Squiz Today – Thursday, 13 July

THE SQUIZ

Some major changes will come into effect for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in February next year. After 51 recommendations for improvement were outlined by an independent review in March, Governor Philip Lowe responded yesterday saying from 2024, the bank’s board will meet 8 times a year, down from it’s current schedule of 11 meetings. And crucially, each meeting will run longer to give members more time to discuss the key information before making monetary policy decisions. Lowe hasn’t welcomed all the criticism levelled at the RBA in recent months, but said he understands change is needed. “The world we face is increasingly complex, and it is right to re-examine how we make and communicate monetary policy decisions and how the RBA is managed,” he said.

BUT WHAT AM I MEANT TO DO ON THE FIRST TUESDAY OF EACH MONTH? 

Take up knitting? You’ll work it out… How it will work going forward is the board’s meetings will start on Monday afternoons, and continue into Tuesday. Interest rate decisions – aka the major announcement out of those meetings – will still be shared publicly at 2.30pm, but the post-meeting statements will now come from the whole board, before the governor holds a press conference. Currently, the governor issues the statement and doesn’t always do a presser. The idea is – given we’re now acutely aware how critical interest rates are – more experts own the decision and communicate it clearly to us economic slaves… Also new: the board’s plan to work with Treasury on 5-yearly “open and transparent” reviews of the monetary policy framework to ensure the bank adapts more quickly to global changes as they come.

SO ONWARDS AND UPWARDS?

Sure, but maybe not for Lowe… Yesterday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers foreshadowed a decision that’s yet to be made on Lowe’s future. His term as governor ends on 17 September and Chalmers yesterday said a decision is yet to be made. Lowe could be given an extension, but given the past 14 months of increases after his incorrect call in 2021 that rates wouldn’t go up until 2024, there’s heaps of speculation that he’ll be turfed. For his part, Lowe says he wants to keep his job. In terms of replacements, there are 3 major contenders: Deputy Governor Michele Bullock, Finance Department Secretary Jenny Wilkinson, and Treasury Secretary Stephen Kennedy. But it ain’t over ‘til it’s over for Lowe – and he’ll have a bit of time to sweet talk Chalmers during a visit to India next week for a big finance ministers/central bankers conference.

Charlie Teo faces the music

Prominent neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo is facing fresh restrictions after the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission found him guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct. Teo has long been a controversial figure in medicine for his ‘last chance’ brain surgeries that others won’t touch. The disciplinary hearing – attended by Teo’s star-studded supporters – was brought by the families of 2 patients who died during brain surgery. And yesterday, the Commission found the claims against Teo were proven, including that he didn’t properly warn the patients of the risks and that he operated even when the risks outweighed the benefits. Conditions have been placed on Teo’s practising certificate, including a requirement to get written permission from an approved neurosurgeon before he can perform certain procedures. Teo said similar restrictions placed on him in 2021 forced him to move most of his work overseas. He’s considering an appeal.

Biden and Zelensky play nice at NATO

The NATO Summit has ended with Western leaders trying to smooth things over with a pretty furious Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after his nation was denied membership of the powerful military alliance. Before he’d even arrived in Lithuania, Zelensky called NATO’s refusal to give Ukraine a timeframe for membership “unprecedented and absurd”. Overnight, US President Joe Biden and Zelensky had a one-on-one meeting – Biden said it “went very well” and that America’s “commitment to Ukraine will not weaken”. PM Anthony Albanese also had his moment with Zelensky and has offered another 30 Bushmaster armoured vehicles adding to the 90 we have already sent to support their fight against Russia. Ukraine has been lobbying for more Aussie armoured vehicles, even enlisting its 2023 Eurovision entrant Tvorchi to sing a song about it…

Australia feta off without Europe

After 5 agonising years of talks, Australia and the European Union still haven’t been able to seal a free trade deal… For a hot minute it looked like the 2 sides might have been on the verge of a breakthrough – Trade Minister Don Farrell even left his family holiday to jet to Brussels for talks. But it was all for nothing – negotiations are now off for a least another month with the same sticking points getting in the way. Australia wants to get more of our beef, sugar and dairy into European markets. The Europeans want Aussie producers to give up labels like prosecco, feta and parmesan – they claim the terms should only be used by products from specific regions in Europe. Our farmers reckon they’d rather walk away than accept those conditions and want the government to hold out for a better deal. Australia’s been scrambling to secure new markets ever since relations with our major trading partner China started going downhill, so they’ll keep persisting with this one…

Ricciardo’s revved up for a return

He’s back, baby… Aussie Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo is getting another shot in the driver’s seat after spending a lot of this season on the bench. Ricciardo is currently the reserve driver for Red Bull but he’s scored a place on the grid with its sister team AlphaTauri. The Aussie has won 8 F1 races but was cut from McLaren at the end of last year after some pretty poor results. And now, he replaces young Dutchman Nyck de Vries after he also failed to fire. The nice guy of racing will make his return in Hungary on 23 July, but he’s going to have a hard time chasing down Max Verstappen. The Red Bull world champ sits on top of the leaderboard with a near 100-point margin over his nearest rival. Vroom vroom…

Rounding up the best in TV

And it’s Succession all the way… Receiving 27 nominations, the best show to ever grace our televisions (ok, we might be breaching our agenda-free rule there…) picked up 14 acting nominations, including for stars Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin and Aussie Sarah Snook. It’s the first time in Emmys history that 3 performers from the same show have scored lead actor nominations in the same category… Video game adaptation The Last of Us also did extremely well scoring 24 nominations, with Murray Bartlett picking up one of his 2 nominations for his one-ep appearance the series. And season 2 of The White Lotus received 23 nods. In the serious business of comedy, Ted Lasso tops the list with 21 nominations. The full list of noms is here… The ceremony is set to take place on 18 September but the writers’ strike and a potential actors’ strike could push that back until November or January.

A US jury has ruled a piece of paper found down the back of a couch is Aretha Franklin’s valid will. It was thought that the Respect singer died intestate in 2018, creating a years-long family dispute. But legally the note – signed with the letter ‘A’ and a smiley face – will do. 

Last year we told you about the plight of an Edinburgh woman who was forced to repaint her bright pink door by the local council – and the saga ain’t over yet… Now there’s a kerfuffle over her interpretation of ‘off-white’… 

And keen dog owners/observers might be interested to find out what the most common breeds are in their neck of the woods – here’s some interactive data for NSW, Victoria, and Western Oz. Even feline-loving Victorians were thrown a bone…

Thailand’s National Assembly convenes to pick a new prime minister following May’s election

Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One premieres in Aussie cinemas

Birthdays for Patrick Stewart (1940) and Harrison Ford (1942)

Anniversary of:
• the establishment of the famous Hollywood sign, which originally read “Hollywoodland” but dropped the last four letters after a renovation in 1949 (1923)
• Frank Sinatra making his recording debut (1939)
• the Live Aid charity concert, which raised money for African famine relief (1985)
• Kylie Minogue releasing her debut single Locomotion (1987)
• the founding of #BlackLivesMatter in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman on trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin (2013)
• the election of former British PM Theresa May (2016)
• the birthdays of Julius Caesar (100BC) and artist Frida Kahlo (1954)