Squiz Today – Wednesday, 5 April

OLYMPIC-SIZED BATTLE FOR CONTROL

THE SQUIZ
Elite sport has turned into elite politics as campaigning for the position of Australian Olympic Committee president puts our politicians to shame. Nominations for the job close today, and so far there are two contenders. In lane one we have incumbent John Coates. He has 27 years of form, is used to a clear track, and has some powerful mates. In lane two is the challenger, former Olympic hockey player and businesswoman Danni Roche. Roche has faced a barrage of opposition from the Coates camp and others. But she has an advantage in the eyes of many of being, well, not John Coates.

WHY IS OUR OLYMPIC FAMILY SO UNHAPPY?
You could write a soap opera about this. John Coates was elected to the plum job in 1990 and has never been challenged. His supporters point to his many successes, including the successful 2000 Sydney Olympics bid. But Coates is known to play hard and has made plenty of enemies. He’s badly fallen out with Australian Sports Commission boss John Wylie. Coates is very Sydney, Wylie is very Melbourne, and when it comes to sport, that can get ugly. It boiled over earlier this year when the two got shouty at an athletics event. So there’s a split at the heart of our peak sporting bodies and Roche has been encouraged to run for the job by Wylie. For her part, Roche says she’ll do the job for free (nice way to highlight Coates’ $700,000 salary).

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Take your marks! Nominations close today, and the election is on 6 May. Forty sports organisations, AOC board members and the Athletes Commission get to vote for their preferred candidate. Athletics Australia has already said they will vote for Coates, and Hockey Australia will back Roche. You’ll probably hear a lot more on this between now and election day.

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SQUIZ THE REST

RESERVE BANK LEAVES INTEREST RATES AT 1.5%
No one was particularly surprised that interest rates were left on hold yesterday. However, the RBA did flag some challenges they have on their minds - our low inflation rate, and increases in personal debt (a fair whack of it is mortgages) outgrowing wage increases. They also expressed concern about over-extended borrowers relying on interest-free loans and noted the recent moves by regulators to curb this lending. How our economic performance stacks up over the next month will be key to consideration of a rate rise next month. See you on the first Tuesday of next month.

CONDEMNATION FOR SYRIA CHEMICAL ATTACK
The United Nations, US, UK and many others have condemned a chemical attack on Tuesday in north-west Syria that has left at least 58 dead, including 11 children. The White House said it's confident Bashar al-Assad's government is responsible for the attack. Syria says 'wasn't us'. 

PAULINE’S PLANE IN A NOSEDIVE
It didn’t take long for the fallout from Monday's ABC’s Four Corners profile of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party to hit. Special Minister of State Scott Ryan confirmed the Australian Electoral Commission will look into allegations of undeclared donations being made to the party, including the gift of a plane. Hanson’s slogan ‘Fed Up’ is on the side of the plane. We bet she is.

FLOOD UPDATE
The bodies of Tumbulgum woman Stephanie King (42yo) and two of her children Jacob (7yo) and Ella-May (11yo) were recovered yesterday from the Tweed River. Police believe Stephanie helped daughter Chloe-May (8yo) escape and died trying to help her other children. It's believed they were driving on a closed road to get to the children’s school to assist with the flood clean up. Chloe-May is in the care of her father.

Like us, have you wondered why it’s taken Rockhampton so long to flood? Turns out the local Rocky paper was onto this a week ago – the basic explanation is it takes a while for all the water to flow from central Queensland into the Fitzroy Basin, which is double the size of Tassie. It’s a big area catching a lot of water, hence the delay. The peak is expected to hit town on Thursday morning and should subside by Saturday.

LOVE CONQUERS CRONK
A story about NRL and love – honest! Melbourne Storm star Cooper Cronk will leave the team at the end of the season to move to Sydney to build a life with his Emerald City-based fiancé. It’s big news in league circles, he’s played more than 300 games with the Storm since 2004 and while some Sydney clubs are keen to sign him, he says he’s considering giving up the game altogether. “There are a few things in life more important than football. You know, like family, getting married and a future,” he said. It's enough to soften even the toughest league fan's heart.

MELANIA TRUMP A BIT FUZZY
The Twittersphere went into meltdown over US First Lady Melania Trump’s first official photo. Sure it’s a bit photoshopped. And sure, it’s a bit different to the other First Lady official photos.  But how many reminders do we need that this is a very different presidency?

SQUIZ THE DAY

Nauru President Baron Divavesi Waqa arrives in Australia for a four-day visit

Release of the Australian Industry Group Services Index data for March 

ABS data releases: Meat and Livestock; Internet Activity for December