Squiz Today – Tuesday, 13 February

SQUIZ SAYINGS

I was skiing a different line to most and it stayed nice.”

Words to live by from Aussie moguls skier Matt Graham. He took out a silver medal at the Winter Olympics overnight. Hailing from that well-known snow town of Gosford, Graham was looking good for the gold until the second last competitor, a killjoy from Canada, bumped him from the top spot. Check out his medal-winning run here.

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MORE WORK NEEDED TO CLOSE THE GAP

THE SQUIZ
The 10th annual report card on Indigenous wellbeing was delivered in federal parliament yesterday. The Closing the Gap report measures progress on seven targets covering health, employment and education. And despite seeing progress on only three targets, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it’s "the most promising result since 2011". It was certainly an improvement on last year where only one target was on track to be delivered.

WHAT’S THE PROGNOSIS, THEN?
Three things to consider:

• Team Turnbull says the targets need to be ‘refreshed’ in the coming year to be more realistic and to identify state-by-state priorities.

• The PM also said; “We cannot ‘Close the Gap’ if we do not have equal participation in the economy.” Which is a push for businesses to come to the party.

• For his part, Labor leader Bill Shorten said his team would start work on legislation for an ‘Indigenous voice’ to parliament – a proposal rejected last year by Turnbull. Shorten also committed a Labor Government to a $19 million package to compensate survivors of the Stolen Generation.

WHAT HAVE OTHERS SAID?
He has a name… it’s Kevin Rudd, he's from Queensland, and he's here to help. Rudd (who started the whole process) defended the targets and said while progress was hard, change is possible. He also showed bit of cheek by praising apparent Labor leadership aspirant Anthony Albanese. Why is that significant? Because there are gigalitres of bad blood between Rudd and Shorten (see: the faceless men of 2010) and Albanese is currently shadowboxing with Shorten on policy matters. So it’s a ‘my enemy’s friend is my enemy’ situation. Or something like that…

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SQUIZ THE REST

A BIG DAY FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
Who’d be an HR professional in the fraught environment that is the modern workplace? Two examples spring to mind:

• Bottom pinching - cool or not? And when does the person you’re cohabitating and expecting a child with become your ‘partner’? These questions are vexing Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce and those defending him.

• And reports say former Domain impresario Antony Catalano didn’t leave the online property company “to spend more time watering the tomatoes”. Apparently his departure came after complaints to HR about an alleged “boys club” culture. Catalano has denied the specific accusations.

BANKING ROYAL COMMISSION KICKS OFF
The highly anticipated Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry opened yesterday. C’mon, admit it - you’ve been counting the sleeps…

• Public hearings will kick off in about a month and will initially focus on credit cards and dodgy home and car loans.

• It’s going to take the banks more than the two months they’ve had to pull together details of alleged complaints of misconduct against them. That’s because there’s so few they’re hard to find – right?

• The banks were warned not to take legal action against witnesses - even if they have confidentiality agreements in place. And potential witnesses were warned that there wouldn’t be enough time to hear from all of them.

Ground rules = laid.

THE TECH LASH CONTINUES…
Major international consumer brand Unilever is threatening to pull its digital advertising from Facebook and Google because it believes the platforms to be a "swamp" of fake news inhabited by extremists. The company - which produces brands like Dove, Streets ice creams, Lipton teas, OMO and so many more - have a global advertising budget of almost US$10 billion. That’s a lot of ads.

CYCLONE GITA TARGETS TONGA
It’s a category four cyclone monster and getting stronger as it bears down on Tongatapu, the main island that is home to 70,000 people. Locals are bracing for what could be the strongest cyclone they've ever experienced, and authorities have told everyone to prepare for the worst. Neighbours American Samoa and Samoa were struck on the weekend with Samoa declaring a state of emergency.

BELINDA CLARK AND ALLAN BORDER MEDALS
Ladies first… Ellyse Perry was the obvious winner for the top women's cricket award after her amazing season with the bat and ball during the Ashes series. And men's captain Steve Smith was recognised as Australia's best batsman (some say he could even be better than Don Bradman) taking out the Allan Border Medal. And you know it's not an awards night without a red carpet.

OBAMAS’ OFFICIAL PORTRAITS UNVEILED
And just like their time in the White House, opinions are divided. Everyone’s a critic…

SQUIZ THE DAY

ABS Data Release - Lending Finance, December

UN World Radio Day

10th anniversary of former PM Kevin Rudd's delivery of a national apology to the Stolen Generation

Robbie Williams' birthday (1974)