Squiz Today – Friday, 27 October

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“One of the great memories of all time."

That’s US President Donald Trump describing his capacity to recall information, including the name of a fallen US marine that he may or may not have forgotten. On the upside, should he ever be moved to mount a legal defence of his time in office, there will be no “I can’t recall” from him…

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TURNBULL GOVERNMENT HOLDS ITS BREATH

THE SQUIZ
After a bruising week in Parliament, the Turnbull Government won’t get the chance to recuperate with a low key Friday. After fending off calls for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash’s resignation all day yesterday, PM Malcolm Turnbull and his team await today’s High Court’s ruling on the eligibility of Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce to sit in the Parliament. If Joyce is ruled ineligible, the government’s majority of one seat will be wiped out while he goes home to Armidale NSW to fight a by-election. Which makes it a terrible time to be under pressure about the conduct of another Minister.

SO MICHAELIA MIGHT BE CASHED IN?
We see what you did there. Cash had Turnbull’s backing yesterday as the blame for tipping-off the media about police raids on the offices of the Australian Workers Union was laid at the door of media adviser David De Garis. Cash had spent most of Wednesday saying she and her office had nothing to do with it. "And once her staffer told the truth and made the admission that he had done the wrong thing, she corrected the record. She acted entirely properly,” Turnbull said. So why is this such a big deal?

1. The work of the Registered Organisations Commission and Federal Police has been politicised.

2. Many reckon the media adviser would not have acted without direction. And even if he had, Labor claims Cash ultimately bears the responsibility and should resign.

3. An investigation that you’d think would see Labor leader Bill Shorten under pressure has spectacularly backfired.

And that’s before you get into the ethics of the media turning on the bloke who tipped them off…

AND WHAT’S THE HOT TIP ON WHAT WILL GO DOWN IN THE HIGH COURT TODAY?
The short answer – dunno. The court will today rule on Joyce’s case, as well as former Greens senators Larissa Waters and Scott Ludlam (who have both stepped down), One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts, Nationals senators Fiona Nash and Matt Canavan, and Senator Nick Xenophon (who's leaving anyway to run for South Australia’s Parliament). The consequences of today's decision could be very significant indeed.

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SQUIZ THE REST

‘INDIGENOUS VOICE’ REJECTED BY GOVERNMENT
Reports say a proposal (known as the Uluru Statement) to recognise indigenous Australians in the constitution through a legislated advisory body has been rejected by the Cabinet of the Turnbull Government. Concerns about whether the body would create an additional layer of government undermined support for the proposal. Many indigenous leaders expressed their disappointment. Turnbull is expected to make a statement about the government’s position soon.

PACKER ADVOCATES FOR TRANSPARENCY AT CROWN
After a turbulent time of late, Crown Resorts largest shareholder James Packer yesterday conceded that his dream to make it a global brand has failed. "But in terms of the list of Australian companies that have gone offshore and have come back with their tail between their legs, I think we're at the top of the list in terms of actually [making] a couple of billion dollars,” he said. And in a pleasing development for anti-pokies campaigners, Packer said in this era of transparency the company should consider specifically reporting its revenue from pokies.

FINANCIAL REVIEW’S YOUNG RICH LIST
Tech entrepreneurs are the big winners. Atlassian duo Mike Cannon-Brooks and Mike Farquhar top the list at more than $6 billion with the software company going along swimmingly. Then it’s daylight between them and Dave Greiner and Ben Richardson from email marketing firm Campaign Monitor (+$600 million); property developer Tim Gurner ($465 million); foreign exchange broker Owen Kerr ($368 million); Ori Allon, who is described as a property technology disruptor ($364 million); Mexican food chain founder Sam Prince ($318 million); and online creative marketplace founders Cyan & Collis Ta’eed ($216 million). The average age of the top 100 is 35yo. Smarty-pants one and all.

CATALONIA V SPAIN
The scene is set for a rowdy day in Spain with tensions between Madrid and Catalonia coming to a head. The Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont was expected to announce regional elections to break the deadlock, but he’s just ruled that out. He’s left it to the Catalan parliament to decide if it wants to move forward with separation from Spain. Madrid says that’s illegal and will enforce ‘direct rule’ from Friday if Catalonia doesn’t back down. Expect stories of disruption from Barcelona and the region over the weekend.

SOPHIE AND STU SITTING IN A TREE
An estimated million-plus Aussies stopped everything last night to watch former pop singer Sophie Monk two-time a couple of blokes on a sandbank in Fiji before declaring her love for one of them. And the winner is… Stu Laundy. He’s a member of Sydney’s pub-owning Laundy dynasty (and is the younger brother of Assistant Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Craig Laundy who provided some excellent Twitter commentary). The other winner was Monk herself – whose gamble on taking part in the reality franchise appears to have paid off with viewers warming to her, significantly raising her stocks as a media personality. The couple has big plans – to dine together in public. Aww…

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
Confession time – we’re visual learners. Which makes it kinda weird that we’re trying to carve out a living with our writing, but let’s not dwell on that too much… This guy’s graphs and charts are brilliant. And the observation about ‘microwave minutes’ is so right.

This Burger King public service announcement on bullying is great. It’s a couple of minutes long and well worth the watch.

Legendary actor Paul Newman’s Rolex watch is about to go to auction in New York. Given to him by wife Joanne, it has the inscription “Drive Me Carefully” on the back and is expected to fetch more than $1 million. Just in case you’re Christmas shopping for someone special…

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SQUIZ EXTRAS

SQUIZ TIPS - PRESENTED BY COMMONWEALTH BANK
Work is fun (right?) but who doesn't dream of retirement? We're going to learn fly fishing and write letters to the editor. So we plugged some numbers into this calculator which made us realise we really need to step up our superannuation game. And these tips will help us contribute during the usually one-sided conversation with our accountant. Get on it.

MAKING VEGES GREAT AGAIN
Look, you know how we feel about carbs. Delish. So we needed some help getting some more vege into our days. When the fab Leigh Sales told the Chat10 group on Facebook about a favourite salad from Hetty McKinnon's recipe book Community we thought we'd give it a go. And it's awesome (the salad and the book). Suddenly broccoli makes sense. If you buy the book (or other books on the Booktopia site) using this link we get a little commission. Nice.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday

10.15am (AEDT) - Federal Court hearing - Australian Workers Union v Registered Organisations Commissioner - Melbourne

2.15pm (AEDT) - High Court's MP citizenship decision

8.00pm (AEDT) - Rugby League World Cup - Australia v England - Melbourne

Send your same-sex marriage postal vote back today to guarantee it's counted

State and Federal Treasurers Meeting - Sydney

Red Cross Big Cake Bake

Canteen National Bandanna Day

Day for Daniel - focussing on child safety

Saturday

5.00pm (AEDT) - Horse Racing - The Cox Plate (magic mare Winx is hot favourite) - The Valley, Melbourne

Sunday

10.15am (AEDT) - Women's Ashes Cricket (ODI match) - Australia v England - Coffs Harbour International Stadium