Squiz Today – Thursday, 29 April

SQUIZ SAYINGS

"Please don't make me go to the finals. I'm tired."

Said Vladislav Ivanov, a 27yo part-time model from Russia who found life as a contestant on a Chinese TV boy band reality show all too much. He finally got his wish after asking fans to vote him out - calls he'd been making for 3 months…

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INDIGENOUS DEATHS IN CUSTODY A ‘NATIONAL CRISIS’

THE SQUIZ
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian yesterday said she was “deeply concerned” about the death of a 37yo Indigenous man in his prison cell in Cessnock on Tuesday. He was the 6th Indigenous person to have died in custody since 2 March and the 4th in NSW. It's a situation Berejiklian says she feels "very strongly about," adding that "too many people of Indigenous heritage are behind bars and shouldn’t be.” This month marks 30 years since the final report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody. Since then, 475 Indigenous people have died in prisons and police cells around the country.

WHAT’S GOING ON?
Good question. “Just this morning I read a report … on how the Royal Commission had not been implemented, and part of it was due to systemic racism, and part of it was about not the appropriate medical attention being provided to Aboriginal prisoners,” Federal Labor’s spokeswoman for Indigenous Australians and Wiradjuri woman Linda Burney said yesterday. Across the board, politicians and advocates again noted that the situation is unacceptable. And many called for the Royal Commission's recommendations to be implemented, with about a third going unactioned. Indigenous Aussies continue to be overrepresented in the criminal justice system - a situation NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman says is “a product of many complex factors for which there is no single or simple solution.” Apryl Day, the daughter of Tanya Day who died in a Melbourne police lockup in 2017, is seeking a meeting with PM Scott Morrison. “We’re just being ignored. We continue to die in custody, and it’s a national crisis,” she said yesterday. The latest deaths are being investigated.

ANYTHING ELSE?
You know there is… A group of 800 Indigenous people from the Northern Territory started the ball rolling on legal action yesterday in a bid to secure compensation for the forcible removal from their families as kids last century. Lawyers say 6,000 people could be eligible to join the class action that was filed in the New South Wales Supreme Court after compensation for Indigenous Territorians who were victims of the Stolen Generation wasn’t forthcoming. In recent times, the states have made $75,000 redress payments to those affected. They’re coming Canberra's way because the Commonwealth administered the Top End until the territory became self-governing in 1978. Lead lawyer Tristan Gaven said the Feds should cough up because it’s “an important first step in acknowledging the pain and suffering that those people have suffered."

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SQUIZ THE REST

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ANOTHER DARK DAY FOR INDIA

It hit 2 grim milestones yesterday… India recorded 360,960 new cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning - another new daily global record. And it was the deadliest day so far, with 3,293 fatalities carrying the death toll to 201,187. Experts say the actual number is higher, with many deaths going unrecorded. What's unfolding in India is a global issue, said Udaya Regmi, the regional boss of the Red Cross/Red Crescent. "As variants keep spreading, this pandemic is far from over until the whole world is safe." America's top infectious diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci also weighed in, saying the vaccination gap that’s opening up between rich and poor nations means “people are dying because there’s not enough oxygen, where there’s not enough hospital beds. We have to try, looking forward, to get as much equity when it comes to public health issues as we possibly can.”

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HORROR CRASH PROTAGONIST'S SENTENCE ANGERS FAMILIES

Melbourne man Richard Pusey could be released from jail later this week after a judge yesterday ruled the 10 months he has already served almost fulfils his sentence. The mortgage broker, who is diagnosed with a complex personality disorder, was detained last year for filming Victorian police officers Lynette Taylor, Glen Humphris, Kevin King and Joshua Prestney after they’d been hit by a truck on Melbourne’s Eastern Freeway in April last year. Pusey had been pulled over for speeding before the crash occurred and escaped unharmed. The judge’s decision was slammed by police organisations and the families of the officers. Lynette Taylor's husband Stuart Schulze yesterday said the footage Pusey recorded of his dying wife “tears at my heart and soul.” But Pusey’s legal woes aren’t over - he could be held in jail as he awaits his next hearing over unrelated theft and assault charges on 6 May. Mohinder Singh, the truck driver, was sentenced to a 22-year jail term earlier this month.

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INFLATION NOT HITTING THE MARK

Australia's record low-interest rates are set to remain in place after consumer prices posted a lower-than-expected increase of 0.6% in the January-to-March quarter. The smidge of an increase was led by hikes in the cost of beef (3.7%) and petrol prices (8.7%), but subdued by falls in the price of fruit (-1.6%) and cereals (-2.7%). Overall, inflation was as lukewarm as former UK PM Tony Blair’s mullet - rising just 1.1% over the past 12 months. That's the lowest increase on record and well below the Reserve Bank's aim of 2-3%. The Reserve Bank said it won't raise official rates until that target is hit, but analysts say that scenario is unlikely for at least a couple of years. Today, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg will deliver a speech outlining plans to spend bigly on employment programs to give the economy the kick it needs to return to solid growth.

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SAMSUNG FAMILY TO PAY TAX BILL IN PAINTINGS

The heirs of the late Samsung Group chair Lee Kun-hee's $27 billion fortune yesterday revealed how they plan to pay one of the largest inheritance taxes in history. The average inheritance tax for OECD countries is 15%, but South Korea has one of the world’s highest rates - it’s 50% once the amount exceeds 3 billion won (A$3.5 million). So over the next 5 years, Lee’s family will pay tax authorities more than 12 trillion won (A$14 billion) over 6 instalments. They are also donating 23,000 artworks - including pieces by Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall and Claude Monet - and giving 1 trillion won towards medical research. The Lee family has been in the public eye a lot in recent times - Lee’s son Jay was sent to prison on corruption charges earlier this year.

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BRITNEY TO HAVE HER SAY

Popstar Britney Spears will front a Los Angeles court on 23 June after she lodged a request to speak about her ongoing conservatorship, her lawyer confirmed yesterday. It will mark the first time in 2 years that the 39yo has addressed the court on the arrangement that has seen her father Jamie control her finances and big life decisions for the last 12 years. Spears has recently requested that her father be removed from the role, and her lawyer says she is "afraid" of him, and she hasn't spoken to him in a "long while". And in a blow to fans, she will not perform if he stays in the position, he said. It’s uncertain if Spears’ upcoming hearing will be open to the public, but that is unlikely to deter the #FreeBritney movement from following her every move…

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APROPOS OF NOTHING

With a heavy heart, we inform you that Crocs, the abomination of the footwear world, are killing it. The company says sales are up by more than 50% as the world seeks comfort after a rough year. It seems misery loves company…

In another sign ‘o the times, US food bible Epicurious has a beef with… beef. The move is "not anti-beef, but rather pro-planet," they say.

And for a picture of the unifying power of food, this takes some beating. Hold the steak…

SQUIZ THE DAY

11.00am (AEST) - US President Joe Biden addresses a joint sitting of Congress on the eve of his first 100 days in office

NSW HSC timetables released

ABS Data Release - International Trade Price Indexes, March

International Dance Day

Prince William and Kate celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary

Birthdays for Jerry Seinfeld (1954), Daniel Day Lewis (1957), Michelle Pfeiffer (1958) and Uma Thurman (1970)

Anniversary of:
• the release of Aretha Franklin’s song Respect (1967)
• the death of Alfred Hitchcock (1980)
• LA police officers acquitted of beating Rodney King, causing deadly riots (1992)
• the Chemical Weapons Convention coming into force, which outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories (1997)