News update for Fri 11 April 2025
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
22 days until the May 3 federal election
Welcome to your TrueNorth news update where every weekday afternoon we share curated articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.
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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Watch The Sunday Shot - LIVE STREAMED - this Sunday morning at 9am - with Jo Dyer, Dave Milner, The Klaxon’s Anthony Klan, Lucy Hamilton and Jackie Turner from Trans Justice Project. Subscribe to The Sunday Shot’s Youtube channel for a notification as the panel goes live.
The Coalition prepares to soften Australia’s 2030 climate target, while reaffirming its commitment to the Paris Agreement - The Conversation
The Coalition has been forced to reassert its commitment to the Paris climate agreement after its energy spokesman Ted O’Brien appeared to waver on the pledge on Thursday.
O'Brien faced off against Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen at a debate in Canberra, weeks out from a federal election in which energy policy is emerging as a hot-button issue.
Under the landmark Paris deal, Australia has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 43% by the end of the decade, compared to 2005 levels. O'Brien on Thursday said the Coalition would review the target if it wins office.
Also read >
A statement by the minister for the environment in the new Australian Government - Pearls and Irritations
Newsroom edition: the climate crisis has disappeared from the election agenda - Full Story Podcast
Coal-funded Australians for Prosperity deletes posts after AEC intervention - The ABC
Down in the weeds of the energy debate: We fact check Bowen and O’Brien on renewables and nuclear - Ketan Joshi for Renew Economy
Honest Government Ad | Salmonese’s Surprise - The Juice Media
The Australien Government has made a cooking show about it's latest fishf*ckery, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.
Watch The Juice Media’s latest Honest Government Ad
Is the minority government ‘dream’ dead? - Crikey's Electioncast
Peter Dutton’s flopping, and Labor has surged ahead in the most recent polls. Does this kill the prospect of any kind of minority government? Crikey politics editor Bernard Keane and readers editor Crystal Andrews discuss why Anthony Albanese’s fortunes appear to have changed so quickly, and if NSW Labor’s response to the historic NSW doctor’s strike is damaging federal Labor’s health credentials. Despite the polls, our columnist Rachel Withers explains why independents are still the ones to watch, and media reporter Daanyal Saeed reveals the jaw-dropping cost of getting on the campaign bus.
Listen to Crikey’s Electioncast
Also read > Labor gains 5-point lead in a YouGov poll, taken during Trump tariff chaos - The Conversation
Trump's Psychological Vulnerability - Timothy Snyder
Trump has an obvious weakness that makes America weak. He places the American economy at risk for the sake of a personal foible, a visible vulnerability.
All his adult life, Trump has been ripping people off. That is his modus operandi. Rather than a conscience, he has the habit of displacement. It is not that he is ripping people off. Everyone else is ripping him off.
As he has aged this has grown into an vulnerability. He actually seems to believe that everyone is ripping him off. He makes no distinction between himself and the government. And he has no grasp of how any significant policy actually works. This means that anyone who has access to him and understands his vulnerability can generate a self-destructive American policy.
Read more from Professor Timothy Snyder
Also read >
When a Tyrant Becomes Vulnerable - Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Donald Trump Wants to Save the Coal Industry. He’s Too Late - WIRED
It’s Not Just Trump Destroying Democracy - Dan Rather
John Lyons: As Trump and China refuse to blink on tariffs, the biggest consumer splurge in history is over - ABC News
The most powerful economy in human history — but can you buy a toaster?
The most daunting military ever — but why are our children's toys so expensive?
Even after he did a last minute U-turn, that's the future facing Americans in the new world of Donald Trump.
As they watched their 401K superannuation funds diminish by the day, the reality of a re-elected Trump was beginning to dawn on Americans.
What Trump was doing, in the words of Australia's former Ambassador to China, Geoff Raby, could be "one of history's greatest acts of self-harm".
Read more from John Lyons for The ABC
Also read > Australia is on an economic rollercoaster thanks to Donald Trump. What happens from here? - Nicki Hutley for The Guardian
Today’s cartoon by First Dog on the Moon
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Corporate tax avoidance. Who helps fund Australia, and who doesn't? - Michael West Media
With the election looming, the promises of the major parties can only be kept if enough tax is collected to pay for them, including from those big corporations that avoid paying. A new search tool will help to expose them, thanks to Mark Zimsak, Jason Ward, Roman Lanis and Mikhail Shashnov.
What do mega port operator DP World, coal mining giant Peabody, packaging behemoth Amcor, metals and mining wholesaler Citic Resources, and News Corp Australia have in common? For the last ten years, their Australian operations have paid no income tax. Zero, zilch, nada.
Read more in Michael West Media
Stephen Duckett: If I were health minister… - Pearls and Irritations
Depending on the outcome of the election, there may be negotiations required as part of a hung parliament. If with the Greens, it will be about addressing an obvious gap in the Australian healthcare system: universal access to dental care. Negotiating the shape and extent of the initial phase of a new program will thus become another imposed, albeit welcome, priority. As minister, I would like to ensure that whatever is negotiated is acknowledged as part of a decade-long plan for a full rollout. Work will be required in tempering expectations, but getting a universal scheme started will be a major achievement.
But once I’ve cleaned these issues off my desk, I’d like to move beyond the urgent and quickly address four priorities.
Read more from Stephen Duckett in Pearls and Irritations
Also read > Media leaders highlight key election health issues for communities - Croakey Health Media
Coalition election win could cause loss of hundreds of jobs at agency scrutinising aged care mistreatment, modelling says - The Guardian
Exclusive: Peter Dutton’s plan to reduce public service may see 26.5% jobs at Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission disappear, according to union.
Hundreds of jobs could be lost at the government agency responsible for investigating allegations of serious wrongdoing and mistreatment in aged care homes if the Coalition wins the election, the public sector union has warned.
The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has hired more than 500 public servants since the 2022 election to deal with a backlog of complaints from residents and to resolve a “staggering” number of real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest involving consultants paid millions of dollars to conduct audits in homes.
Also read > Coalition ducks and weaves on how universities should make up for lost foreign student income - Crikey (paywall)
Dave Milner: On doing the same inadequate shit over and over again until the end of democracy - The Shot
Just a few quaint pandemic-y years ago, Scott Morrison, Prime Minister, secret Health Minister, secret Finance Minister, secret Industry, Science, Energy and Resources Minister, and secret Home Affairs and Treasury Minister, possessed the Professor-X-like ability to put my mind into a trance. To telekinetically move my arm to the tv remote, to click off, and, without me having any conscious realisation I was about to open my mouth, mutter something like ‘what a creepy fuck’, or ‘that’s the guy that shat himself at Maccas,’ or ‘they used to make prosperity preachers with charisma, what the hell happened?’ Morrison possessed real power over my mind and body and I resented him for it, amongst other things.
Read more from Dave Milner for The Shot
We want an honest policy debate, but we’re waiting for the Coalition to come to the table - Women’s Agenda
Australian women will be voting for their future in the upcoming federal election, and they deserve to know where each political candidate stands on the issues that matter to them.
The nation’s domestic violence crisis, cost-of-living crisis and climate crisis are not going to simply disappear without real policy action. That’s why Women’s Agenda is hosting a debate to allow party representatives to touch on the issues that matter to women. We want to see an honest policy debate to help our audience get election-ready.
Joining us is Minister for Women Senator Katy Gallagher, Greens Spokesperson for Women Senator Larissa Waters and Independent MP Allegra Spender.
Notably, there were no Coalition members who accepted our invitation to join the debate.
Also read > Election report card: Where do the major parties stand on addressing violence against women? - Women’s Agenda
You can run, Mr Dutton, but you can’t hide - The Politics
The black clouds of Donald Trump and his aggressive anti-'woke' proclamations from on high has settled like concrete on the Liberal leaders' shoulders.
It must have been quite a time at Liberal HQ last weekend as Peter Dutton’s team attempted to steady the ship. It felt like a Harvey Norman crazy end-of-year sale. Policies? Candidates? All stocks must go! Working from home? Not a problem. Cutting 41,000 public service jobs? Not any more.
Read more from David Hardaker for The Politics
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Quick Links…
Major parties pour millions into social media advertising in first week - ABC News
A fair go for young Australians in this election? Voters are weighing up intergenerational inequity - The Conversation
All to be won in the West: a Coalition catfight, sheep fury and the battle for Bullwinkel - The Guardian
TDA's quest to interview Peter Dutton - The Daily Aus Podcast
Dutton's faux news training is the reason his campaign is struggling - Crikey (paywall)
The No Campaign Redux: Dutton’s Failed Con & the Insult to Australians - Sue Barrett
‘Alarmist nonsense’: Labor and Coalition dismissed security risks over the Port of Darwin for years. What’s changed? - The Conversation
Could Trump’s tariffs lead to another house price boom in Australia? - The Guardian
Seven stories you will read roughly 100 times between now and election day - Crikey (paywall)
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Share your views on Australia’s media landscape through TrueNorth’s short survey
You’re up to date for Friday the 11th of April. See you on Monday!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
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