Wednesday, 13 August - Are you ready for it?

August 13, 2025

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 13 August. In your Squiz Today…

  • The Reserve Bank delivers a rate cut

  • A court win against big tech companies Apple and Google

  • And 2-for-1 whale watching… 🐋 

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"Let’s make it unforgettable.”

Said rapper/producer/Martha Stewart’s friend Snoop Dogg after he was announced yesterday as the headline entertainment for the AFL Grand Final. Snoop will take the stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 27 September - it’s Nuthin’ but an MCG Thang…

Better rate than never

The Squiz

About a month after most experts thought they would, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has cut interest rates by 0.25 basis points. The official cash rate is now 3.6% - that's the lowest it's been since April 2023 and marks the third rate cut in 6 months. While RBA Governor Michele Bullock didn't rule out more cuts to come, she did say that because interest rates in Oz didn't go as high as in other countries after the COVID-19 pandemic, they might not need to come down as much either. 

Why now? 

Last time around, Bullock said that the RBA needed more data before it was confident in making a cut - since then, jobs numbers and inflation have both dropped, so the timing was better, and the 9-person board made the decision unanimously. But as part of its announcement, the RBA did sound the alarm around Australia's productivity - aka how much economic output we produce as a country per hour of work - which is important for our overall economic growth. It's now forecasting growth of 0.7% a year, down from 1%. Bullock says the RBA can't do much about that - governments and businesses have to figure out how to turn it around. But she'll be a key figure at the Albanese Government's roundtable on economic reform next week, where that exact issue is up for discussion. 

Any feedback? 

As with most rate cuts, it’s good news for those paying off mortgages/loans and less so for those with a lot of cash in the bank - here’s a breakdown of what it might mean for you. The Commonwealth Bank was the first of the big 4 banks to pass the cut onto customers, with Westpac, ANZ and then NAB following suit. Treasurer Jim Chalmers was quick to have his say following the decision - he called it a good day but also said there was more work to be done. Coalition Treasury spokesman Ted O’Brien was less giddy - he called it “light relief”. For our next exciting game of cut-or-no-cut, mark down 29-30 September in your diary - that’s the next (and third-last) RBA board meeting of the year.

Turning water into shine

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Squiz the Rest

The back and forth continues…

This time, it’s PM Anthony Albanese hitting back at Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of Australia recognising Palestinian statehood. To recap: Netanyahu said the move by the Albanese Government was "shameless", and yesterday, our PM accused him of being "in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people" in Gaza. There, the funeral for Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and his colleagues Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa was held, after they were killed on Monday. The Israeli military took responsibility for targeting the tent the group was in, claiming al-Sharif was working for Hamas. Al Jazeera has denied that, and the Committee to Protect Journalists warned weeks ago that al-Sharif believed he was being targeted by a smear campaign as “a precursor for his assassination”.

*If you’d like to understand a bit more about what Oz recognising Palestine means, this Shortcut will have you covered…

A trade war on pause

US President Donald Trump has given his team more breathing room in trade talks with China, signing another 90-day tariff truce. It was a last-minute extension - the previous truce was due to expire yesterday. If you need a reminder, this is about the higher tariffs Trump threatened on Chinese imports. Tariffs on both sides were set to jump significantly, which reports said would be "an effective blockade on trade". But that's now been (temporarily…) avoided, with Trump saying Washington has been "dealing very nicely with China" in recent negotiations. A Chinese spokesperson says they want "positive outcomes on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit". The talks continue…

A legal battle royale…

…between the makers of the super-popular video game Fortnite and tech titans Apple and Google came to a head yesterday with a win for the gamers. This all harks back to when Fortnite developer Epic Games made the game free to download on mobiles in 2020. That meant it got around paying Apple & Google their standard commissions - and the tech companies kicked it off their app stores in response. Epic Games said that was unfair and sued them for running illegal monopolies. Yesterday, Federal Court justice Jonathan Beach partly agreed - he said the 2 had used their market power to prevent competition, but didn't find they'd breached consumer law. Epic says this could mean cheaper apps and a big class action payout, but most importantly, you'll be able to download Fortnite on your phone again in October… 

The Sussexes hit ‘next episode’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have penned a new deal with streaming giant Netflix, following on from the $153 million one they inked in 2020. We don’t know all the details of their new contract, but in a statement, the Duchess said they’re “proud” to extend the partnership. It took some by surprise… There had been speculation that the couple might part ways with Netflix after reports of poor viewership on some of their TV/film projects (you’ll probably remember the lifestyle series With Love, Meghan debuted to mixed reviews…). But the credits aren’t rolling yet - they’re expected to release a new series of With Love, Meghan under the multi-year deal this month, followed by a Christmas special.

Just some pod pals hangin’ out

It turns out dolphins and whales don’t mind a bit of a hang, with researchers from Griffith University observing the 2 regularly get together for a catch-up and a wave. The researchers analysed 2 decades worth of interactions between 19 species of dolphins and whales and found that not only do they spend more time together than first thought, but they are most commonly positive or playful interactions. The research also found that dolphins initiate most of the contact, that humpback whales in particular are the most receptive, and very little of it is aggro (about 5%). As it happens, there's a humpback whale migration heading down the Aussie coast right now - so if you’re going out for a spot of whale-watching, you might get some dolphins as part of the bargain… 

Apropos of Nothing - Music to our ears edition

There’s a new Taylor Swift album on the way - following a short countdown, she’s announced that her 12th album (which was announced at 12:12am US time on August 12) will be called The Life of a Showgirl. We’ll wait and see if it has 12 tracks or not… 

Also mysteriously teasing new music is Oz legend Paul Kelly, who took out an ad in a Melbourne paper announcing the death of ‘Joe’ from his song How to Make Gravy. Reports reckon it might be a tease for a sequel song… 

And the lineup for this year’s Good Things music festival has dropped, with Tool, Garbage, Weezer and, um, James Reyne from Australian Crawl all set to perform at the rock/punk festival. Maybe he’s there to tell those punk bands not to be so reckless… 

Squiz the Day

8.00am (AEST) - Commonwealth Bank will announce its full-year results

8.30am (AEST) - A Senate committee is holding an inquiry into the Whistleblower Protection Authority Bill - Canberra

9.00am (AEST) - Australasian Emissions Reduction Summit begins (until 14 August) - Melbourne

9.50am (AEST) - Federal Assistant Minister for Defence Peter Khalil will hold a press conference with SA Premier Peter Malinauskas ahead of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue Event - Adelaide 

11.30am (AEST) - Aussie food icon Maggie Beer will address the National Press Club on uplifting aged care through better food - Canberra

12.20pm (AEST) - The Royal Australian Air Force Roulette fly over Ekka, Queensland’s Royal Show to mark People’s Day - Brisbane

5.30pm (AEST) - the NSW Parliament will celebrate 100 years since the election of its first female member, Millicent Preston-Stanley

6.00pm (AEST) - Stella Day Out, a free one-day literary festival, makes its debut in Darwin

9.00pm (AEST) - Basketball: FIBA Asia Cup quarterfinal, Boomers v Philippines - Saudi Arabia, watch on Kayo

The RBA will release Chart Pack: Graphs on the Australian economy and financial markets

ABS data release - Lending Indicators, June Quarter 2025; Wage Price Index, Australia, June 2025

Independence Day in the Central African Republic

🥂 National Prosecco Day

Anniversary of:

  • the fall of the Aztec Empire after Spanish conquistadors capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan (1521)

  • Berlin being divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees (1961)

  • the premiere of South Park (1997)

  • the birthdays of Alfred Hitchcock (1899) and Fidel Castro (1926)

  • the deaths of Florence Nightingale (1910) and Julia Child (2005)