Squiz Today – Wednesday, 30 October

THREE MINUTE SQUIZ

"Most decisions are two-way doors - so you can give a new direction a go and walk right back through that door if you think you’ve made a mistake."

Said Jodie Auster, Uber Eats' General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. Jodie's been an emergency doctor, management consultant and is now knee-deep in tech and innovation. Which means she has some great advice on career changes... And she brings us up to speed on the latest food trends. Artisan ice cream anyone?

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ERIN BROCKOVICH HEADLINES AUSSIE CONTAMINATION CASE

THE SQUIZ
A class action involving up to 40,000 people was announced yesterday, and when launched, it will be the largest in Australian legal history. People who live close to Defence bases across the country are planning to sue the Australian Government. They say the value of their property is in the bin because of contamination from the chemical compound PFAS.

WHAT’S THAT ABOUT?
PFAS was used extensively on military bases between the 70s and 2000s as firefighting foam. It leached into the surrounding earth, waterways and food chain, and has been linked with several cancers. The Department of Defence denies the link despite countries like Germany, Britain and the US acknowledging the risk. Erin Brockovich, the American environmental activist whose story was Hollywood-ised, told the ABC she was “dumbfounded” by our government’s failure to address the problem. The action will focus on eight bases: Darwin, Wagga, Richmond (NSW), two bases in Townsville, Bullsbrook (WA), Edinburgh (SA) and Wodonga.

ANY OTHER AGENDA-SETTING LEGAL CASES TO KNOW ABOUT?
Rod Sims, boss of Australia's consumer and competition watchdog, has stepped up his David and Goliath fight against the tech titans with the news yesterday that he's taking Google to court alleging it had unlawfully hoovered up users’ data. The case, which is a world-first and will be heard in the Federal Court, claims Google did not correctly inform Android smartphone users exactly how much data they would be surrendering when using its location services. Specifically, Google continued to collect location data long after users had disabled the function. Commentators yesterday described the legal action as 'groundbreaking'.

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SQUIZ THE REST

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UK LABOUR TO BACK EARLY ELECTION

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has indicated his party will no longer block UK PM Boris Johnson's push for a pre-Christmas poll. 12 December is looming as the likely date for the Brexit-weary nation to return to the polls after Corbyn told parliament his condition of taking a 'no-deal Brexit' off the table had been met. The development comes after the EU granted a 'flextention' to exit deadline of 31 January. Of the looming snap poll, Corbyn said: “We will now launch the most ambitious and radical campaign for real change our country has ever seen." Game on.

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HONG KONG TO HEAD INTO THE RED

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said she expects the territory’s economic growth to go backwards this year. After two years of 3% growth and higher, Lam said “the situation is very grim”. More than five consecutive months of mass protests have seen tourist numbers and retail sales fall sharply, while unemployment and bankruptcies have risen. Lam said measures to boost the economy will be implemented once the unrest in Hong Kong settles. Whenever that is…

And while we have you… Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad Hariri has announced overnight that he will resign. Protests over worsening economic conditions and the government’s response have gripped the nation in recent weeks.

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A TRIO OF TRAGEDY

KILLER JAILED - Codey Hermann, the 21yo man who raped and murdered 21yo Arab-Israeli student Aya Maasarwe in Melbourne in January, was sentenced to a maximum of 36 years in jail yesterday after pleading guilty. "Women should be free to walk the streets alone without fear of being attacked by strangers," said Judge Elizabeth Hollingworth.

BOY DIES IN WELL - A 2yo Indian toddler has died after being stuck in an abandoned well for more than 80 hours. Sujith Wilson fell down a 30cm-wide pipe on Friday afternoon while playing with friends near his home in India's southern state of Tamil Nadu. Rescuers used a thermal camera to determine the boy was unconscious but breathing at the bottom of the 26-metre well on Sunday, but his death was confirmed yesterday.

MAN DIES UP A CHIMNEY - A man has died after he was stuck dangling upside down from the top of an 80-metre chimney for more than 15 hours in freezing conditions in Carlisle, England. During the 10-hour rescue attempt, authorities unsuccessfully tried to reach the man using helicopters and drones. His body was finally recovered using a specialist cherry picker, and police said they are investigating how and why he was up there.

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MORE REASONS TO LEAVE YOUR WALLET AT HOME

NSW yesterday became the second state (and one of the few places in the world) to introduce a digital driver licence. That means licence-holders can use the smartphone version of their drivers deets as a form of ID and for roadside police checks in the state. Some of the conditions of use are: your phone screen can't be (too) cracked; the phone must be charged and on (umm derr…), and drivers may not touch their phone while they're in their vehicle until requested. South Oz introduced the technology in 2017, and Queensland will begin trialling it in the Fraser Coast region later this year. And Australia Post also offers a Digital ID that is widely accepted as proof of age in Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland, the NT and ACT.

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A CHRISTMAS CLASSIC GETS A #TIMESUP UPDATE…

It won an Oscar in 1950 for Best Original Song and has been covered multiple times since by everyone from Lady Gaga to Tom Jones, but it’s taken the #metoo/#timesup movement and the singing duo of John Legend and Kelly Clarkson to make Baby It’s Cold Outside more palatable to modern listening audiences. With the imminent release of his Christmas album, Legend has revealed he’s given the classic song a lyrical makeover. Where once the song’s female protagonist protested “Say, what’s in this drink?” and her suitor replied: “No cabs to be had out there” – the new version features the exchange: "What will my friends think? (I think they should rejoice) / If I have one more drink? (It's your body and your choice)." Put it back on your listen-with-a-clear-conscience list.

SQUIZ THE DAY

12.30pm (AEDT) - Author and entrepreneur Sarah Willson to address the National Press Club on 'Young people are despairing, is it anxiety or a resilience epidemic?' - Canberra

Federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Ken Wyatt to outline a 12-month long process to develop an Indigenous 'voice to government'

ABS Data Release - Consumer Price Index, September

Annual General Meetings - Myer; NIB

Woolworths Group announces its sales result for the first quarter of this financial year

Mischief Night (as distinct to ‘every night’ if you’ve got young kids…)