Thursday, 30 July - I'm leavin' on a jet plane

July 30, 2026

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 30 July. In your Squiz Today…

  • An end to discounted fuel prices

  • The Aussie gold rush continues at the Commonwealth Games

  • And a record breaking flight… ✈️

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"I think I could have done more if I had let them cool down longer, but [I'm] just happy to have the record."

Said Nathan Davies, the new Guinness World record holder for the most fish fingers snaffled in one minute. Apparently the tasty snack is his kids’ favourite, but we hope they guzzle them at a more moderate pace…

The fuel discount runs out

The Squiz

After 4 months, the fuel discount cushioning Aussie drivers from steep petrol and diesel price rises is set to end on Sunday. The government brought it in on 1 April, initially saving drivers 32c a litre. It was extended at the beginning of the month at a rate of 16c a litre, but even though the conflict between the US and Iran has kicked off again (and expanded, with Saudi Arabia getting involved this morning), Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it was “never the government’s intention” to make it permanent. So, from next Monday, drivers will once again pay full freight.

What’s the damage?

Oil prices have risen globally - and here in Oz, petrol is back over $2 a litre in some areas. Last week the price of Brent Crude (remember how the Brent oil field is named after a bird?…) climbed over US$100 a barrel; yesterday it was around US$88, so prices are still fluctuating. But the outlook locally isn’t great - with the Strait of Hormuz remaining blocked, we’re still having to look elsewhere (and pay more) for fuel wherever we can source it from. In the interim, drivers can expect to pay around 17.5c a litre more for fuel, adding about $10 to the bill to fill up a family-sized car. The upshot: you may encounter queues at petrol stations ahead of Monday. So as that news goes down with your morning coffee, let’s turn now to yesterday’s inflation numbers…

Hit me…

The Bureau of Stats released data yesterday for the 12 months to June, showing headline inflation has dropped to 3.8% from 4% in May. Experts are putting that down to - you’ll never guess - the lower cost of fuel and the fuel discount. But the Reserve Bank is mainly focused on underlying inflation, which stayed at 3.6% (higher than the target range of 2-3%...). To bring it in line, RBA Governor Michele Bullock says the bank is prepared to “act as required … including by increasing the cash rate further if needed”. Economists were predicting inflation would rise, so yesterday’s “cooler” figures have some saying the RBA will likely hold rates; others disagree, saying the ongoing war and a rise in minimum wages could keep inflation sticky, meaning another rise is on the cards. Either way, we’ll find out when the RBA meets again on 11 August…

Starting an important conversation

Talking about money is personal for many, and in cases of financial abuse, it can leave people feeling especially isolated... It also often exists alongside other forms of abuse, making those situations even harder to identify and navigate. That’s why speaking about it is important, to understand the signs and learn more about support available - whether it’s for yourself or someone you care about. CommBank’s Next Chapter program offers free support, even if you don’t bank with them.

Squiz the Rest

A tragic search in South Oz is called off

Police involved in the 3-day search for a 3mo baby boy in the ocean off the coast of Port MacDonnell called it off yesterday afternoon after it was deemed the child could not have survived. His 36yo mother and 23mo sister, from Compton near Mount Gambier in the state’s east, were found dead in the water on Monday, but the baby hasn’t been found. Reports say the mother went to Mount Gambier police station on Sunday night and spoke with officers. They did a welfare check the next day but say no one was home; later, her car was found abandoned near the coast with its engine still running. The case is now being treated as a murder-suicide and it’ll be referred to the state Coroner. Although the formal search for the baby has stopped, police say the area will continue to be monitored over the coming days.
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When the group chat makes headlines

Coalition leader Angus Taylor was in the hot seat yesterday after being named in a NSW inquiry into alleged corruption. You might’ve seen that ICAC is looking at payments to a group of Liberals called “the reformers” set up to boost conservative numbers in the NSW Liberal party. At issue is whether they took undeclared, banned or over-cap donations (all political no-nos…). There’s a lot to this one, but the inquiry heard that Taylor was targeted for funding and was named in a group chat as committing to a “$15k injection plus a $3k monthly donation”. He’s denied it, saying he’s “not a party to the proceedings” and adding “no payment was made”. The inquiry is running for 8 weeks so this may not be the last we hear about it…

A plan falls behind

We’re now 5 years away from Oz’s deadline to Close the Gap by 2031, and things are not going well - a report yesterday shows that we’re only meeting one of our 19 targets. Closing the Gap is an effort to reduce disadvantage amongst Indigenous Australians, and it tracks rates of things like adult imprisonment, healthy birthweights and life expectancy to see how we’re doing. According to the Productivity Commission, only one measure is hitting its target (pre-school enrolment), with a few others like employment and life expectancy improving. But others - like suicide rates and children in out of home care - are getting worse. With the Garma Festival (our biggest Indigenous gathering) set to begin tomorrow, Productivity Commissioner Selwyn Button says unless something changes, the gap is only going to get wider.

Raining gold in Glasgow

Aussie athletes have picked up the baton (ha) from our swimmers at the Commonwealth Games, with records being broken all over a rainy Glasgow… High jumper Eleanor Patterson and Nicola Olyslagers dominated the high jump, taking gold and silver respectively as Patterson set a Comm Games record for the event. Speaking of records, Lachie Kennedy and Torrie Lewis both broke the Australian mark while winning silver and bronze respectively in the 100m sprint. This morning, our 3x3 men’s wheelchair basketball team defeated England to win another gold - at last count, we now have 44 - that’s more than the next 3 countries on the medal table (Canada, England and Scotland) combined…

Come fly (real far) with me

Oz airline Qantas has broken a record for the longest-ever flight by a commercial plane - lasting 24 hours and 24 minutes… It flew direct from Melbourne to Toulouse in the south of France. The specially built A350 aircraft is part of the Project Sunrise fleet that will be flying nonstop from Oz to London from next year. If you’re wondering how it stays in the sky so long - it has an extra 20,000-litre fuel tank. Airbus Test Pilot, Xavier Pepin captained the flight and said the 5 pilots on board did staggered shifts of 4 hours at a time to manage fatigue. A heap of people were following the flight - Flightradar24 says its most-tracked flight ever was a 2022 flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin…and this trip came in second after that.

Apropos of Nothing

UK scientists have been breeding a type of snail that was close to going extinct. They live on a Portuguese island, but conditions were getting so gnarly only 20 of the little guys were left. Now 300 newbies have been set free and are zooming about (slowly), living their best lives…

A man has been jailed in Italy for charging tourists $65 a pop to see the world’s first open-air amphitheatre in the country’s north-east, claiming it was built around 393AD. Trouble is, he built it himself around 20 years ago - as satellite images used to convict him showed.

And a drone has captured this incredible footage of a humpback whale giving birth to a calf in the ocean near Kingscliff on the NSW North Coast. The rare sighting is believed to be the first whale birth ever filmed by a drone, and it all looks to have gone swimmingly.

Squiz the Day

8.40am (AEST) - RBA Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter will speak at a fireside chat at the Barrenjoey Economics Forum - Sydney 

9.00am (AEST) - The public hearings into the federal government’s planned changes to the NDIS will resume - Canberra

Beforepay Group Q4 update

Resolute Mining Q4 update

Festival of Nursing 2026 (until 1 August) - Melbourne

Melbourne’s Rare Book Fair (until 1 August) - Melbourne

ABS data release: building approvals, June 2026; international trade price indexes, Australia, June 2026; deaths due to acute respiratory infections in Australia, June 2026

Spider-Man: Brand New Day is released in Australian cinemas 

Vanuatu’s Independence Day 

National Cheesecake Day

⛰️ National Climb a Mountain Day

Birthdays for actor Arnold Schwarzenegger (1947), singer Kate Bush (1958), actor Simon Baker (1969), director of the moment Christopher Nolan (1970), and actor Yvonne Strahovski (1982)

Anniversary of:

• the birthdays of Emily Brontë (1818) and Henry Ford (1863)

• the first FIFA World Cup Final which saw Uruguay beat Argentina 4-2 (1930)

• the publication of the first Penguin book, starting the paperback revolution (1935)

• the sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the deaths of 880 crew. Many were attacked by sharks, inspiring the 1975 movie Jaws (1945)