Tuesday, 8 July - They wouldn't go for my story

July 08, 2025

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, 8 July. In your Squiz Today…

  • A guilty verdict in the mushroom trial

  • Findings of police racism in the NT

  • And a giant box office footprint…

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I never paid for my salad!”

Said TV host/wildlife expert Robert Irwin while apologising to The Jetty Pavilion in Coffs Harbour for accidentally pulling the ol’ dine-and-dash manoeuvre. Irwin repaid the venue with a social post - he says the oversight was caused by a group of adoring fans. Can relate, Bob…

The verdict is in…

The Squiz

After a 10-week-long trial and more than a week of deliberation, a 12-member jury in Victoria’s Supreme Court has found Erin Patterson guilty of 3 counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Patterson pleaded not guilty to intentionally poisoning her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and Heather’s husband Ian (the only surviving guest…), with a homemade beef Wellington laced with toxic death cap mushrooms in July 2023. But yesterday afternoon, the jury found the 50yo mother of 2 deliberately killed her relatives with that lunch.

How about a recap…?

A lot’s happened throughout the trial - here’s a good deep dive. To summarise, prosecutors accused Patterson of 4 key acts of deception: luring her guests to her home with a fake cancer diagnosis, making what appeared to be a “nourishing meal” to serve them the death cap mushrooms, faking her own illness to dodge suspicion after her guests became sick, and then covering-up her actions/lying to police. On the defence’s end, Patterson’s lawyers framed the deaths as a tragic accident, saying the poisonous mushrooms had accidentally been included in the meal. Other legal experts have since weighed in, saying the jury needed to be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that there was an intention to kill to reach its verdict - something the jurors clearly agreed on…

So what happens now?

Patterson will be remanded in custody while she waits for sentencing. That’s a bit of a process - both the prosecutors and her defence team will make submissions to the judge overseeing the trial, Justice Christopher Beale, about the term they think she should be sentenced to, before the sentencing date itself is set. Once that’s handed down, she has 28 days to lodge an appeal. One of Patterson’s friends spoke outside court yesterday, saying she was “saddened” by the result but that “it’s the justice system and it has to be what it is”. And in a statement, Victoria Police say the victims’ families - including Don and Gail’s son, Simon (who’s Patterson’s estranged husband), and survivor Ian Wilkinson - have requested privacy, so we might not be hearing from them for a bit…

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Squiz the Rest

A long-running inquest 

…into the 2019 death of Warlpiri man Kumanjayi Walker has come to a close after almost 3 years, with NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage delivering her findings in the remote community of Yuendumu where he died. The 19yo was shot during an arrest by NT police officer Zachary Rolfe, who was found not guilty of charges of murder and manslaughter following a 2022 trial. After hearing from over 70 witnesses, the coroner yesterday found that Rolfe was racist, that the NT police had a “work culture that tolerated racism” and she couldn’t rule out that racism had played a role in Walker’s death. She’s made 33 recommendations with the aim of preventing similar deaths in the future - you can read those here. Walker’s family thanked the coroner and said they’d take time to go through the recommendations. 

The T-word is back…

US President Donald Trump has announced new ‘reciprocal’ tariffs of 25% on imports from South Korea and Japan - with letters for another 12 countries to come later today. They were due to kick in from tomorrow, but the President has extended the start date on those and all Liberation Day tariffs until 1 August. If you’d parked tariffs in your mind, here’s a refresher on what he’s trying to achieve… Trump said his reason for imposing them was the trade deficits the US runs with those countries - meaning the US buys more from them than it sells. And he said the extension is to allow countries extra time to negotiate deals . While Australia was hit with a universal 10% tariff on our imports instead of a reciprocal rate, we’re still trying to get a better deal for our steel which has been slugged at a rate of 50%.

A very interesting interest rate call…

…is due from the Reserve Bank today, and the hot tip is for a 0.25% cut - bringing the official rate to 3.6%. That’s what 32 of the 36 economists surveyed by the Financial Review (paywall) think, anyway - as well as a majority of investors in Australia’s markets. As for why a cut’s the way to go, household spending needs a bit of a boost - it’s been flat as a tack for most of the year - and lower mortgage repayments could help with that. If the Reserve Bank does get snippy, that would be the third interest rate cut this year, and it might not be the last, with most experts tipping at least 2 and as many as 4 still to come before 2025 is done and dusted. The decision comes in at 2:30pm today, so keep an eye out… 

The Demon meets the joker

In a battle of the cool nicknames, it was the Joker that was triumphant overnight as Novak Djokovic defeated Alex De Minaur in their fourth-round clash at Wimbledon. De Minaur was the last Aussie singles hope in the mix, and he started well - handling windy conditions to take the opening set 6-1. But after the longest rally of the tournament so far in the second set, Djokovic was too good from there and won in 4 sets to move on to the quarterfinals. Now that there are no Aussies left in the main draw, it’ll be the boys singles that will be in the spotlight - after winning his first ever match at Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt’s son Cruz is in action tomorrow against #11 seed Oskari Paldanius. C’mon… 

Jurassic World: Rebirth leaves a giant box office footprint

It was a huge debut for the seventh instalment in the franchise that kicked off with Jurassic Park in 1993, and it seems the public’s appetite for dinosaur action is far from extinct… Rebirth made nearly $500 million in its opening weekend worldwide - the highest of 2025 so far. It’s what Hollywood types call a ‘soft reboot’, so the premise and certain plotlines are the same, but there’s a whole new cast of characters - this time, stars like Scarlett Johansson and Mahershala Ali are involved. Next up for box office watchers: the new Superman movie, which launches this weekend  - there’s a fair bit riding on this as it’s trying to launch a big new Marvel Cinematic Universe-style franchise. It’s got some big, shiny red boots to fill… 

*And if you’re stuck for things to do during school holidays and are wondering what’s on at the movies, our friends at Squiz Kids have you covered with their Holiday Movie Guide.

Apropos of Nothing

It’s the end of a hard-rocking, guitar-shredding, occasional bat-consuming era, as heavy metal band Black Sabbath - and its famous frontman Ozzy Osbourne - played its last ever live show in Birmingham, where the band was formed all the way back in 1968. 

After a $2.5 billion clean-up job, Parisian swimmers are now able to cool off in the Seine again, the city’s famous central river. It’s the first time in more than a century they’ve been allowed, and with a European heatwave going on, it’s good timing… 

And Estonians have gathered in their tens of thousands for a national choir festival, which celebrates national culture and traditions. Despite some heavy rain, participants sang and danced for the entire 4-day run - seems like Estonia’s got Tallinn-t… 

Squiz the Day

8.30am (AEST) - US President Donald Trump and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu are meeting at the White House to discuss bringing the war in Gaza to an end - Washington DC

10.00am (AEST) - Birdsville Camel Carnival gets underway (until 10 July) - Birdsville, Queensland

2.30pm (AEST) - The Reserve Bank will announce its latest cash rate decision - Sydney 

7.30pm (AEST) - The Australian premiere of the musical Kimberly Akimbo - Adelaide 

8.00pm (AEST) - Soccer: The Matildas play Panama in the second friendly game - Perth, watch on Paramount+

Check flights if you’re Bali-bound - Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki has erupted again and several flights have been cancelled

Anniversary of:

  • the first publication of The Wall Street Journal (1889)

  • the deaths of actress Vivian Leigh (1967), North Korean founder Kim Il Sung (1994) and former Japanese PM Shinzo Abe (2022)

  • the release of the Spice Girls’ debut single Wannabe (1996)

  • the indictment of Jeffrey Epstein on further charges of sex trafficking of minors (2019)