Squiz Today / 23 October 2018

Squiz Today – Tuesday, 23 October

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“We don’t give them names, we eat them.”

Said Jyleeah Green, a 12yo Fraser Island Indigenous girl, in response to Prince Harry’s question of what they called the local kangaroos. They breed ‘em tough up there…


“A SORRY THAT DARE NOT ASK FOR FORGIVENESS”

THE SQUIZ
After more than five years of Royal Commission hearings and following the accounts of more than 17,000 survivors, the federal government yesterday delivered a formal apology to the survivors of institutional child abuse. PM Scott Morrison led the apology and said that government, religious and community organisations shamefully covered up for decades what happened to children in their care. And he and Labor leader Bill Shorten acknowledged that it still happens.

WHAT DID THEY SAY?
Morrison - “We can never promise a world where there are no abusers. But we can promise a country where we commit to hear and believe our children. To work together to keep children safe, to trust them and most of all respect their innocence.”

Shorten – “You could be forgiven for thinking that words are cheap… It is now up to those in power, no longer just the survivors and the victims and their advocates.”

Former PM Julia Gillard, initiator of the Royal Commission,- “It took many years to get to this moment but we are only at it not because of me, but because of you.”

Manny Waks, survivor and advocate - "They're words and words are important. What's far more important is the implementation. The government and institutions cannot for a moment think they're absolved of their obligations."

WHERE TO NOW?
Three things to note:

• The first order of business is the redress scheme which should deliver an estimated $4 billion to survivors. The states and many religious and community organisations have signed up, but some are holding out. Morrison yesterday said they have a duty to get onboard.

• He also said the government was working through the Commission’s 122 recommendations that involved them.

• And in new news, a National Museum will be built that will be “a place of truth and commemoration, to raise awareness and understanding” for abuse survivors, their loved ones and the community more broadly.


SQUIZ THE REST

NEW NUMBERS ON NAURU
The latest government update to what’s happening on Nauru shows 11 children have recently been brought to Australia for medical treatment. Another 52 kids remain on the island. There has been pressure on the government in recent weeks to remove all children from Nauru with concerns for their health and wellbeing. Reports say the Greens are considering supporting legislation that would allow 150 refugees to be resettled in New Zealand on the condition they couldn’t come to Oz in the future, but only if the children were first brought to Australia for medical attention and if the laws applied to this group only.

RUSH TAKES THE STAND
Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush was the star witness yesterday in his defamation case against Nationwide News, publisher of the Daily Telegraph. He recounted feeling “numb’” and as if “someone had poured lead into my head” upon reading a Tele front page article last November which alleged he had behaved inappropriately towards co-star Erin Jean Norvill during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear. Pressing the case for damages, Rush’s lawyer gave evidence that in the year leading up to the newspaper story, the award-winning thesp had reaped a cool $1.5 million in earnings – and that in the year since, a comparatively meagre $44,000. The ‘W’ word was even invoked during discussion of damages – by which we mean Wilson. Rebel Wilson. Rush will be cross-examined today.

QUICK WORLD NEWS WRAP
MARCHING NORTH - For days now, migrants from Central America have been walking north in the hope of making it to the US and a better life. Reports say the group is now 5,000 strong and stretches almost a kilometre down a Mexican highway. It will take some weeks to get to the US border, which is 1,600km from where they are now. US President Donald Trump has threatened cut aid to the migrants' home countries. The pictures in this report give you some sense of the scale it.

KHASHOGGI BODY DOUBLE – A timeline put together by Turkish authorities shows writer Jamal Khashoggi entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October, and less than two hours later, a member of the suspected Saudi hit squad leaves wearing his clothes. Creepy.

THAT’S A LONG BRIDGE… - It is. At 55 kilometres in length and costing a cool US$20 billion, it will connect Hong Kong and Macau to the Chinese mainland city of Zhuhai (which solves the puzzle of why it’s called the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge). Hong Kong locals worried an influx of Chinese tourists will see it burst at the seams. Others say it will bring economic benefits to the area. Why are we telling you this? It opens today.

PETROL PULLS PREMIUM PRICES
Petrol prices have hit a 10 year high, so you're not imagining things when the price at the bowser feels like a record. The national average has hit $1.59/lt. Analysts said that with the discounting cycle, prices could get down to $1.43/lt and as high as $1.70/lt. So good luck with that. The price increase is down to a messy mixture of oil-producing countries limiting production, and the market uncertainty that’s primarily being driven by the US/China trade ding-dong.

COMEDY QUEEN HONOURED
Julia Louis-Dreyfus yesterday received a prestigious gong – the Mark Twain Prize for American Humour. Over to her: “When Mark Twain first emailed me about the Mark Twain prize, I have to admit I totally misunderstood. I thought I was being asked to honour someone else. What a hassle. I have to go all the way to Washington DC and make up flattering things to say about how funny someone else is. And then I realised, it’s me. I get the prize, and my attitude about the whole thing changed. It really did. This is a great night, a great honour. Anybody would be lucky to be part of a night like this honouring someone like me.” Louis-Dreyfus has had a rough trot with a breast cancer diagnosis last year (which she says she has beaten) and the recent death of her sister.

FOMOMG
There is a mass of Millennials suffering from the ‘fear of missing out (on) my goals’, like being a millionaire by 25yo. Maybe this would help?

SQUIZ THE DAY

Ryan Reynolds' birthday (1976). That's all you need to know about today

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