“Gyatt”, “skibidi” and “rizz” are words that people who remember home phones tend to avoid using in public, partly to avoid their misapplication.
Step in Jacinta Allan, self-described mum, Bendigo local and premier of Victoria, whose Instagram has taken a noticeable pivot towards the youth vote.
Batting for the youth team: Premier Jacinta Allan at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi in September, spruiking the Boxing Day Test.Credit: Jai Narula
This, of course, comes with some translation risks, as evidenced in a post riddled with young-person slang that disappeared into the ether on Monday.
The post – here on Sunday, gone on Monday – featured someone playing Minecraft while a narrator talked about Victoria building lots of houses.
We think that was the message. We were distracted by the heavy-handed use of “rizz”, “skibidi”, “gyatt” and, in particular, “goon-worthy” — the term “goon” no longer simply being slang for a wine cask or a gangster’s muscle.
CBD is not about to explain its adults-only meaning here, and if you have to Google it, we’d suggest not doing so at work.
We checked with the premier’s office as to why the post was taken down and whether the text had been put through some kind of Gen Alpha translator.
We didn’t hear back – which, according to a translator, means “didn’t get a response”.
Scotch comrades
From announcing plans to phase out Bahasa Indonesian lessons to buying a 71-hectare property near Mallacoota, there’s been plenty of activity at ultra-expensive boys’ school Scotch College in recent terms.
Record numbers of Scotch College staff are joining the Independent Education Union.Credit: Joe Armao
Now, CBD hears record numbers of staff at Scotch are joining the Independent Education Union, paving the way for the union to negotiate on behalf of staff for the first time.
In the school’s 173-year-old history, Scotch staff have always negotiated with leadership directly. The union needs the support of most staff members to negotiate an enterprise agreement on their behalf – it’s not there yet.
But it has confirmed growing numbers of Scotch staff are joining amid unhappiness about the management of the school, including growth in middle management roles. Scotch was contacted for comment. We’ll keep you posted.
Drill, baby, drill
As Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart has few qualms about doling out advice to the country’s leaders, and the odd museum curator.
Rinehart, who was in Florida to soak up the vibes at Donald Trump’s victory party, has returned to Australia with a spring in her step, buoyed by the immense wisdom shown by some 74 million Americans earlier this month.
At a speech for National Mining and Related Industries Day hosted by Santos at its Moomba plant in South Australia last week, Rinehart showed her fellow resource heads just how chuffed she felt about the state of the world.
“Great to be with you all for our national day. Shouldn’t we really have a national month or two, given our industry’s contribution?” Rinehart opened.
The rest of the speech was a fawning Trump love-fest, demonstrating just how breathlessly enthused Australia’s richest person is about change at the White House.
“Don’t you just love the saying ‘drill, baby, drill’?” Rinehart asked the crowd, repeatedly returning to a slogan Trump used on the campaign trail to rev up the oil and gas industry.
Echoing Trump supporters’ attacks on RINOs – Republicans in name only – Rinehart had plenty of digs at LINOs, who we presume are “Liberals in name only”.
“This is not a time for LINOs, timidly fiddling around a few edges, careful not to upset the minority noisies or rapidly increasing bureaucrats, none of whom will ever vote for the Coalition. We need to make Australia great again. Don’t we!” she said.
Elon Musk listens as president-elect Donald Trump speaks.Credit: Bloomberg
As leaders from around the world scrambled to Azerbaijan for the COP29 global climate talks, Rinehart took a swing at “bureaucrats’ and billionaires’ luxurious gabfests around the world in aid of banning fossil fuels”.
“This expensive net-zero cult sure likes to use lots of fossil fuels for their many, many trips, including using hundreds of private jets,” she said.
There was more effusive praise for Rinehart’s fellow billionaire pal Elon Musk, appointed by Trump to run the Department of Government Efficiency with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
The original Make America Great Again cap. Credit: Reuters
Rinehart finished things off with a gushing tribute to another foreign leader, Argentina’s arch-libertarian president, Javier Milei.
“This year I’d like to leave you with a quote from another brave outstanding leader, the president of Argentina, Milei, quote: ‘The collectivism and moral posturing of the woke agenda have collided with reality and no longer have credible solutions to offer to the actual problems of the world’,” she said.
It was all very fawning. But when you’ve got Rinehart’s level of wealth, and a captive audience of miners, you really can say whatever you like.
Is Don, is good
Also wondering how to co-opt Trump’s remarkable political comeback? CBD is impressed by an enterprising Melbourne traders’ association, which is flogging red caps that bring to mind the president-elect’s eye-catching MAGA hats.
The local version says “MMAGA” instead, an initialism for “Make Mont Albert Great Again”. All for a bargain $20. The Don would be proud.
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