Tuesday, 4 November - Concrete jungle where dreams are made

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 4 November. In your Squiz Today…

• Optus bosses cop a grilling at a Senate inquiry into the triple-0 outage

• The Liberals face a big decision on net zero

• And giddy up, it’s Melbourne Cup Day… 🏇🏻 

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Squiz Sayings

Is what Western Sydney University Vice Chancellor, Professor George Williams, is often asked by students as he walks around campus. The VC says he took to the app to engage with students on their terms, and his live sessions (which might include dancing or the odd headstand…) are joined by thousands of them. Like.

Optus cops a grilling

The Squiz

The heads of our second-largest telco have admitted to “mistakes” during and in the aftermath of September’s deadly triple-0 outages… Optus CEO Stephen Rue and Chairman John Arthur were in the hot seat yesterday for the first day of a Senate inquiry into the catastrophic failure that left 3 people dead. The key thing we learned was that, once the outage was identified, Optus held 11 crisis meetings before telling the government about the deaths. Rue said that there were “aspects” of how the company communicated that should have been “handled better”, and Arthur went further, saying an investigation found “10 mistakes” were made - but he wouldn’t say whether or not the law had been broken.

Remind me what happened…

The outage, on 18-19 September, was caused by human error. Engineers in Australia and Chennai were carrying out routine maintenance and missed a critical step in diverting emergency calls away from the part of the network being upgraded. As a result, about 600 emergency calls failed in South Oz, Western Oz, the Northern Territory and NSW - with reports later confirming 3 people who had tried to get through to triple-0 had died. From the jump, Optus copped flak for delays in reporting the incident to authorities - so yesterday’s revelations added to that. It’s also not the telco’s only drama in recent years… In 2022, it suffered a massive cyberattack, and in 2023, there was another major network outage - some of the recommendations from which are yet to be carried out.

So what’s this inquiry about?

You can read up on that here - it’ll get into what caused the outage, a timeline of events, the impact on customers, and Optus’s response, including whether it complied with the law. The Coalition’s also pushing for Communications Minister Anika Wells and ACMA, our comms regulator, to front up… Liberal Senator Sarah Henderson said they need to explain why new rules around the triple-0 system weren’t enacted sooner. For her part, Wells says, in addition to legislation for a custodian to oversee the emergency calls system being passed last Tuesday, she’ll be “bringing more laws to the parliament later this week”. And there are still calls for heads to roll - but for now, Optus is sticking by Rue. So there’s a bit to play out before the inquiry report is due in February…

Your very specific coffee order done right

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Squiz the Rest

Start spreading the news… 

…because you’ll be seeing a fair bit about New York’s high-profile mayoral election tonight, which could have a big impact on US politics. The front-runner is left-wing Democrat Zohran Mamdani, who has upset the odds with his platform, which includes free buses, childcare and raising the minimum wage. His major opponent is Independent (former Democratic) Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 following a series of sexual harassment scandals. It’s a race being closely watched by federal Democrats, as they assess whether Mamdani’s progressiveness or Cuomo’s more establishment approach is their best shot of challenging Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. Voting starts at 10pm AEDT tonight in the city that never sleeps…
*For more on the rise of Zohran Mamdani, check out our Ask The Squiz episode on him - and we’ve got another episode coming this week, so if you’ve got any questions about the news, hit us up at [email protected]…

A zero sum game

The Coalition’s internal battle over net zero continues, with reports yesterday that leader Sussan Ley is now leaning towards following the Nationals’ lead by dumping the commitment as Liberal policy. Sticking with net zero might split the Coalition (again), and several members of Ley’s leadership team reportedly spoke at a party meeting on Sunday night and argued in favour of changing tack - which may have swayed the party leader. Whichever way the party goes, we’ll find out soon - the Liberals are said to be making their final call within the fortnight. Adding to the delicate situation for Ley’s leadership, yesterday’s Newspoll set a couple of concerning records for her - a new low for the Coalition’s primary vote (24%), and an all-time high for the One Nation vote (15%). It’s tough at the top… 

A long road to recovery

It’s been almost 5 months since the Air India plane crash that killed 241 people in June - and this week, the sole survivor has spoken to 60 Minutes… Viswashkumar Ramesh was sitting next to his brother, Ajay, when the plane took off from Ahmedabad, in western India, for London. It crashed 32 seconds later, with Ramesh the only one to walk away. He says the aftermath has been “painful” and “very difficult” mentally and physically, suffering PTSD while also grieving his brother. Air India still hasn’t said who or what is to blame - despite an early report finding the plane’s fuel switches were cut. It’s left Ramesh with more questions than answers, and he’s pushing to meet with the airline’s CEO. Air India says supporting him and victims’ families is its “absolute priority”, but hasn’t agreed to meet him yet.

And they’re off… 

As if productivity wasn’t enough of an issue in Oz at the moment, expect a dip around 3pm AEDT today as the Melbourne Cup does its nation-stopping thing once again. Though many Aussies will be boycotting the race, with Nup to the Cup events planned around the country, it saw a bump in TV ratings last year and remains one of the biggest horse races in the world. The race is run over 3200m at Flemington Racetrack - there are 24 horses/jockeys competing and among the favourites are #1 Al Riffa, #14 Half Yours and #5 Presage Nocturne. It’s forecast to be a soggy day in Melbs, which may be handy info when considering frocks/bets - speaking of which, here’s the sweep. But if predicting today’s interest rate decision is more your speed, here are those odds…

This year’s New York Marathon was a thriller…

…with Kenyan runner Benson Kipruto winning the race by a minuscule 0.03 seconds over fellow Kenyan Alexander Mutiso yesterday morning, Oz time. After 2 hours, 8 minutes and 9 seconds of hard slog through the streets of the Big Apple, a photo finish was needed to split the 2 men, with Kiputo taking out his fourth marathon title. In the women's event, it was Kenya again - Hellen Obiri, who got the bronze at the Paris Olympics last year, won her second New York Marathon in 3 years with a time of 2:19:51, the best ever time in that event. In the wheelchair division, it was Switzerland's Marcel Hug who claimed the men's title - his seventh win - and American Susannah Scaroni won her third women's title. Here's a gallery of the event - we’re tired just reading about it…

Apropos of Nothing

After defeating Australia in the semi-final, India’s women’s cricket team went one better in the ODI World Cup, beating South Africa to win the tournament in front of a home crowd of 45,000 jubilant fans, in a final the BBC called a “match for the ages”... 

Manchester City’s superstar striker Erling Haaland tried to play some pranks on local Manchester stores by going ‘undercover’ as Batman villain the Joker - sadly for him, most recognised him immediately. When you're that famous, no disguise will do… 

Also not doing a great job of hiding was this rare white Iberian lynx, photographed in Spain. How the female came to have her snowy coat isn’t clear, but one thing scientists agree on is that the population of the species is recovering after decades of conservation programs…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - The 3-day Indo-Pacific International Maritime exposition begins at the International Convention Centre - Sydney 

11.30am (AEDT) - 2025 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate, Judge Navi Pillay, will address the National Press Club of Australia to discuss Women, Peace and Justice - Canberra 

2.30pm (AEDT) - Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock will deliver the bank’s latest interest rate decision after the board’s 2-day meeting - Sydney 

3.00pm (AEDT) - Horse racing: It’s go time for the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse - Melbourne, watch on Channel Nine

6.00pm (AEDT) - ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess will deliver the keynote address at the annual Lowy Lecture at Town Hall - Sydney

10.00pm (AEDT) - Voting in the 2025 NYC mayoral election opens, with current polls putting Democrat candidate Zohran Mamdani in the lead - New York City, US 

Patti Smith's new memoir, Bread of Angels, will be released 

California Governor Gavin Newsom will hold a special election to vote on redrawing the state’s electoral maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections

🇹🇴 Tonga’s National Day 

Roast Dinner Day in the UK

Birthdays for former PM Tony Abbott (1957) and actor Matthew McConaughey (1969) 

Anniversary of:

• James Ritty patenting the first cash register to combat stealing by bartenders in his saloon in Dayton, Ohio (1879)

• archaeologist Howard Carter discovering the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt (1922)

• the election of Republican Ronald Reagan (1980)

• the premiere of the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)

• Democrat Barack Obama becoming the first African-American to be elected President of the US (2008)