News update for Fri 13 Sept 2024
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
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 - and through 6 News here
BREAKING NEWS: Conspiracists and people linked to anti-lockdown campaigner among 120 ‘fringe’ candidates in NSW council elections - The Guardian
Could Albanese’s social media ban for children do more harm than good? - The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Australia’s prime minister has said the government will impose a ban before the next election on younger teenagers and children accessing social media. But questions remain about whether such a ban is possible. Chief political correspondent Paul Karp speaks to Reged Ahmad about why the government has set its sights on our online world, and whether it can legislate young people off the apps.
Listen to The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Tim Dunlop: What exactly does Anthony Albanese mean by "social media"? - The Future of Everything
There are so many infuriating things about the Albanese Government’s announcement that they intend to legislate age-limit access for social media that it is hard to know where to start. Once again, team Labor are being spooked into badly thought-through laws rather than having the courage to take a beat and address a serious issue in a serious way.
Read more from Tim Dunlop for The Future of Everything
More Voices, Better Choices: A ‘Hung Parliament’ And Real Climate Action - Lyrebird Dreaming
As we head towards a federal election, there’s a lot of talk about the possibility of a so-called ‘hung parliament’. Peter Dutton has been quick to label it a “threat.” But the real threat is the dominance and arrogance of the major parties. The truth is, when the two-party system is forced to negotiate with independents, we end up with better outcomes - particularly on urgent national interest issues like climate change.
Looking back at Australia's political history, the last time we had a hung parliament was under Julia Gillard’s government from 2010 to 2013. Contrary to the doom-and-gloom narrative often spun, this period was one of the most productive in terms of legislation. Importantly, it was during this time that Australia introduced a carbon price - a critical step in addressing the climate crisis. Independent MPs played a pivotal role in shaping this.
Read more in Lyrebird Dreaming
Also read >
Labor’s stalled environmental agenda under pressure from left and right | Australian politics - The Guardian
Barnaby Joyce wrong on international power price comparison - AAP Fact Check
Entire Earth vibrated for nine days after climate-triggered mega-tsunami - The Guardian
New plan shows Australia’s hydrogen dream is still alive. But are we betting on the right projects? - The Conversation
Australia’s aged care overhaul: what are the changes, and will you have to pay more? - The Guardian
Many pensioners will be required to pay more for their aged care and providers will be allowed to keep small portions of a “refundable” accommodation deposit, under sweeping changes to prop up the sector.
The federal Labor government says reforms will deliver $930m into aged care over the next four years but save $12.6bn over the next decade by asking wealthier people to contribute extra money to their care. People already in aged care won’t have to pay more but those entering the system in future will be assessed under a new means-testing formula to better support accommodation costs and providers.
Additionally, new funding will be available to help older people remain at home for longer, instead of entering residential care.
Also read > The government has a new plan for residential aged care. Here’s what’s changing - The Conversation
Does the Albanese government’s proposed ‘hate speech’ law give us what we need? - The Conversation
Back in May, the Albanese government told us to expect strict new hate speech laws.
In its bill introduced to parliament this week, though, the government has stepped back from the plan to criminalise racist hate speech.
Instead, conduct will be criminalised only where it involves “threats of force or violence”.
This will be disappointing to some, particularly those who were looking for stronger protections against racism – including antisemitism and Islamophobia – in the wake of the ructions caused in Australia by the events in Israel and Palestine.
Also read >
Elon Musk calls Australian government ‘fascists’ over move to regulate online misinformation - The Guardian
A new law aims to tackle online lies – but it ignores expert advice and doesn’t go nearly far enough - The Conversation
Young people no longer see Labor as the party of protest - Pearls and Irritations
The response to a piece I wrote for the SMH/Age recently has been very interesting in a number of ways. It has also been very revealing. I have been called a “dog”, been accused of rewriting history and of “letting the side down”. Every one of the responses had ignored the basic premise of my article. I wrote about the generational change in my family and my friend’s families that has seen young people abandon Labor and turn to the Greens in frustration. It’s not that they are necessarily attracted to the Greens; it is that, for young people, there is no alternative.
Young people no longer see the Labor Party as the party of protest as young people once did. It doesn’t invigorate them the way it invigorated their parents (or grandparents) in years gone by. They are frustrated by Labor. They have zero interest in the machinations of the factions. They want action on, say, climate change and they want it now. The debate on whether it is politically expedient to close a coal mine doesn’t resonate. Any more than the argument to gradually end the Vietnam War didn’t resonate nearly 50 years ago. Or that apartheid could be gradually phased out.
Read more in Pearls and Irritations
Also read > Government to pay Reynolds’ costs for referral of Higgins settlement to federal corruption watchdog - The Guardian
Today’s cartoon by Cathy Wilcox
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Wendy Bacon: Just 'Rubbish & Rates', or is the Israel war lobby interfering in Australia's local elections? - Michael West Media
Is it really just about ‘rubbish and rates’ or are pro-Israel campaigners plotting against the Greens in Sydney’s looming council elections? Wendy Bacon examines the evidence from a number of inner-city councils.
When placards urging people to ‘Put Greens Last’ in Saturday’s local government elections started popping up in Sydney’s Inner West and Eastern Suburbs, the first question people asked was: “Who authorised the placards?” Electoral laws require that all campaigning material is authorised.
The answer was found in small letters at the bottom of the placards – Sophie Calland of Better Council Inc., Quay Quarter Tower, 50 Bridge Street, Sydney.
Read more from Wendy Bacon from Michael West Media
Denis Muller: Sneesby’s resignation from Nine points to host of problems besetting commercial TV networks - The New Daily
Mike Sneesby’s resignation as chief executive of the Nine Entertainment Company completes a cleanout at the top of an organisation besieged by the consequences of cultural toxicity.
These consequences began coming to light in March, when News Corporation newspapers and Nine’s mastheads published allegations that Darren Wick, who was Nine’s head of news and current affairs for more than a decade, groped three women in public view of their colleagues.
Read more from Denis Muller for The New Daily
Rick Morton: ‘Lost their way’: 12 public servants breached code of conduct over robodebt - The Saturday Paper
Former Department of Human Services secretaries Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon have both been found to have breached the Public Service Code of Conduct in relation to their handling of the illegal robodebt scheme. They are among 12 current and former officials who have been found to have breached their obligations 97 times.
None of the public servants still employed have been fired from their positions, although several have been fined or demoted.
The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) released findings from its centralised, independent review of the scandal today, after almost 14 months conducting a separate investigation following referrals from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme.
The APSC found Kathryn Campbell breached the code 12 times during a period in 2017, two years after the scheme began.
Read more from Rick Morton for The Saturday Paper (paywall)
Also read >
Robodebt department head Kathryn Campbell among 12 public servants who breached code of conduct 97 times - The Guardian
Not one person “punished” over Robodebt - Anthony Klan for The Klaxon
Josh Taylor: Sharing someone’s personal info online may soon mean jail time. How will Australia’s proposed doxing laws work? - The Guardian
Long-awaited reform to Australia’s privacy legislation would criminalise so-called doxing with lengthy jail terms on the table, according to a new bill introduced in parliament on Thursday by the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus.
Dreyfus said the new legislation was a response to “a recent, shocking incident of a group who were targeted with doxing on the basis of their religion”.
This was an apparent reference to the publication of members of a WhatsApp group of Jewish creatives earlier this year, some of whom had targeted the employers or publishers of those posting pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel messages on their social media.
Read more from Josh Taylor for The Guardian
Bernard Keane: The biggest perpetrators of misinformation and privacy breaches will escape new laws - Crikey
The government’s sudden flurry of communications regulation, covering “anti-doxxing” laws, an anti-misinformation regime, privacy reforms and hate speech laws covered a range of legislation and portfolios — Communications, Attorney-General’s and potentially Treasury — but have a running theme: the biggest peddlers of misinformation, the biggest doxxers, the most serious threats to privacy, won’t be caught. And that’s the mainstream media.
Instead, as is the pattern with this government, the media will be given a privileged position compared to the universally vilified social media.
The anti-doxxing bill, aimed at the malicious release of personal information, was created amidst a moral panic after people organising to wreck the careers of critics of Israel were exposed.
Read more from Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
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Fear for koalas after bushwalker finds fire ant nests in Queensland sanctuary - The Guardian
Dutton’s anti-immigration stance is a symptom of a deep failure in Australian public policy - Crikey (paywall)
Pokies pulled from storage to meet booming demand as profits soar - The SMH/Age
New study links low incomes, stressed parents and child behaviour – better support would bring lifelong benefits - The Conversation
Australia’s first national newspaper – for prisoners, by prisoners - 7am Podcast
Gambling apps nearly ruined my life. And Labor has chosen self-interest over protecting the vulnerable - The Guardian
Eric Beecher on media moguls and the broken promises at Wybalenna - The ABC’s Late Night Live
When should we expect interest rates to fall? - Pearls and Irritations
TRANSITZONE USA ELECTION UPDATE 7: THE DEBATE - #transitzone podcast with Peter Clarke and Margo Kingston
Australian wheat and the BRI: The economic geography of the world’s grain trading - Pearls and Irritations
Robodebt’s reputational scar on the public service revisited in SBS docu-drama - The Mandarin
Nine CEO Mike Sneesby steps down after a ‘challenging year’ - Forbes Australia
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian 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 13th of September. See you on Monday!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here