Squiz Today – Wednesday, 15 November

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“Olive oil is the opposite to red wine - it gets worse with age, not better.”

And Lachlan Harris would know given his solid foodie credentials. Formerly comms director to PM Kevin Rudd, Harris is now a successful entrepreneur. He is co-founder/CEO of One Big Switch which is helping 900,000 households save money on their bills. Check out his tomato tips and other sage insights in this week’s Three Minute Squiz.

---

ANOTHER SENATOR GONE - AND GAME ON IN BENNELONG

THE SQUIZ
Yesterday’s political/citizenship shenanigans delivered two developments:

• Surprise! Former NSW Labor Premier Kristina Keneally will run in the Bennelong by-election against former tennis great, Liberal John Alexander (if he gets his citizenship status in order by Thursday next week).

• Not so much of a surprise… Independent Tassie Senator Jacqui Lambie resigned after she received confirmation she is a dual British citizen by descent.

TELL ME ABOUT BENNELONG, IF YOU MUST…
Message received. Keneally was NSW’s first female Premier and was at the helm when Labor was beaten in 2011 after years of scandal and leadership turnover. Expect the Libs to do everything it can to remind voters of her record and connections from those days. In recent times, Keneally has been a political commentator on Sky News. Her profile and the Turnbull Government’s recent own-goals mean she has a chance. However, the Libs say Alexander is well liked locally (of course they would…). He won the seat at the last election by a healthy margin of 9.72%. And for those of you still reading… former PM John Howard held Bennelong for 33 years until he was famously beaten by ABC presenter Maxine McKew in the 2007 election.

AND WHAT HAPPENS TO LAMBIE?
She’s out of a job. It was a tearful Lambie who addressed the Senate to say her goodbyes yesterday. She was praised by all sides for her contribution as a unique voice, particularly for struggling families and veterans. Her replacement is probably Steve Martin – the mayor of Devonport, not the comedian (unfortunately) – who ran on her ticket at the last election. Lambie says she’ll keep her options open on making a return. She wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea but as Labor Senator Doug Cameron said; “no one was ever bored.”

---

SQUIZ THE REST

‘I DO’ FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE?
Put 10am this morning in your diary – that’s when the Bureau of Statistics will announce the results of the same-sex marriage postal survey. A ‘yes’ vote is expected with yesterday’s Newspoll predicting a 63% vote in favour of changing our marriage laws. So what happens next? If it’s a ‘no’ vote - that pretty much kills the matter for now. But if it is a ‘yes’ – legislation will be needed, something PM Malcolm Turnbull said will be voted on by the end of the year. The ABC has polled each MP on how they would vote, and on those numbers it would pass. But there’s argy-bargy about legislating to allow ‘religious freedoms’. There'll be more on this in coming days no doubt.

AMBASSADOR ASSANGE… HOW CLOSE DID WE COME?
The Trump campaign/Russia investigation took a lurch into the absurd yesterday after The Atlantic published messages exchanged between WikiLeaks and US President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Jr. It’s mainly a one-sided exchange with WikiLeaks asking for a range of weird and wonderful things of the Trump campaign including this doozy; “It would be real easy and helpful for your dad to suggest that Australia appoint Assange ambassador to DC.” Some food for thought: WikiLeaks, the organisation that says it champions transparency, was attempting to help manage Trump’s information flow for their mutual benefit. And the Trump campaign previously denied any coordination. Strange days indeed.

ABC REORGANISES
In a restructure worthy of our content-driven world, the ABC's managing director Michelle Guthrie yesterday announced the national broadcaster’s biggest shakeup in 85 years. Gone are the radio and TV divisions. That's so old-fashioned. Going forward, its 3,000 staff will be in News; Local and Regional; or Entertainment and Factual. Guthrie said no job cuts were attached to the reorganisation, rather it’s about; “making sure we work collectively in better and smarter ways to serve our audiences.” As long as that means there’ll be a show for Helen Bidou we’ll be happy.

BUSINESS HAVING A BLAST
There’s an interesting conflict in our economy right now. Consumer sentiment isn’t great mainly because we’re haven’t had a good pay increase for a while. But business says it’s having the best time for 20 years. Interest rates are low, they don’t have to commit much more in wages and profitability is good. Party on! The only sector that doesn’t share the positive outlook is retail because it needs consumers to feel good. No wonder the Reserve Bank is circumspect about raising interest rates.

SOCCEROOS FIGHT FOR A WORLD CUP SPOT
So it’s come to this – Australia v Honduras in Sydney at 8pm tonight. Anything less than a win for the Socceroos will see us out of the 2018 World Cup in Russia. We registered a 0-0 draw in Honduras last week, and after a luxe flight home, the team say they’re feeling good about their chances. World Cup qualification has been troublesome for some big teams eg Italy will miss their first World Cup in 50 years after being bundled out yesterday. L'orrore. Come on Aussie…

SWIFT TEASES AUSTRALIA
Taylor Swift left Aussie fans in suspense yesterday. She’s announced a tour but only gave Oz-based Swifties the ability to register their interest. Her new album Reputation was released last Friday and it's already clocked a million sales in the US. That almost never happens these days. And it's not expected to be available on streaming services for a few days yet. It seems revenge is sweet – and profitable.

SQUIZ THE DAY

10.00am (AEDT) - Australian Bureau of Statistics announced the Same-Sex Postal Survey result

8.00pm (AEDT) - Soccer - Australia v Honduras - Sydney

ABS Data Release - Wage Price Index, September

Liberal Hollie Hughes' eligibility to take Nationals' Fiona Nash's place in the Senate in the High Court

Steve Irwin Day