Squiz Today – Wednesday, 18 October

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“My mother did whatever had to be done. If an electrical fuse blew… she replaced it. She didn’t wait for my father to come home.”

She sounds like our kind of lady. And so is Sue Cato, founder and principal of Cato Counsel, the go-to advisers for Australia’s CEOs and boards on communications and issues management. Sue's fab Three Minute Squiz is here.

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THE POWER AND THE PASSION – TURNBULL ANNOUNCES ELECTRICITY MOVES

THE SQUIZ
Look, we’re running out of headlines almost as fast as you’re running out of interest on this issue. But it’s the main game today so once more for the seats at the back… “Game changing” is how PM Malcolm Turnbull described the new national energy guarantee announced yesterday. The plan will deliver “affordable, reliable and responsible” electricity to Australian homes and businesses. And that’s a phrase you’re going to hear a whole lot more of.

SO WHAT WENT DOWN IN C-TOWN?
That’s Canberra, our nation’s capital. Show some respect… The changes aim to make our electricity supply:

• Affordable - They say prices are expected to come down by an average of $115 over the next decade.

• Reliable - Electricity retailers will be required to have enough dispatchable power (ie power that can be fed into the grid instantly, it’s not reliant on the sun or wind) to make sure the lights don’t go out due to supply issues, ever.

• Responsible – This is the lowering carbon reductions bit. To meet our commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement, some of that dispatchable power will need to come from low emissions sources.

And green energy subsidies will come to an end by 2020. “It creates a level playing field for the first time. No more industry policy, no more picking winners, no more favouring one technology over another,” Turnbull said.

WHAT ARE PEOPLE SAYING?
Team Yeah – The business and industry groups seemed pretty happy. And Alan Finkel, Oz's chief scientist and author of the big recent review, gave as good as an endorsement as you could get. He wasn't bothered the government hasn't opted for a Clean Energy Target; he just wants there to be a planned approach. "There's more than one way to skin a cat," he said.

Team Yeah, Nah – Federal and State Labor did what they had to do which is make trouble while not ruling out their support just yet. They’ll continue to scratch at getting the government to guarantee the price decrease. And reports say former PM Tony Abbott, like the time we didn’t get a pony for Christmas, wanted to know where the government-funded coal-fired power generator was. We suspect the answer was the same one we got – maybe next time.

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SQUIZ THE REST

AUSTRALIA ELECTED TO UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
After two years of campaigning, we’ll serve a three-year term. We were in a race with Spain and France for two available seats - the latter missed out (but they’ve got a handsome President so win some, lose some…). Also elected was Congo, a controversial development given their human rights problems. The US is currently reviewing its membership of the council and has called for reforms to eliminate what they claim is a "chronic anti-Israel bias". We take our seat in 2018.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE VOTE TALLY UPDATE
The Bureau of Stats says 10.8 million of us have returned our same-sex marriage votes – up from 10 million last week. With 67.5% of eligible voters getting involved, we’re getting close to the UK’s turnout for their Brexit vote last year of 72.2%, and we're more engaged than US voters were in their last presidential election at 58%. Go us! The survey closes on November 7, and the results will be released on November 15.

INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST KILLED IN MALTA
Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed when her car was blown up yesterday. Caruana Galizia was causing problems for Malta’s rich and powerful, including the Prime Minister, with her investigation of their activities exposed in the Panama Papers. The Panama Papers were the 11.5 million documents leaked mid-last year from law firm Mossack Fonseca showing the many ways companies and individuals could exploit offshore tax arrangements. No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion and investigators say it will take some time to understand what caused it. She was 53yo and leaves behind a husband and three sons.

KRACK ATTACK
Are you KRACK affected? No, we’re not talking about the delicious disastrous Chat10 snacky-treat. It’s a wi-fi problem you should be aware of. If you’re interested in the technical explanation, it’s here because we’re no Bill Gates. But essentially when you link to wi-fi there’s a vulnerability that lets a nearby hacker also link to your device whereby they can get your information like credit card numbers etc. It’s called KRACK because it’s a Key Reinstallation Attack. Reports say Microsoft has issued a patch and Apple is working on it. But why not get into your computer and mobile devices and make sure your programs and operating systems are updated? That’s the only thing you can do.

NINE WIELDS THE AXE AGAIN
Just a day after one of its highest-profile women moved on, Channel Nine yesterday announced Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin's time as host of the rugby league version of the Footy Show is over after 23 years. His likely replacement is Erin Molan, a well-regarded part of Nine’s footy broadcasting line-up. With female viewers an audience ripe for growth, reports say the show will become sharper and more news-focused, with mercifully fewer gags, insults and dress-ups. For those unfamiliar with Molan, she's carved out her own career (of course), but we note as an interesting factlet that she’s the daughter of Jim Molan, the former Australian Army Major General who was Chief of Operations in Iraq in 2004.

NETFLIX GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH
Netflix is crushing it. Their quarterly sales result announced yesterday reveals their subscription numbers have reached 109.3 million. The news sent their share price up to hit 100% growth in the last 12 months. Original content seems to be the draw card, and incredibly they will spend $8 billion on creating shows next year. As long as at least $1 billion of that goes to the next season of The Crown, we’ll be happy.

SQUIZ THE DAY

12.30pm (AEDT) - Brendan O'Connor, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, addresses the National Press Club on 'Work, Wages and Division: Creating a fair and productive labour market' - Canberra

ABS Data Release - Life Tables: States, Territories and Australia, 2014-2016

19th Communist Party Congress kicks off - China