Wednesday, 16 October - At the Copa, Copacabana

October 16, 2024

Reducing waste with Westfield

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 16 October. In your Squiz Today…

  • The PM defends his new seaside purchase

  • Aussies in Israel have been urged to leave as our travel advice ticks up a notch

  • And vale media legend George Negus…⌚ 

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

“I'm a former maths teacher, I can count…” 

Said Tasmania’s now former Deputy Premier Michael Ferguson, who went to the backbench yesterday after troubles with his plan to source 2 new Spirit of Tasmania vessels and upgrade the ports. The water was choppy for the Liberal minority government, so it’s man overboard…

A man’s house is his castle

The Squiz

PM Anthony Albanese has defended his purchase of a $4.3 million home on the NSW Central Coast, with critics accusing him of being tin-eared ahead of an election that will be fought on housing affordability. So while the clifftop home has some impressive ocean views, it’s the optics that have many, including his Labor colleagues, scratching their heads...

What’s that about?

The Copacabana house (about 50km north of Sydney) is close to where Albanese’s fiancee Jodie Haydon grew up and her family currently live, but it’s a long way from his electorate of Grayndler. For his part, he says he knows what it’s like to “struggle” but now earns “a good income” as PM, and said the purchase was as a personal decision - “I’m about to get married to Jodie and start a new chapter of our lives”. As for the move-in date, that’s unclear because he’s due to lead Labor through the upcoming federal election and continue as the local representative in Sydney’s Inner West. So for the foreseeable, between the Lodge in Canberra, the PM’s residence in Kirribilli, a home in his electorate and now one on the Central Coast, that’s a lot of bins to put out each week… 

What else is happening?

Another talking point for our pollies is the live music industry and its ticketing practices - timely, given the rush for Oasis fans to score tickets yesterday. That conversation flared up after ABC TV’s Four Corners reported global entertainment company Live Nation and its competitor Ticketek - 2 big players in Oz - had been buying out independent operators, causing ticket prices to skyrocket while also charging hidden fees. Live Nation Australasia boss Michael Coppel denies that’s happening. And yesterday, it emerged that federal, state and territory governments have delivered tens of millions of dollars in grants to Live Nation (which, as an aside, pulled in $34 billion in 2023…) to keep it afloat during the pandemic. Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young is calling for the ACCC to investigate whether Aussies are being ripped off by the companies. To be continued…

A sustainable way to brighten your day

There are simple things we can all do to make a positive contribution to cutting greenhouse gas emissions - like switching to LED lights at home*. It also saves you money because they’re efficient and they last a really long time. Westfield has been working to reduce its environmental impact for a long time already, reducing energy emissions by 40% since 2014. To learn more, head to westfield.com.au 

*Source: energy.gov.au

Squiz the Rest

Leave Israel now

Aussies are being urged to get out of Israel while flights are still available as attacks on the country become more intense. It’s the first time since last year’s 7 October terrorist attack that our government has upgraded its travel warning to Israel and the West Bank - sparked by fears of more reprisals from Iran and Hezbollah. There’s been an escalation in the bombing in Gaza with the Israeli military targeting a Hamas command centre near a hospital. Doctors without Borders says 5 civilians were killed and dozens injured in a significant fire sparked by the strike. There’s also a focus on the northern city of Jabalia, where Israel says it has evidence Hamas is “reforming in the area”, but the UN is worried the almost 400,000 people in the area do not have access to any food or medical help. Overnight, the US has written to Israel, giving it 30 days to increase aid access in northern Gaza or risk cuts to military help. 

Diplomatic tit for tat

Canada has kicked out 6 Indian diplomats - including the High Commissioner - after linking them to the murder of prominent Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil last year. The killing sparked a global uproar at the time, with PM Justin Trudeau saying he had "credible information" the Indian Government was involved. And now Canadian authorities say they have "concrete evidence" the 6 diplomats were involved in multiple killings and the violent harassment of Sikh separatists in the country. India has again called the accusations “preposterous”... Canada is home to the highest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab, but they have been targeted by the Indian Government in other locations. Just last year, police in New York say they stopped a hit attempt on a US-based Sikh lawyer… 

Google goes nuclear

As more and more of us get to know generative AI as a great tool to help us write anything from an essay to a ditty in the style of Dolly Parton (or is that just us?), it might blow your mind to know it actually comes with a pretty big cost… Google has just signed a deal with energy provider Kairos to use small nuclear reactors to generate the massive amount of power it needs to run its AI data centres. Google’s Michael Terrell reckons nuclear will “deliver on the progress of AI … in a way that’s more around the clock”, noting its emissions have grown nearly 50% since 2019 due to the company's exponential growth in data use. And it's not the only tech giant going nuclear… Just last month Microsoft announced it was trying to reopen the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear plant, and Amazon’s also getting in on the act. Just not here in Australia, of course… 

Vale George Negus

The Aussie journalism legend has died at 82yo, with his family saying he’d “passed away peacefully surrounded by loved ones” after living with Alzheimer's disease for 5 years. Negus and his signature moustache were a mainstay in the Aussie media for decades, first appearing on the ABC's This Day Tonight in the 1960s before he was one the founding teams of 60 Minutes on Nine and Foreign Correspondent back at the ABC. His swagger and straight-talking style - on display during his interview with British PM Margaret Thatcher in 1981 - drew plenty of fans… In 2015, he became a Member of the Order of Australia and won the Walkley Award for Most Outstanding Contribution to Journalism in 2021. His family say people should “kick a football, enjoy a hearty bowl of pasta, plan your next adventure … or ask a curious question you think needs answering” in his honour.

Ban the beer crawl

Goodbye, bucks parties, and hello, swanky tourists… At least that’s the vision of Prague city councillors who’ve voted to ban nighttime pub crawls to attract a more refined class of travellers. And while Aussies often get a bad rep abroad for our love of the amber liquid - this new rule is aimed at boozed-up Brits who have been using the Czech capital for some epic boys' weekends. The city's Deputy Mayor Jiri Pospisil says Prague deserves "a more cultured, wealthier tourist … not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk". The Czech Republic is the world's biggest beer-consuming nation - sinking 128 litres/person - with the beverage coming in cheaper than water in many pubs. Cheers to that…

Share The Squiz love

Let’s scratch each other’s back? You share The Squiz with your people, and we’ll give you a chance to win… Each person who signs up using your unique link by 19 October gets you into the draw to win a $450 Go-To voucher - it’s skincare that’s effective, effortless, and fun… bit like us. Have we mentioned how easy sharing your favourite shortcut to the news is? Copy and paste the link below and share it round to your network…

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PS: Your friends will need to confirm their email to guarantee entry into the draw. This competition ends at 11.59pm AEDT on 19 October, and the winner will be drawn on 20 October 2024 and contacted via email. Go forth…

Apropos of Nothing - Mysteries edition

It wasn’t a bird or a plane seen in skies over South Oz over the weekend, but Steve the atmospheric phenomenon… Steve (a mysterious arc of purple and white light in the night sky that’s linked to the recent Aurora Australis) stands for ‘Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement’. He’s welcome anytime…

Not quite a phenomenon but equally perplexing is the “mysterious black ball-shaped debris” that’s washed up on the shore of Coogee, one of Sydney’s most popular beaches, forcing it to close while a cleanup of the suspected “tar balls” takes place.

And in another case of mystery balls, a scandal has erupted with the 82yo men’s World Conker Champion - who claimed victory on Sunday - being accused of cheating by using a steel replica conker instead of the standard horse chestnut tree seed. The World Conker Championships is on the case…

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - Reserve Bank Assistant Governor Sarah Hunter to address the Citi Australia and New Zealand Investment Conference - Sydney

9.00am (AWST) - Australian Zero Homelessness Summit - Perth

9.00am (AEDT) - CSIRO AI for Climate Symposium, looking at how AI can improve Australian industries in the face of climate change (until 17 October) - Melbourne 

9.30am (AEDT) - Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal case is back in court for a possible decision on whether he has to pay a $200K surety and $2 million in legal costs owed to Ten before the appeal can proceed - Sydney

12.00pm (AEDT) - The FRIENDS experience, celebrating the 30th anniversary of the TV series - Sydney

12.30pm (AEDT) - Australian Border Force Commissioner Michael Outram will address the National Press Club - Canberra

Company AGM - Commonwealth Bank; Origin Energy; Ansell

ABS data release - Stalking, 2021-22; births, 2023

World Bread Day

Birthdays for Flea (1962), Casey Stoner (1985), and Naomi Osaka (1997)

Anniversary of:

  • the death of Marie Antoinette (1793)

  • Oscar Wilde’s birthday (1854)

  • the foundation of the Liberal Party of Australia (1944)

  • the publication of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre (1847) and CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (1950)

  • the beginning of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)

  • the marriage of actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard (2013)