12 April 2025 - Saturday Squiz

This time next Saturday, we’ll be well into the long Easter weekend. How good… This weekend, if you’re a mold (or mould…) breaker, have an overrated food that grinds your gears or anything else you’d like to share, hit reply.

⏱️ Reading time: 8 minutes

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This week's top stories

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs - huge story again this week. Like, totally gazumped everything else as the biggest story this week by a clear margin. If you want to see why it’s a thing, this is the only graph you need… So we decided to use this space to unpack the top 5 stories of the week coming from the election campaign (which were in the following top spots anyway…)

1. Sky News kicks off the debates - PM Anthony Albanese and Coalition Leader Peter Dutton took centre stage on Tuesday night in Western Sydney, covering everything from Medicare to energy to immigration - you can check out the highlights here. Neither one had any especially wonderful or woeful moments, but the final count gave Albanese the win.

2. Who left the gas on? - Dutton announced this week that the Coalition would cut household gas bills by 7% with a plan to slash gas prices by holding back gas shipments from export markets. Experts questioned this, though, saying the cost of transporting the gas from Queensland to Victoria/NSW may mean it doesn’t make much difference…

3. Walking back working from home - It’s never easy to admit you made a mistake, least of all in the middle of an election campaign, but that’s what Dutton did on Monday. The Coalition has reversed its policy to scrap a demand to get public servants back in the office 5 days a week. Reports say it was a stinker with women, including those working outside the public sector.

4. When too many Sky News debates are barely enough - Debate fiends could back up on Wednesday night to catch Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Coalition spokesperson Angus Taylor go at it. Veteran moderator/business editor Ross Greenwood kept ‘em on the straight and narrow, and there was a bit of commentary around about how it was a more fulfilling hour of TV than the previous night’s efforts as a result…

5. Buying back the Port of Darwin - In a radio interview with ABC Darwin last Friday, the PM said he would enter negotiations to regain ownership over the Port of Darwin from the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group. Reports say he did that after getting wind of the Coalition getting ready to reveal that exact policy. The port is super strategically important for Australia’s maritime security, and with recent concerns over Chinese navy ships skirting the coastline, its found its way into this campaign.

S’Quiz me real good…

Reckon you know which TV network hosted the first leaders’ debate of the Aussie election? Have a crack at the Squiz Quiz.

Shot of the Week

The word ‘de-extinction’ was added to our vocab this week when scientists announced they’d brought back the dire wolf, a species that died out 12,500 years ago. A private company got DNA from bones tens of thousands of years old, and one surrogate and a sprinkle of genetic editing = 3 healthy pups. Turns out they’re technically altered grey wolves, so it’s not quite the Game of Thrones story fans might’ve hoped for - but series creator George RR Martin seemed to enjoy himself when he got to meet them.

Exploring the childcare crisis with The Parenthood

For many mums, not being able to access or afford early education and care can make returning to work impossible. But not working at all, or working part-time, often comes with a big price tag… If you want to know where the major parties stand, The Parenthood’s Early Learning Scorecard has answers, and episode 3 of At What Cost? - a new podcast series from The Parenthood - gets into how women often come off second best and explores potential solutions. You can listen here.

In the Kitchen

Soup - it’s not food, actually. And more often than not, the vibe soup gives us makes us disappointed and angry. But we get it - it’s a convenient way to get a good lunch. So we hopefully ventured into this recipe for Italian Wedding Soup (a reference to the marriage of elements, not the life event). With its meatballs, a little bit of pasta, greens and chicken stock, we think we’ve found a soup we’re actually excited about.

What we Shortcut for you this week

Week 2 of the election campaign - We're into the swing of things now, but it's been an unusual week with Trump's tariffs dominating the agenda. We cover how the tariff debate intersects with the campaign, the Coalition's work from home backflip, and the focus on Labor's handling of the economy. You can read up on that here or listen to the podcast here.

Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs - We had to… Trump’s plan to ‘Make America Wealthy Again’ by imposing tariffs on almost all imports to the US (although a 90-day pause has been announced for all but those on China) has been a huge event. We look at how the world has reacted, what the markets are doing and what the tariffs mean for us in Australia. You can read more here or listen to the podcast here.

Squiz the Week

Saturday - The Australian Open and Under 20s Athletics Championships continue over the weekend, as yesterday Gout Gout cracked the 10sec mark in the 100m sprint, though he was assisted by a tailwind. Also, the Gather Round continues in South Oz for the AFL. And the Jewish holiday Passover begins, lasting until 20 April 

Sunday - It’s been a year since the Bondi Junction Westfield attack. And the leaders of our major political parties will be front and centre as their campaigns are officially launched in Perth for Labor and TBC for the Coalition

Monday - The criminal trial for former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of insurrection will begin in Seoul following his official removal from office last week. In TV news, Season 2 of The Last of Us will be released in Australia, available on Max, HBO's new streaming service

Tuesday - The US Federal Trade Commission (like our ACCC) will launch its anti-trust case against Meta over questions about its purchase of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014 and whether those acquisitions were actually about crushing competition

Wednesday - PM Anthony Albanese and Coalition leader Peter Dutton will return to the debating stage with ABC TV’s Leaders’ Debate, moderated by David Speers. It will be available to watch at 8pm (AEST) on ABC iView 

Thursday - There are a million reasons to just dance because tickets go on sale for Lady Gaga's MAYHEM Ball tour at 11.30am (AEST) via Live Nation - her first Australian tour in 11 years

Friday - Good Friday kicks off the much-needed long weekend while the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach surfing comp is set to make a splash in Victoria, watch it on 7Plus

Double-Tapping

🚨 Ear-worm warning thanks to A-HA’s Take on Me backing these moves 🚨 These twins have got us in a trance with seamlessly synced steps…