Tuesday, 25 August - Under the sea

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 25 August. In your Squiz Today…

• A case involving 3 Sydney teenagers will be in children’s court today over sexual assault allegations

• Scientists are rolling back the clock on the Great Barrier Reef

• And some schools are cracking down on Book Week costumes… 📚

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

Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

Said Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha after smashing the half marathon record, bagging a time of 56 minutes and 51 seconds at a race in Buenos Aires. He celebrated by eating Argentinian meat, going to the footy and kissing his runners… Rather him than us after 21 kilometres…

Gendered violence in the spotlight

The Squiz

The issue will be generating more headlines today, with 3 students at Sydney private school The Scots College due to face children’s court over allegations of sexual assault against a 14yo girl. Last week, 2 other 17yo schoolboys from St Gregory’s College in Sydney’s southwest were charged, along with another 17yo boy, with raping a 17yo girl. Those 2 stories are part of a series of recent alleged attacks in the news, which has renewed debate about the levels of violence against women in Oz - as well as the cultures fostered in our schools…

Wind it back a bit…

Reports say the incident allegedly involving the Scots College students happened in a Bondi laneway on 22 July. The 2 14yos and one 13yo are accused of aggravated sexual assault in company and aggravated sexual touching. Police say they’ve taken a number of electronic devices into evidence, and during a search of the boys’ homes, 2 replica guns, a Glock-style BB gun and 3 laser pointers were seized. In the days following the alleged attack, Scots College Principal Dr Ian Lambert commented that it happened “away from the College and outside school hours”. He was criticised for trying to distance the school, and in the days since, parents and former students have alleged that the school has a toxic culture when it comes to attitudes towards women.

Has he said anything else since?

He has - on Sunday evening he sent an email to parents saying that “sexual violence is never acceptable” (paywall) and that “behaviour of the kind alleged is abhorrent and entirely inconsistent” with the school’s standards and values. And former lawyer Louise Clegg - who is married to Coalition leader Angus Taylor - came to the school’s defence yesterday, arguing that parents should take on more responsibility for their children’s actions. But the 2 incidents have put education around consent back at the forefront of public debate. Teach Us Consent founder Chanel Contos says the issue of teenagers committing sexual assaults is a growing problem - and we need to look at their social media algorithms and exposure to online pornography as a possible reason.
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Squiz the Rest

Iran’s economy takes a dive…

…as the impact of the country’s ongoing war with the US and Israel continues to bite. Iran’s currency is the rial, and it was already in strife before the war began on 28 February thanks to struggles with inflation. Earlier this year, one US dollar was worth around 1.5 million rial - now it’s worth 2.02 million, meaning the rial is worth less and less with every passing day. And it’s likely to get worse - this morning, the US has threatened new sanctions on Iran, as well as on countries that refuse to cut economic ties with it. The move is designed to put more economic pressure on Iran to get it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil trade, but some experts don’t think it’ll make much difference. Iran has promised to retaliate and says its “hands are not tied.”

CFMEU raided in Melbourne

Five people were arrested yesterday after Victoria Police raided 6 Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union offices, as part of an investigation into alleged corruption on the state’s construction sites. Reports say 2 men were arrested on drug possession and firearm possession charges, and the 3 others were released, and a bunch of cars, devices and some drugs got seized. Police have been looking into claims the sector has been infiltrated by bikie gangs and criminals since 2024, including on projects that are taxpayer-funded. This is something Premier Ben Carroll wants to get to the bottom of - the first thing he did when he took the role last month was announce a Royal Commission, which will start before the upcoming state election in November, and report its findings by next August.
*If you want a refresher on what’s going on in the Victorian construction industry - you can check out our Squiz Shortcut here

KPMG cuts hundreds of jobs in Oz

The accounting firm - one of our big 4 - is axing around 5% of its local workforce after an auditing scandal cost it lucrative corporate and government contracts. The company has been at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry since June after a whistleblower claimed that senior staff misused the confidential data of clients including Lendlease and Optus to win more contracts. He also claimed he was mistreated after coming forward. In the fallout, the CEO Andrew Yates and chair Martin Sheppard left the firm, along with at least 6 other senior execs. Yesterday, KPMG announced it’s cutting 27 partners and 360 roles in a restructure after its revenue fell by 1% from the previous year (to $2.26 billion…). Chief executive John Sams says “the changes … are an important step in the longer work of renewing and rebuilding our firm”.

Mapping a sea change

Scientists and Indigenous Rangers off the coast of Queensland are turning back the clock on the Great Barrier Reef to figure out how it might’ve looked when it was still dry land… Some 65,000 years ago, the area that became the Great Barrier Reef may have been anything from grasslands to swamps to rainforests - but by studying the layers of sediments on the sea floor, researchers are hoping to be able to generate a full map of what it looked like. And traditional knowledge from Aboriginal cultural stories is an important part of the puzzle - traditional owner groups have shared stories of ancestors crossing the land on foot before sea levels rose. The research won’t be ready anytime soon, but what’s another year after thousands under sea…

Do not wear this look…

Book Week is currently underway around Oz, and if finding an appropriate costume for your kids wasn’t already a tricky prospect, some schools have banned certain outfits. A Christian school in Queensland has ruled out wizards, witches and uh, zombies, while another school in South Oz has banned characters from fan fiction (where fans of certain books write their own stories using the same characters). And the rules don’t stop there - other schools have been very clear that you also can’t come dressed as a character from a movie and call it a day (unless that movie is based on a book). Cue lots of desperate kids trying to prove that Minecraft was somehow based on a book…
*PSA: If you think you’ve nailed it, Squiz Kids is offering up prizes for the best Book Week costumes - send them your finest work at [email protected] and you might be featured on their Instagram…

Apropos of Nothing

Squiz HQ has kept tabs on our favourite blonde, Norwegian football player Erling Haaland, who has decided to give his luscious locks the chop. He posted his new lewk on Instagram, saying “Short hair don’t care” - never change, Erling… 

He swore he’d stumped up a king’s ransom for a rare taxidermied head of a Tasmanian Tiger (and not, as it was initially sold, a fox) - and X-rays have now vindicated UK collector James Cranfield, showing his googly-eyed specimen is indeed an extinct thylacine.

And if you’re in need of some wedding inspo, English comedian and actor Emily Atack tied the knot over the weekend, with a custom Maccas van that served guests McFlurries. Things that make you go hmmmm...

Squiz the Day

9.30am (AEST) - First mention in children's court for the 3 Scots College schoolboys charged with sexual assault offences - Sydney 

10.15am (AEST) - Interlocutory hearing in the ACCC's case against Coles, which is likely to include a hearing date being set for penalties - Melbourne 

11.30am (AEST) - The Reserve Bank will release its board meeting minutes for its August rate-setting meeting 

1.00pm (AEST) - A memorial for the 2 police officers killed by Dezi Freeman, Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart will be held at Wangaratta police station ahead of the first anniversary of their deaths. A second memorial will be held tomorrow in Bright on the one-year anniversary - Wangaratta, Victoria

5.30pm (AEST) - PM Anthony Albanese will deliver the keynote address at the Business Council of Australia annual dinner - Sydney 

6.30pm (AEST) - AFL Awards Night, the Rising Star Award and AFL MVP will be presented - Melbourne, watch on Kayo 

Coles full-year financial results released 

Woodside half-year financial results released 

The Australian Democracy Network is set to release its federal lobbying system research 

🏄 Surfing: WSL Championship Tour Fiji Pro competition (until 4 September) - Fiji, watch on 7Plus 

Australian South Sea Islanders National Recognition Day 

Uruguay’s National Day

Birthdays for Kiss muso Gene Simmons (1949), writer Martin Amis (1949), director Tim Burton (1958), country singer Billy Ray Cyrus (1961), actor Alexander Skarsgård (1976), and actor Blake Lively (1987)

Anniversary of:

• Englishwoman Alicia Thornton becoming the first female jockey (1804)

• Matthew Webb becoming the first person to swim across the English Channel (1875) 

• the birthday of James Bond actor Sean Connery (1930) 

• the liberation of Paris by Allied forces after four years of Nazi occupation (1944)

• the release of the first package of pre-cooked instant noodles by Momofuku Ando (1958)

• the deaths of Friedrich Nietzsche (1900), Truman Capote (1984), singer Aaliyah (2001), Neil Armstrong (2012) and John McCain (2018)

• The Voyager 1, which was launched in 1977, became the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space (2012)

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