is a long time in politics… After breaking up last Tuesday, the Coalition officially reunited yesterday as Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud signed off on a new Coalition Agreement. After the Nats agreed to present a united front on policy issues and the Libs agreed to the Nats' policy demands including lifting the ban on nuclear power, the 2 leaders were all smiles at a joint press conference where they announced their new team to take on the government. 

And who got the big gigs?

Here’s the full list, but we’ll give you the highlights… With cost of living and the economy always a hot issue, Ley’s Liberal deputy Ted O’Brien will face off with Treasurer Jim Chalmers as the Coalition treasury spokesman. Chalmers’ opponent during the election campaign was Angus Taylor, who ran against Ley for the leadership but will now be looking after defence, and foreign affairs went to WA Senator Michaelia Cash. Some other tidbits: despite still not being locked in as a winner in his electorate of Goldstein, Tim Wilson will be responsible for industrial relations - no pressure on that recount…  And Jane Hume, who was a high-profile face during the campaign given her link to the Coalition's short-lived work-from-home policy, has been dropped from the frontbench altogether. 

What about the Nats?

Nationals leader David Littleproud will be taking the lead on agriculture, and other Nats like Kevin Hogan and Bridget McKenzie have also got gigs, but a couple of former party leaders have missed out. Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack, who have both been critical of Littleproud’s decision to split from the government in the first place, didn’t get a spot this time around. Joyce said that Littleproud’s reasoning that the party needs “generational change” didn’t stack up because he’s younger than Kevin Hogan (Joyce is 58yo, Hogan is 61yo). He says he’ll continue to push for Australia to drop its commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 from the backbench.

Squiz the Rest

Descending into chaos

Less than a week since a new aid distribution agency was launched in Gaza, it’s been overrun by thousands of hungry Palestinians. Gaza’s population of 2.1 million people have been struggling with critically low food and aid supplies since Israel began an 11-week blockade to pressure Hamas to meet its demands back in March. Reports say the food at the new distribution centre, in the suburb of Tel al-Sultan in Gaza’s south, is the first many people have had access to in weeks. But the new agency is attracting plenty of questions… A private security contractor with links to the US and Israeli governments is said to be behind it, and other aid agency bodies, like the United Nations, have raised concerns that they’re being pushed out of Gaza for a military-led system.

Still cooking with gas

Six years after the Federal Government began an environmental review of our largest oil and gas project’s extension, Environment Minister Murray Watt’s given it the green light. It means Woodside Energy, the company that operates the North West Shelf project on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Oz, can keep it running until 2070. Watt said that he’d considered “rigorous scientific and other advice” in his decision - but nevertheless, it’s a contentious one… Woodside says the project has brought in more than $40 billion in royalties/taxes over 4 decades, while WA Premier Roger Cook says gas is an important “smoothing fuel” to transition from coal-fired power to renewables. But environmental scientists say it could lead to another 6 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, blowing out our climate goals.

Workin’ 9 to 5 - and then some…

'Work smarter, not harder' is the mantra, but new Productivity Commission (PC) figures show that since the pandemic, record numbers of Aussies are working longer hours, with less output. One of the big changes to come from the Covid-19 years is an increase in people working from home, but the PC reckons this isn’t the reason for the productivity slump, and that companies investing in tech and cutting red tape is the key to kickstart things. And while we’re working hard, Bureau of Stats figures out yesterday show we're also playing hard, which has got inflation watchers jittery. The April consumer price index (CPI), which measures the value of goods and services in Australia, came in slightly higher than expected due to "volatile items" like an uptick in holiday travel. Maybe we’re taking vacays because we're working so long and hard…?

A big night for the Blues

It might have been played on Queensland’s home turf, but it was all NSW in Game 1 of the men’s State of Origin series last night. It was a tight opening 25 minutes before the Blues scored this try through Zac Lomax, and they quickly followed up with 2 more from Brian To’o and Lomax again to take a big lead into half time. Despite opening the scoring in the second half, Queensland were never able to make it back into the contest and the Blues won 18-6. The win sets the Blues up nicely to take home the series for a second year in a row - the 2 teams will head to Perth for game 2 on 18 June, before playing the last game of the series in Sydney on 9 July. If you want to catch up on the action, we’ll pass you this handy highlights package.

R-I-D-I-C-U-L-O-U-S

… Is what’s (presumably) running through the minds of schoolkids taking part in the Scripps National Spelling Bee when they’re thrown curveballs in the form of geographical words… The US contest for young wordsmiths - running until tomorrow - is in its 100th year, and it’s brought out some feedback from the contestants. Number 1 on the complaints list are the obscure geographical terms that Scripps rolls out in later rounds. Think: Terre Haute and Abitibi… Avinav Prem Anand, a 14yo from Ohio, says they “can be super hard because … sometimes you don’t get a language of origin”. Scripps officials are standing firm - they say “all words listed in Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online” are fair game. If the kids are looking for s-y-m-p-a-t-h-y, it's somewhere between syllabub and syndactyly in the dictionary...

Apropos of Nothing

Aussie twin brothers Archie and Miles Shephard, who you may have seen on social media as Shepmates - have been going viral for years over their lip-synched recreations of big moments in sport commentary. They’ve now been interviewed by CNN, if you don’t mind, and they explain that it all started from being really bored during the pandemic…

A slightly embarrassing moment for US tennis player Coco Gauff as she rocked up to her French Open match with Aussie Olivia Gadecki without any tennis rackets. Once she’d found her equipment she had no trouble defeating Aussie Olivia Gadecki, who said a racket-less Gauff might have been her only chance of winning… 

Passengers on a US flight from Minneapolis to Madison got a new type of in-flight entertainment when 2 pigeons were found to have ended up onboard the aircraft. Baggage handlers were called on to help after passengers’ attempts to catch them failed, but it was a smooth flight after that…

Squiz the Day

10.00am (ACST) - The 2025 Santos Wheelchair Rugby World Challenge will get underway (until 1 June) - Adelaide 

10.00am (AEST) - The Tasmanian state budget will be released - with a cost blowout for the new stadium - Hobart

10.00am (AEST) - The statements of victims’ families will be heard during the Bondi Junction inquest - Sydney

7.45pm (AEST) - Rugby League: Game 3 of the Women’s State of Origins kicks off in Newcastle, watch it on 9Now

9.30pm (AEST) - Golf: The PGA Memorial Tournament gets underway in Ohio (until 1 June), part of the European Tour, watch it on Kayo

The Outback Car Trek, an 11-day charity drive for a couple of hundred motoring enthusiasts making their way through country NSW and Queensland to Cairns, begins - Bathurst, NSW

The launch of Vinnies Finds - a brand-new online platform where Australians can browse and shop donated second-hand items 

Wes Anderson’s new movie The Phoenecian Scheme, starring Benicio del Toro, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hanks, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Kate Winslet’s daughter Mia Threapleton, is due for release

Birthdays for musician Noel Gallagher (1967), Aussie TV personality Myf Warhurst (1974), singer Mel B (1975), actor Laverne Cox (1984)

Anniversary of :

  • the birthday of former US President John F Kennedy (1917)

  • Kiwi mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay becoming the first people confirmed to reach the summit of Mount Everest (1953)

  • Space Shuttle Discovery completing the first docking with the International Space Station (1999)

  • Transgender health issues no longer being classified as mental and behavioural disorders by the World Health Organization (2017)

  • WA premier Premier Mark McGowan resigning after more than 6 years in the top job (2023)

  • David Koch announcing his resignation from Channel 7's Sunrise show after 21 years of 3am starts (2023)