Wednesday, 9 October - Ready or not here I come

October 09, 2024

Taking sustainable steps with Westfield

Good morning, it’s Wednesday, 9 October. In your Squiz Today…

  • Florida braces for “monster” Hurricane Milton

  • A testy day in federal parliament

  • And Fat Bear Week is down to the final 2… 🐻🐻 

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Squiz the Weather

Squiz Sayings

"People of the land down under... We are coming.”

Said Brit Pop legends Oasis as they announced their much-hyped reunion tour will now include some shows in Oz in October/November 2025. Tickets will go on pre-sale next Monday and they won’t be dynamically priced. Break out the Champagne Supernova…

Battening down the hatches

The Squiz

Millions of Americans have been warned to evacuate before Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida tomorrow, with reports saying the Category 5 hurricane - which is the strongest of the storms - is already the third-fastest rapidly intensifying storm on record with wind speeds reaching 290km/h. Governor Ron DeSantis has issued a state of emergency declaration for Florida’s 22 million residents, warning that Milton is set to be “ferocious” with a storm surge of up to 4.5 metres and 38cm of rain when it crosses the coast late tomorrow morning our time.

Didn’t they just have a hurricane?

Yep, it’s only been 11 days since the Category 4 Hurricane Helene swept through the same area and beyond, killing over 225 people across 6 states, with reports saying no one knows how many others are unaccounted for. It was the deadliest storm to hit the US mainland since Katrina… The economic cost also hasn’t yet been fully calculated but it left millions without power, water, navigable roads or supplies. But there’s no time to rest with emergency management experts already ordering 500,000 people to evacuate ahead of what they expect will be the biggest hurricane in “more than 100 years". In Florida, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a no-nonsense warning: “I can say without any dramatisation whatsoever: if you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you’re gonna die”.

Crikey… So how are authorities preparing?

People leaving by car are allowed to drive in the breakdown lane of highways as roads become gridlocked, and many of Florida’s airports have shut down as major airlines have suspended all flights in/out. Hundreds of firefighters and emergency crews are also being deployed from other states to help. But making things harder for state officials and those at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) - is the misinformation campaign that’s been waged in the wake of Helene… Former/hopeful President Donald Trump, his supporters, and others have falsely claimed the Biden administration “stole” FEMA money to give to illegal immigrants, directed the hurricane for political gain, and called for militias to confront FEMA workers. FEMA boss Deanne Criswell says the statements are “frankly ridiculous” and are impeding the agency’s ability to “actually get people the help they need”.

Time to save every drop

Fixing your leaky taps can save up to 20,000 litres of water a year* - an opportunity to save money and reduce water waste. It’s time to get that job done... Westfield is doing its bit by using smart water metering. It sounds fancy, but it’s just a way to check more regularly what their taps are up to so they can make any necessary adjustments to save water. To find out more, head to westfield.com.au.

*According to the NSW Government

Squiz the Rest

No agreement on honouring Israel’s dead

After Monday’s solemn commemorations for the first anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks in Israel, the Middle East conflict remains a contentious issue for our federal leaders… In parliament yesterday, PM Anthony Albanese put forward a motion condemning the attacks, which the Coalition rejected. Albanese wanted to condemn Iran’s involvement and include calls for a ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon and support for a Palestinian state. But Coalition leader Peter Dutton accused them of “walking both sides of the street”. The motion eventually passed, but that wasn’t the end of the PM’s day - he made a late-night apology for an “unkind and hurtful” comment mocking people with Tourette Syndrome, which he directed at Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor in Question Time. “I regret saying it. It was wrong. It was insensitive, and I apologise”, he said. 

Waiting on a plea

Beau Lamarre-Condon - the former NSW Police constable accused of the domestic violence murders of Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies - is getting closer to entering a plea over the charges, his lawyer says. This case got a lot of coverage earlier in the year, but to recap - police accused the 29yo of carrying out months of “predatory behaviour” against Baird before breaking into his home and shooting the couple with a work-issued handgun. Lamarre-Condon handed himself in several days later, and police then found Baird and Davies’ bodies at a property 200km southwest of Sydney. Lamarre-Condon’s lawyer John Walford says his client will enter a plea the next time the case is in court on 5 November. 

China’s economy is limpin’ along

The country’s economic planning body - the National Development and Reform Commission - has been under lots of pressure over its ongoing economic troubles, so there were a lot of eyes on its chairman Zheng Shanjie yesterday as he outlined their recovery plans. Spoiler alert: it’s what wasn’t announced - aka major stimulus packages - that ended up stealing the show… Economist Alicia Garcia-Herrero said policymakers had “created expectations of a much bigger stimulus, so everybody was disappointed”. That includes local and global investors - with markets including the ASX falling after investors felt like they were getting the keys to a new car only to receive the Matchbox variety. Let’s face it - even a non-car person would find that very disappointing… 

Don’t book your 100th birthday party quite yet… 

New research looking into deaths from some of the world’s longest-living populations, including Oz, has found the big jumps we saw in life expectancy in the 20th Century have slowed over the past 30 years. The research shows girls born in the last few years have a 5.3% chance of reaching 100yo, while for boys it's a 1.8% chance. Gerontologist Jay Olshansky says young'uns are more likely to reach 85yo on average because we've hit a ceiling on public health/medical developments that improved our longevity last century. Steven Austad, a professor of healthy ageing in the US, was a tad more optimistic - he says "for life expectancy to again accelerate, we need a new approach focused on disease prevention". He says those advances are already underway. We might be in for a birthday card from the King after all…

It’s the final Fat Bear countdown…

Our favourite week of the year is coming to a close, but the good news is there’s still time to vote in the final round of Fat Bear Week - but you’ll have to get in quick no matter which of the 5 Aussie time zones you’re in… The grand finale that is Fat Bear Tuesday will wrap by midday today for those living under Eastern Daylight Saving rules - and earlier this morning for the rest of the country. After multiple knockout rounds, it’s now down to the final 2 bears, and it’s boys versus girls, with Chunk facing off against female Squiz favourite/2023 winner/supermum Grazer. And the tension is palpable as the same 2 animals were also the final 2 last year, with Chunk losing by more than 85,000 votes, despite technically being heavier. It just goes to show, it’s not how much you weigh but how you wear it…

Apropos of Nothing - Fabulous Australian things edition

Super early commuters at Sydney’s Casula train station were questioning their eyesight when they saw a koala making its way along the platform. The loose marsupial led police on a chase but always maintained good train safety by staying behind the yellow line.

Australia’s newest ‘big thing’ is a big red tractor in the Western Australian mid-west town of Carnamah. Standing at an impressive 11.5m tall, it’s the biggest tractor in the world. If you’re wondering where they found tyres big enough - they didn’t - they’re fabricated steel. 

And is there anything better than a finger bun with a cuppa to arrest the morning dip? You might not have partaken for a while, but they’re on the way back. And it’s a hard nod to Pamela Clark (a recipe developer for the Australian Women’s Weekly for 50 years) who says when it comes to sultanas: “They aren’t to be included.”

Squiz the Day

9.00am (AEDT) - A trophy parade will be held for NRL Premiers the Penrith Panthers - Sydney

11.00am (AEDT) - RBA Assistant Governor Christopher Kent to deliver a speech along with review findings into the RBA’s cheap lending program for banks during the Covid 19 pandemic - Sydney

12.00pm (AEDT) - Former ACCC Chair and Chair of the Superpower Institute Rod Sims will demonstrate Open Methane (an open platform for detecting, measuring and locating Australia’s methane emissions) - Parliament House, Canberra

12:30pm (AEDT) - José Ramos-Horta, President of Timor-Leste, will address the National Press Club of Australia - Canberra

2.00pm (AEDT) - The launch of the Australian Cyber Network - Canberra 

8.45pm (AEDT) - The 2024 Chemistry Nobel Prize will be announced - Stockholm, Sweden

The 4th ASEAN-Australia Summit and the 19th East Asia Summit will begin (until 12 October) - Laos

ABS data release - Building Approvals, August, Building Activity, August

Independence Day in Uganda

Columbus Day in the US, marking the anniversary of the explorer’s first arrival to the Americas in 1492 

International Day for National Disaster Reduction

Anniversary of:

  • the founding of Hobart (1804)

  • the premiere of The Phantom of the Opera in London (1986)

  • John Lennon’s birthday (1940)

  • then-PM Julia Gillard's misogyny speech (2012) 

  • activist Malala Yousafzai being shot by a Taliban gunman as she tried to board her school bus in Pakistan (2012)