Tuesday, 22 September - O flower of Scotland

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 22 September. In your Squiz Today…

• PM Albanese takes our UN Security Council bid to New York

• AFL player Nick Daicos finally gets his Brownlow medal

• And a sheep-shearing legend… 🐑

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said wildlife manager Phillip Strachan of a super bloom of Sturt’s desert pea flowers in the South Oz Flinders Ranges, brought about by above-average rainfall. It’s not a comparison we hear often about the outback…

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The Squiz

PM Anthony Albanese officially launched Australia’s campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2029-30 yesterday, saying it’d give us more input into global decisions and influence over things impacting our way of life like cost of living and inflation. He’s in New York with other world leaders for the UN General Assembly this week - which he’ll formally address late tomorrow or early Thursday. And while some critics aren’t convinced the bid is in our national interest, the PM reckons middle powers like Oz need a seat at the table, saying: “Australia punches above our weight … and we can have an impact on the world”.

What’s the UN Security Council?

It’s a group of 15 countries inside the UN (a central body where nations work together to solve global problems) whose decisions bind all members. Five are permanent members - the US, France, China, Russia and the UK. They’re the victors of World War II, but if you’ve been following any world affairs, you’ll know they seem to have increasingly less in common… The other UN members share the other 10 seats. Seats last for 2 years, and 5 new members are elected every year. To get things done, the Council votes on resolutions - for example, peacekeeping missions or sanctions. But the permanent 5 have veto powers, so some don’t get up. Still, if you have a seat, you can put things on the agenda to be voted on, so it’d put us at the table with the big dogs.

And how do we go about it?

We’ll need two-thirds of the UN to vote for us - that’s around 130 countries, so it’s going to take some wheeling and dealing to drum up support. The vote doesn’t happen until June 2028, and in the meantime the government will tout our social media laws, along with our role in this year’s COP31 as evidence of our commitment to climate change and promoting regional voices. But critics have questioned whether the Council is effective, given the veto powers of the permanent 5. The PM fielded questions about that, as well as Labor’s falling poll numbers and the appointment of former News Corp head of broadcasting Siobhan McKenna - frequently described as Lachlan Murdoch’s ‘right-hand person’ - as the next Consul-General in New York. The Murdoch press hasn’t exactly been a friend to Labor, so it was considered a surprise, but the PM said McKenna’s appointment was made on merit.

More’s possible with Google AI

We're big fans of pub trivia at the Squiz, and we know many of you are too. But for the millions of Australians with hearing loss, trying to distinguish the quizmaster from the noise of the pub and joining in can be difficult. Traditional hearing aids don’t isolate sound, they just turn up the volume on everything. That’s why researchers are using Google AI to help hearing devices better isolate sound, just like the human ear, and restore those vital connections. When medical research joins forces with Google AI - more's possible.

Squiz the Rest

A former police officer goes on trial for murder

Beau Lamarre-Condon, the man accused of killing Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, has pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court to 2 counts of domestic violence-related murder and one of aggravated break and enter. The search for the couple who vanished in February 2024 made national headlines at the time and shocked the LGBTQ community. It’s alleged Lamarre-Condon fatally shot the men in Baird’s inner-city terrace in Paddington and hid their bodies 200km away in a rural area in Bungonia. The jury heard Lamarre-Condon had an "obsessive and jealous infatuation" with Baird, a Channel Ten TV presenter, who he was romantically involved with in the past. The trial is likely to hear from dozens of witnesses, and it’s expected to run for 3 months.

A media standoff in the US

Tensions between the Trump administration and the media are nothing new, but they’ve gone to a new level after 3 outlets - CNN, MS Now, and Politico - were banned from covering the White House. President Donald Trump announced the ban late last week, and yesterday, the 3 outlets sued the White House to be allowed access again. And because of the ban, the 5 major US TV networks announced overnight that they would suspend their pool coverage (that’s coverage the networks share with each other to save resources) of the President indefinitely. And that includes Fox News, the generally Trump-friendly outlet that he appears on regularly. The lawsuit could be heard as early as this week, so you’ll be hearing more about it.

There are concerns that EVs can spy on us

More of us are driving electric vehicles, but a new ABC investigation has found that some models’ software can be hacked, and their cameras and microphones make them capable of recording what we’re up to. You might remember back in 2023, the Federal Government removed a heap of Chinese-made CCTV cameras from its buildings over national security concerns - and some reckon that EVs need better regulation for the same reason. This is on Team Albanese’s radar - it says restrictions are already in place, but it’s considering new laws to better protect EV users. ASIO has already warned ministers and public servants against having sensitive conversations in smart cars, and the Oz Privacy Commissioner is currently looking into 2 manufacturers (Toyota and Hyundai) over potential breaches - that report is due in a few months.

It was finally his Daicos

Collingwood’s Nick Daicos won the AFL’s Brownlow Medal last night - the award for the fairest and best player on the men’s Aussie Rules competition. The Brownlow is the most prestigious award in the game, and it works like this: after each match, umpires give out 3, 2 and 1 votes to the players they think played the best. The player with the most votes for the season wins - as long as they haven’t been suspended for doing something dodgy. Despite being the bookies’ favourite to win 4 years in a row, this was Daicos’ first award - the son of former Collingwood star forward Peter Daicos polled 47 votes, the most in the history of the count. Given it’s been running since 1924, that’s no mean feat. Oh, and here’s a gallery of all the red carpet looks.

A woolly good shearer

That’d be NSW woman Nicki Guttler, who recently took out 2 open shearing titles on the same day - and she’s thought to be the first woman in the world to do it. Sports shearing is where shearers compete to be the most accurate in the fastest time. It’s typically male-dominated, but the 32yo came back from injury to win both the open machine and open blade events at the Forbes Show just over a week ago. They say shearing is back-breaking work, and Guttler knows all about that - she’s recovered from bulging discs in her lower back, and a few months ago, she says she struggled just to put socks on. But after taking up her clippers again, she says she hopes her win will carve a path for girls in the sport to be seen as “an equal shearer who is more than capable of holding their own”.

Apropos of Nothing

Sticking with competition winners, the black robin has taken out this year’s Bird of the Year poll in New Zealand. Don’t call it a comeback - the ‘goth’ of the bird world was on the verge of extinction in the 1970s, and now it’s top of the pops.

A wildlife centre in Mississippi runs something called raccoon boot camp, where it teaches baby raccoons who have been separated from their mothers survival skills for the wild. It’s a serious challenge, so we’re trying not to imagine the raccoons in tiny army fatigues…

And as Los Angeles gets bigger and the outer suburbs get closer to nearby forests, humans and the bears that live in the forests are learning to coexist. Just everyone be careful not to leave any porridge out…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEST) - First public hearing of the Senate inquiry into AI and data centre regulatory frameworks - Sydney 

9.00am (AEST) - Acting PM and Defence Minister Richard Marles and Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Stephen Chappell will mark a series of significant capability milestones - RAAF Base Edinburgh, South Oz

1.10pm (AEST) - RBA Governor Michele Bullock to discuss Australia's economic outlook at CEDA event - Sydney 

2.00pm (AEST) - Cricket: Men's One Day Cup Queensland v NSW - Albion, watch on Kayo 

5.00pm (AEST) - Aussie Rules: the AFL tribunal is set to sit as Brisbane Lions player Lachie Neale attempts to overturn his one-game ban to play in the Grand Final

6.00pm (AEST) - Australian Women's Film Festival opening night - Sydney 

State leaders expected to arrive at the UN 81st General Assembly, and the Annual General Debate starts at the UN (until 28 September) - New York City

ABS data release: migrant settlement outcomes, 2026

The late Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, is publishing Swan Song: Diana, My Sister in the UK

Milan Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2027 begins (until 28 September)

100 days until the end of the year...

World Car-Free Day

World Rhino Day 🦏

Hobbit Day - marking the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins 

Birthdays for Aussie singer Nick Cave (1957) and singer Joan Jett (1958)

Anniversary of:

• the last executions of the Salem Witch Trials (1692)

• Robert Walpole becoming the first British PM to live at 10 Downing Street (1735)

• the first edition of National Geographic magazine being published (1888) 

• the debut of TV shows Charlie's Angels (1976), Baywatch (1989), Friends (1994), The West Wing (1999) and Lost (2004)

• the death of author Dame Hilary Mantel (2022) 

Wednesday 

2.00am (AEST) - Fat Bear Week begins (until 29 September) 

4.00am (AEST) - Vogue World: Milano, watch the livestream here

4.00am (AEST) - The Booker Prize shortlist will be announced

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