Thursday, 5 June - Sweet dreams are made of this

June 05, 2025

Good morning, it’s Thursday, 5 June. In your Squiz Today…

  • Tasmanians could be in for another election

  • Erin Patterson gives her account of preparing that fatal mushroom lunch

  • And the search is on for a famous missing guitar…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“We have chosen a new path - one that puts people above parties.”

Said independent Nicolette Boele after claiming the Sydney seat of Bradfield over Liberal Gisele Kapterian by 26 votes - out of around 112,000 - following a recount. The Liberal Party is deciding if it’s going to take the result to court, so we might get a re-recount… 

Upsetting the applecart in Tassie

The Squiz

Good news for Tassie readers who just can’t get enough of voting… you might be headed back to the polls just over a year since the last state election. Today, the Tasmanian parliament will have a second day of debating a no-confidence motion brought against Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff by Labor leader Dean Winter. If the motion is successful - and going by the numbers, it will be - Rockliff has to either resign or call an election. He says he’ll plump for Option B… 

How did we get here?

There’s a bit of backstory, so buckle up… back in May, the Greens moved their own no-confidence motion over the government’s management of a new sports stadium at Macquarie Point, which is going to cost more than it thought. Labor didn’t support the Greens motion at the time, so it didn’t get up. But last week, the government’s state budget forecast that state debt would be $10.8 billion a few years from now, and that prompted Labor to put up their own no-confidence vote. While Winter’s motion doesn’t include the stadium - he and Labor still support it - he has called out Rockliff’s financial management, his privatisation plans and the troubled rollout of 2 new “Spirit of Tasmania” ferries as 3 major reasons the Premier should step down.  

What happens next?

The lower house spent 9 hours on this yesterday before calling it a day - they’ll pick things up again this morning. As it stands, Rockliff’s Liberal Party has 14 of the 35 seats in the lower house - it governs with the support of some independents. But with Labor, the Greens and 3 independents backing this no-confidence vote, Rockliff’s in trouble. He’ll ask the Governor for an early election, but Winter says he should step down to avoid that, or his party members should replace him as Premier. And for footy fans worried about the future of the new Tassie Devils AFL/W sides (which depend on that stadium being built), you’re not the only ones… Devils spokesperson Kath McCann said it’s an “unprecedented level of uncertainty for the club”. We hope the team mascot Rum’un is doing okay… 

Sweet dreams are made of this

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Squiz the Rest

Gaza’s aid problems continue

A week after the Israeli/US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) launched, its aid distribution centres in Gaza were closed yesterday for “update, organisation and efficiency improvement”. At the same time, the Israeli military (IDF) banned people from travelling on the roads leading to the aid centres, calling them “combat zones”. That followed 3 days of deadly incidents near the sites, with at least 27 Palestinians killed on Tuesday. Atef Al-Hout, a Khan Younis hospital director, said Israeli forces had opened fire on “crowds of civilians waiting for aid in western Rafah”. In a statement, the IDF said its troops had fired shots after identifying suspects who moved towards them “deviating from the designated access routes”. The United Nations is calling for an investigation.

…And while there’s no word on whether ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas have progressed, over in the US, President Donald Trump has had another phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the Russia/Ukraine war. Afterwards, Trump said Putin vowed Russia would respond to a recent Ukrainian attack on its fighter jets, and while “it was a good conversation [it was] not a conversation that will lead to immediate Peace”.

Details of a deadly lunch…

Erin Patterson was in the witness box again yesterday to give her account of what happened before and after the lunch that left her in-laws, Don and Gail, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, dead. Patterson’s accused of murdering the trio, and attempting to murder Heather’s husband Ian by serving them beef Wellington laced with toxic death cap mushrooms - charges she denies. Yesterday, she told the jury that she “possibly” added mushrooms she’d foraged herself because the dish tasted “bland” - and that she didn’t finish her portion, but threw up later after eating two-thirds of a cake. Patterson also recounted a conversation with her estranged husband Simon shortly after the lunch, where he asked her if she had poisoned his parents - which he denies. The trial continues today, with Patterson back to give more evidence.

Weathering a slowdown

Australia’s known as a land of extremes, but this year, our weather highs and lows - combined with less consumer spending - have been battering the economy… New numbers from the Bureau of Stats show economic growth slowed in the 3 months to March, rising 0.2% - down from 0.6% in the previous quarter. It's lower than expected, so the economy needs to play catch-up to meet the 2.1% Gross Domestic Product (the value of everything we produce) growth that the Reserve Bank set as our target by the end of 2025. Economist David Bassanese says “special factors” like extreme weather account for some of the “softness”, but “underlying consumer spending and business investment [also] remains relatively subdued”. Here’s a handy explainer on it all - and why it spells good news for mortgage holders…

Making some serious Ninten-dough

It’s a big day in the gaming world, as the Nintendo Switch 2 is out in Aussie stores… if you can find one. The original Switch was a hand-held device (think a high-powered Gameboy…) that could also be plugged into the TV to be used like a regular gaming console. It quickly became one of the biggest-selling consoles of all time when it came out in 2017, so there’s a fair bit of excitement around its successor. It’ll set you or the gamer in your life back a cool $700 on launch, and the big game launching with it is Mario Kart World, which will add another $109 bucks to the deal if you’re keen on firing some tortoise shells at your friends and relatives. So if you’re at the shops today and you see some sizable queues, this might be why… 

Johnny B. Gone

It’s the 40th anniversary of 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, and to mark the occasion, there’s a big search on for one of the film’s iconic props. Youmight remember the scene where Marty McFly - played by Michael J. Fox - plays The Penguins track Earth Angel and the Chuck Berry classic Johnny B. Goode at a high school dance. It’s a classic musical movie moment, which you can relive here. The stylish red guitar Marty is playing in the scene is a Cherry Red Gibson 1985, and it’s been missing ever since… When the sequel was being made in 1989, producers couldn’t find it, and no one ever has. Now Gibson has launched a campaign asking people to help - if it’s in your garage, here’s the website…

Apropos of Nothing

A TikTok trend where men call their friends just to say goodnight has taken off, and while it’s generating lots of lolz, mental health experts say it’s shining an important spotlight on the need for blokes to show vulnerability and maintain platonic friendships. What a sweet dream… none of our mates are picking up after 9pm.

There’s an interesting exhibit on display at the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of the Netherlands… A 200yo condom. The centuries-old method of protection might have been made from a sheep’s appendix, and is part of a new exhibition on safe sex. It’s also got some, uh, thematically appropriate art on it. That’ll be a popular exhibit…

And while we’re on cheeky things to look at, a population of sulphur-crested cockatoos in Sydney’s west have worked out how to use an urban bubbler. A new study found the birds are able to twist the handle and drink in over 40% of attempts. And that’s another reason why they’re banned from the pub…

Squiz the Day

11.00am (AEST) - Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games organisers will provide an update - Gold Coast

12.00pm (AEST) - Brittany Higgins will speak at the fourth 'Conversations that Matter' event hosted by the Give Where You Live Foundation - Geelong

4.00pm (AEST) - The Federal Court will deliver a judgment on a class action case over the government’s live cattle export ban, 5 years after it first went to court - Sydney

9.00pm (AEST) - Soccer: The Socceroos will play Japan in Round 3 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Asian Qualifiers - Perth, watch on 10Play

ABS Data Release - International Trade in Goods, April 2025; Monthly Household Spending Indicator, April 2025

Burundi is set to hold legislative elections for its National Assembly

Dark Mofo begins in Hobart (until 21 June)

Veggie Burger Day

Birthdays for actor Mark Wahlberg (1971) and model Lara Worthington (1987)

Anniversary of:

  • the assassination of Robert F Kennedy (1968)

  • the official beginning of the AIDS epidemic (1981)

  • the deaths of Ronald Reagan (2004) and Kate Spade (2018)

  • Kathleen Folbigg walking free from 20 years in prison after an inquiry found that her children could have died from natural causes (2023)