Squiz Today / 02 March 2018

Squiz Today – Friday, 2 March

SQUIZ SAYINGS

"We're working as hard as we can to get this sorted out. We know that our gravy is a big favourite!"

First chicken, now gravy. KFC in the UK has had a shocker.

TRUMP WARMS TO GUN REFORM

THE SQUIZ
As students returned to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida following the massacre of 17 students and staff by former student Nikolas Cruz, US President Donald Trump was throwing curveballs at Democrat and Republican lawmakers. He surprised congress members during a televised meeting by backing gun control measures.

WAIT… WHAT?
Maybe Trump was out of sorts after losing his right-hand woman, Communications Director Hope Hicks. But he was pretty bolshie about going toe-to-toe with the National Rifle Association accusing both Democrats and Republicans of being “petrified” of the powerful lobby group. “They have great power over you people,” Trump said. “They have less power over me.”

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Four things to note:

• While Trump has outlined some reforms he’d like to see, it’s up to Congress to formulate and pass a bill. But he's encouraged lawmakers to “come down on the strong side.”

• Critics say this is exactly what Trump did over immigration policy – hold a televised meeting where you give hope of change, but then shut it down behind closed doors.

• Big US retailers are starting to self-regulate. There have been big announcements this week from Walmart and Dick's Sporting Goods.

• And last year's Aussie gun amnesty shows even when there are significant restrictions in place, vigilance is essential. More than 57,000 guns – including automatic weapons – were handed in.

While it’s too early to know where this is all going, something seems to have shifted over there.

SQUIZ THE REST

QUICK CANBERRA NEWS WRAP
STICKS AND STONES - What an unedifying spectacle it’s been in Canberra this week. After Wednesday’s Cash-crash, Labor Senator Kim Carr had a bingle yesterday calling Liberal senator James Paterson a member of the "Hitler Youth". Home Affairs Peter Dutton also had his say. So is it any wonder the parliamentary security guards tried to shield our eyes?

NATS DO THE SHUFFLE - New Nationals leader Michael McCormack has made some light-touch changes to his frontbench. Darren Chester and Keith Pitt have made a return to the ministry while Luke Hartsuyker and Damian Drum, who employed Barnaby Joyce’s new partner Vikki Campion after she became pregnant, were dropped.

SNOWY BOUGHT OUT – What do you do after a tough week? Seek some retail therapy. The federal government will buy the NSW and Victorian governments' stakes in the Snowy-Hydro scheme for $6.2 billion giving Canberra full control. PM Malcolm Turnbull last year committed to increasing the scheme’s energy output by 50%.

SATURDAY’S TASSIE ELECTION
High five! C’mon, don’t leave us hanging… Experts say it’s going to be another tight one with a hung parliament a distinct possibility. The incumbent Liberals under Will Hodgman will be fighting hard to keep their 15 seats (out of 25 lower house seats). And Rebecca White’s Labor has a battle to lift its seven seats to reach the 13 required to take government. The key to the result will be voters’ support for the Greens and state politics newcomer, the Jacqui Lambie Network. And in case you were wondering, we’ll be pairing our results viewing with a cold Tassie riesling while we pretend to know how the Hare-Clark voting system works.

NT GOVERNMENT RESPONDS ON YOUTH DETENTION
The Northern Territory government’s also had a big week. After announcing sweeping changes to alcohol taxation on Tuesday, it yesterday said it would support all recommendations made by the recent Royal Commission into Youth Detention and Child Protection. However, reports say that despite the inquiry’s recommendation for police to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by youth justice officers and the abuse of children in care, only two investigations were referred and no charges have been laid.

LOCAL ISLAMIC STATE SUPPORTER JAILED
Islamic State sympathiser Raban Alou was yesterday jailed for up to 44 years for his role in the murder of NSW Police accountant Curtis Cheng. Alou was found guilty of sourcing the gun used by 15yo Farhad Jabar in the 2015 shooting outside Parramatta’s police headquarters. Alou yesterday shouted insults and gave the court the IS salute prompting the judge to say he was “devoid of basic humanity.” Cheng’s son Alpha said; "We hope that things we had to go through as a family never happens to anyone in Australia."

PUTIN FEELS THE POWER
World leaders boasting about the size of their nuclear arsenals. Something must have happened in their childhoods… This morning it’s Russian President Vladimir Putin’s turn. He faces an election in a couple of weeks and was delivering a two-hour-long ‘state of the nation' address to parliament when he said Russia's nukes could reach anywhere in the world and are even capable of evading interception. And in a great piece of retail politics, he asked Russians to suggest names for the missile systems. Cute!

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
There was a bit of a stir over last weekend’s 60 Minutes interview with NZ PM Jacinda Ardern and the appropriateness of some of the questions asked by veteran journo Charles Wooley. ‘Peter Muck’ had this to add.

Monica Lewinsky has worn many hats; one was White House intern. Now a writer, she’s penned her thoughts for Vanity Fair – Emerging from the ‘The House of Gaslight’ in the Age of #metoo. Well worth a read.

Confession time - our never-ending battle to eat enough vegetables is… well… never-ending. So any delicious sounding recipe with a good veggie hit goes to the top of the pile. We tried this last weekend, it was a winner, and we're going back again this weekend. You might like it too.