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Chapter 1: What legacy did Professor Richard Scolyer leave behind?
This is a Squiz Podcast. We're your shortcut to being informed.
This episode is brought to you by BHP. BHP plays a big role in the Australian economy from the tax it pays, the small, local and Indigenous businesses it backs, regional communities it supports and how it contributes to the broader economy. Good morning, I'm Andrew Williams. And I'm Anna Paikett. It's Tuesday the 9th of June in your Squiz today.
Valet Professor Richard Scolia, Iran and Israel launch and then pause strikes, some French Open first-timers and Thinking Pink at the Tonys. This is your Squiz today. And the news broke yesterday that Australian of the Year and internationally respected melanoma expert Professor Richard Scolia died at the age of 59 years old. He was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour three years ago.
Now, at the time, he was given just months to live, but He lived much, much longer than that. So if you're familiar with him, you'll know that he was a remarkable man.
He spoke to Kate as part of our Newsmakers series. And when I rewatched this interview yesterday, I was struck by his positivity. He encouraged Aussies to not just lean, but to really leap into life and make the most of every day. And it seems that he did that right until the end. News of his death sparked a big outpouring of love yesterday.
He was from Tassie originally, but moved to Sydney to pursue a career as a pathologist.
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Chapter 2: What recent military actions occurred between Iran and Israel?
He worked at the Melanoma Institute Australia for two decades and his skin cancer research saved thousands of lives around the world. When he was diagnosed with stage four brain cancer, he was facing pretty grim survival odds. And at that point, conventional treatment plans hadn't changed much for 20 odd years.
So in his words, he said, bugger that, I'm not happy to accept that and decided to undergo world first experimental treatment based on his own scientific work.
Yeah, he called his decision a no-brainer, pun obviously intended there, even though it was considered risky. It's called immunotherapy, and it works by using the body's immune system to hunt for and attack cancer cells. So he received three different drugs before having an operation to remove the tumour, and afterwards, scans showed an increase in activated immune cells.
So they're the ones that help the body fight disease and infection.
Now, an Aussie medical oncologist at a uni in North Carolina in the US is leading a trial to see if immunotherapy drugs can help patients diagnosed with the same type of brain tumour which Professor Scoglia was really excited about. In his words, he wanted data collected from his treatment to blow open the field of brain cancer treatment.
But after several months cancer-free, in March last year, he announced on social media that his tumour had returned.
That didn't stop the super active runner and cyclist doing all he could though to raise awareness and money towards finding a cure in his final months. He survived by his wife and three children with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying that he'll receive a state funeral in the weeks to come. And Anna, you mentioned the Newsmakers interview we did with Professor Scoglia.
I don't know anyone that has watched that interview and not taken an enormous amount away from it. So we will add a link to that in the episode notes today.
Music
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Chapter 3: What was discussed about political tensions in Australia?
Both Iran and Israel launched strikes and then announced shortly afterwards that they were pausing those strikes, Anna.
Yeah, quite a bit to catch up on in the last 24 hours. It began when the Iranian military launched new missile strikes on Israel. This was the most serious military action it's taken against Israel since April this year. Iran said the strikes were in response to Israel's attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel fired back shortly after in response.
But then overnight, both sides said they would pause more military action unless they were further provoked. That had experts concerned the already pretty shaky ceasefire was at risk of falling apart. And just before the pause, US President Donald Trump posted a message for both sides to stop shooting.
He wasn't alone in that sentiment. The Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Pakistan, of course, as we've talked about, has been a key mediator in this conflict for months now. He asked all parties to give peace a little more chance. So we'll see if that plea holds over the rest of the week. Coming back home again now, we mentioned the Prime Minister before.
He was also speaking yesterday about a need for calm in our political debate at the moment. He said we need to turn the temperature down, those were his exact words, when it comes to personal attacks on politicians. And this is particularly after a billboard attacking Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen made headlines over the last week.
The billboards were paid for by a Melbourne brothel owner and show Alan wearing a black hat and the phrase, ditch the witch. Alan condemned the billboard, saying, sexism just has no place in our political debate. And former PM Julia Gillard has also weighed in.
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Chapter 4: How is immunotherapy changing cancer treatment?
She was hit with the same slogan by posters as an anti-carbon tax rally back in 2011. She said she thought things had improved for women in politics since then, but was sad to see, in her words, that improvement cast aside.
There was a different view from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. Her exact words for Alan were, suck it up, sweetheart. She said she's faced worse in the past and this is all part of public life. But the PM said these sorts of attacks have come at the same time as threats on the lives of politicians that have ramped up in recent years. And he says he's concerned for their safety.
Quick break in our regular programming now. Anna, we have the second episode in our Squiz special series on AI coming out later in the week.
Yeah, you might have listened to the one with Professor Nicole Gillespie last week. If you haven't, I'd encourage you to do so. It has some really interesting insights around Australians' trust of AI. This week, our guest is Peter Lee. He's a lawyer, so he brings a different element to the conversation, more around the legal technicalities of artificial intelligence.
One thing I noticed listening to this episode, Andrew, was that he was really good at being able to make it relevant to everyday people.
Yeah, he's great at linking it to everyday things like getting a haircut. He was also really interesting when talking about which degrees are going to be most relevant in the future. It turns out philosophy. I didn't necessarily expect that, but it's your time to shine, according to Peter, and he is very much an expert. So that episode will be out on Thursday morning.
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Chapter 5: What were the highlights of the recent French Open?
In the meantime... The first episode with Nicole Gillespie that you mentioned, Anna, is in your feed right now. And all of these episodes are made possible thanks to Mindaroo. A message from BHP. By now, you'll have heard us talking about BHP and its economic impact. That includes connecting with thousands of suppliers across Australia, many of them small and family-run.
In Queensland, BHP partnered with the Baradabana Aboriginal Corporation in 2025 to run a two-day trade show and tendering workshop for the corporation and its member businesses in the Bowen Basin. One of those businesses, Savage Munda Printing and Signs, is now getting quote requests... through BHP's local buying program.
It's one example of how BHP's demand for goods and services flows through to local economies, supporting jobs and activity beyond mine sites. As we mentioned a few times, the French Open has been running over the past few weeks, one of the four Grand Slam tournaments in tennis. This is the clay court tournament, which tends to turn up a few upsets, and it absolutely did that this year.
We had a couple of first-time Grand Slam winners.
Yeah, we've got some names for you to keep handy if you're heading to a pub quiz this week. It will come up.
I can guarantee you it will come up.
Definitely for you, Andrew. 29-year-old German Alexander Zverev and 19-year-old Russian Mira Andreeva took home the trophies. Second seed Zverev had a pretty tough job beating Flavio Caboli, but got it done in five sets to win his first ever Grand Slam title in his fourth final.
Andreeva had an easier time of it in her first ever Grand Slam final, defeating Poland's Maja Halinska in straight sets.
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Chapter 6: Who were the winners of the French Open this year?
She was so excited, Andreeva, she actually forgot to take her trophy up to the podium before lifting it up.
Yeah, she just lifted it straight up and then someone said, oh, you have to go over to the podium. And she was like, oh, sorry. She's 19. She's already won a Grand Slam title. What happens to the best of us? And I imagine at her age, she'll probably get another chance to get that right, perhaps as early as next month when the next big Grand Slam tournament comes along. It starts.
in late june that is of course anna wimbledon and as you would well know that means plenty of strawberries and cream and increasingly a lot of celebrity spotting it's become quite the fashion event as well so we'll keep you posted on that in early july And anyone who has been squeezing for a while now will know that I am a huge fan of musical theatre and Broadway.
So yesterday was a little bit like Christmas for me because it was Tony Awards time. These are the big musical theatre awards that they give out in New York.
Yes, happy Tony Awards time for all who celebrate. Thank you so much. They were hosted by the pop singer Pink, which actually surprised me a bit. I thought she must have been in a Broadway show recently, but no. Even she actually said she wasn't particularly sure why she was there, but she still got great reviews and she can still seriously pump out a song.
Her version of Lady Marmalade to open the show is worth a watch. We'll add that link so you can see it. But as far as the awards go, the big winner was a revival of an Arthur Miller play, Death of a Salesman, which I actually studied when I was back at school a million years ago.
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Chapter 7: What were the key moments from the Tony Awards?
It won six awards, the most of any production.
Yep, know those lines very well from English in year 11, I think it was. And on the musical side, one of the big winners was Schmigadoon. Now, this is an interesting one because it's actually an adaptation of a cancelled TV show that ended back in 2023. They brought it to Broadway twice. And it's become arguably a much, much bigger success.
Now, it might have been helped by the fact that the original show was a parody of musical theatre. So it was quite a circular journey to get there, but a very successful one. It won the Best New Musical Award to end the show. And squeeze the day now. We have a shortcut coming out later today, which is all about the Men's FIFA World Cup.
So this one is promising to be a very interesting tournament co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, more teams than ever before. Controversy, there's a bunch going on. So we've unpacked everything happening both off the field and on it. And it's your Squish Shortcuts debut as well, Anna. So keep an ear out for that later today.
Yeah, it remains to be seen whether or not it's coming home, but let's hold that thought. While we're on all things football, the Matildas, our national women's football team, is also in action later today. They've got a friendly match against Mexico.
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Chapter 8: What is the significance of the musical 'Schmigadoon'?
The two teams also played on Saturday night and the Tillys lost that one, so they'll be keen to make amends for that. It kicks off at 7pm tonight Eastern Time and you can watch it on Paramount+.
That's us done. Thank you very much for listening. We'll be back with you again tomorrow.