Squiz Today – Wednesday, 13 December

SQUIZ TODAY

“To the 53 people who've watched A Christmas Prince every day for the past 18 days: Who hurt you?”

Tweeted Netflix on Sunday. “This is amazing. Except for the 'watching us like big brother' part,” responded one follower. It’s hard to get a laugh these days…

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DASTYARI’S PEKING DUCK COOKED

THE SQUIZ
NSW Labor senator Sam Dastyari announced yesterday he would not return to the parliament in 2018. He is the 13th senator to resign in the last 18 months. It comes after a number of self-confessed misjudgements over his links to Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo and his alleged pursuit of a ‘pro-China’ agenda via his role as a member of parliament. Dastyari, a rising star of the Labor Party, flamed out rather than faded away.

PLEASE, TELL ME MORE…
Come on, you’re nearly there… The issue was clearly hurting Kristina Keneally’s chances in this weekend’s Bennelong by-election, hence the announcement yesterday. But the broader point is the saga has put a spotlight on China’s growing influence on our national life, and that’s no bad thing. The spotlight that is, not the growing influence. For its part, China had a few choice words about our government’s handling of these issues.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Expect the Turnbull Government to put pressure on Labor to nail down Dastyari’s departure date saying he should not be able to draw a government salary or have access to the benefits of office from today. So far he’s just said he would go before 5 February next year. And a new senator will need to be picked by NSW Labor to replace him. Some say it will be NSW Labor general secretary Kaila Murnain, but Team Turnbull accused Keneally of having it as plan B if she loses in Bennelong this weekend. On that note, it will be interesting to see what, if any, impact Dastyari’s turn as our very own Manchurian Candidate has on the by-election.

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MAKING CHRISTMAS FRESH

PRESENTED BY WOOLWORTHS

Did you know that Woolworths' Fresh is the most read magazine in the country?* That's because month-in-month-out it has some terrific recipes. And it's free at the checkout.

No doubt your Christmas feast planning is at full pace so you should check out the latest edition of Fresh for some inspiration. There's even a great Christmas 101 section to help you master the basics. But the recipe that caught our eye is the passionfruit semi-freddo on page 89. Mmmm.

Check out Woolworths Fresh online or download the app. 

*Woolworths Fresh had a readership of 4,440,000 between October 2016-September 2017. Source: emma

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SQUIZ THE REST

WESTFIELD AGREES TO TAKEOVER
It's the end of an era. Sir Frank Lowy’s Westfield shopping centre business will be taken over by European shopping centre giant Unibail-Rodamco. The deal covers Westfield’s UK, US and European shopping centres and values the company at a whopping A$32.76 billion. Reports say the Lowy family intends to maintain a substantial investment in the combined group, such is their confidence in the move. Other commentators posited whether the sell-off was prompted by the rise of online retail. Westfield spun off its Australian and Asian business creating the Scentre Group in 2014 – it’s unaffected by the deal.

TAXI WARS STEP UP WITH THE ARRIVAL OF TAXIFY
Europe’s fastest growing ridesharing business Taxify started its Australian rollout in Sydney yesterday. It operates in 20 countries and hopes to grow quickly here to compete with Uber. With 4,000 Sydney drivers signed up (who will pay a 15% commission, rather than the 25-30% competitors charge), Taxify is offering a 50% discount to all riders in its first month. It plans to launch in other capitals soon. Check it out here.

TRUMP TAKES ON THE FINAL FRONTIER
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced plans to make the moon great again. The grand plan is to establish a base on the moon to pursue a manned mission to Mars. It will be the first time astronauts have been to the big piece of cheese in the sky since 1972. Space fanatics are eagerly awaiting the deets which are expected when the White House reveals their budget priorities in February.

FEELING SPOOKY?
Speaking of handing over your data to third parties… Have you checked out the Australian Secret Intelligence Service’s ‘most interesting job interview’ test? It only crashed our computer a couple of times while it loaded who-knows-what spyware. Just kidding – if only we were that interesting… We have long maintained we would make an excellent spy but not according to the test. There goes our dreams of a wardrobe full of excellent trench coats. Anyway, ASIS is hiring, and you can take the test via this link.

CASTLE TO TAKE ON RUGBY CHALLENGE
Raelene Castle was yesterday announced as the new CEO of Rugby Australia becoming the first woman to run a major football code in Oz. She comes to the organisation at a difficult time. The Wallabies aren't performing well, and former CEO Bill Pulver was widely criticised for his lack of sports administration experience. Castle, on the other hand, has 10 years experience. She was previously CEO of NRL team Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and before that was chief executive of Netball New Zealand. One problem though – she’s a Kiwi, albeit one that was born in Wagga. We wish her every success.

CAT PERSON BUZZES
What’s hot on the interweb right now? Funny you ask. There’s a lot of buzz (ugh) about a New Yorker short story titled Cat Person. The New York Times says the story written by Kristen Roupenian about Margot and Robert is the business. “The verisimilitude of their encounter started conversations about dating, power and consent.” (Confession time - we had to look up verisimilitude and it means ‘the appearance of being true or real’. You're welcome.) Since being published on Monday, there's been "a backlash and a backlash to the backlash". #signofthetimes

SQUIZ THE DAY

7.30pm (AEDT) - WBO welterweight title fight - Jeff Horn (AU) v Gary Corcoran (UK) - Brisbane (PS Horn's win over Manny Pacquiao won 'Best Sporting Moment of the Year' at last night's AIS Sport Performance Awards)

ABS Data Releases - Census Data: Working Population Profile, 2016; Births, 2016; Australian Health Survey: Consumption of added sugars & Consumption of Food Groups from the Australian Dietary Guidelines, 2011-12