News update for Fri 16 Aug 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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See TrueNorth’s Democracy Quiz - scroll down for this week’s question and test your #auspol knowledge.
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Salmon industry in key Tasmanian location should be cut to save Maugean skate, scientists advise government - The Guardian
Scientists advising the Australian government on how to save the threatened Maugean skate from extinction have recommended the salmon industry be either scaled back dramatically or removed from Tasmania’s Macquarie Harbour after finding fish farms are the greatest threat to its survival.
The advice is included in a report by the government’s threatened species scientific committee that says the skate – an ancient ray-like species found only in the harbour in the state’s west – should be considered critically endangered.
Read more from Adam Morton for The Guardian
Urgent reform required to stop the epidemic of murder and abduction of First Nations women and children - Pearls and Irritations
Karen Iles, lawyer and founder of the Make Police Investigate Campaign, has called for extensive reform to justice and policing systems across Australia in evidence provided to the Federal Inquiry into Missing and Murdered First Nations Women and Children.
Ms Iles said that while the increased national focus on the death of women at the hands of partners or former partners was a positive step, the epidemic of murder and abduction of First Nations Women and Children was not receiving the attention the crisis warranted.
Read more from Pearls and Irritations
Also read >
Landmark report on murdered Indigenous women condemned as ‘weak’ and ‘toothless’ - The Guardian
‘Little if any justice’ for many murdered and missing First Nations women and children, landmark report finds - The Guardian
How to stop Musk - Robert Reich
Lies on Elon Musk’s X have instigated some of the worst racial riots in Britain’s history. Musk recently posted a comment to his hundreds of millions of followers claiming “Civil war is inevitable” in the U.K., and asserted that the British criminal justice system treats Muslims more leniently than far-right activists.
European Union commissioner Thierry Breton sent Musk an open letter reminding him of EU laws against amplifying harmful content “that promotes hatred, disorder, incitement to violence, or certain instances of disinformation” and warning that the EU “will be extremely vigilant” about protecting “EU citizens from serious harm.”
Don’t Believe Donald Trump - New videos show Project 2025 is alive and kicking - Dan Rather
Donald Trump and his campaign may have disavowed it, but don’t think for a moment that Project 2025 is going anywhere. A newly released hidden camera interview with one of the project’s authors, who also served in Trump’s Cabinet, reveals that the Republican nominee has “blessed it.”
Gareth Evans: AUKUS is terrible for Australian national interests – but we’re probably stuck with it - The Conversation
Politics played a significant part in the birth of AUKUS in Australia, and politics both here and in the United States will play a crucial role in determining whether it lives or dies. That is so at least for its core submarine component. The second pillar of the agreement, relating to technical cooperation on multiple new fronts, is both much less clear in its scope and less obviously politically fraught.
On the Australian side, partisan political opportunism was a factor in the initiation of the submarine deal, bipartisan political support was a condition of US agreement to it, and maintenance of that bipartisan support into the future presumably will be a precondition of its continuance, at least when it comes to highly sensitive elements like the handover of three Virginia class submarines.
Read more from The Conversation
Also read > AUKUS is unhinged from reality. Australia will only ever be a pitstop for nuclear subs - The SMH/Age
Paltering, Poison and Profit - The Shot Podcast
As Dave’s European sojourn continues, Jo chats to Royce Kurmelovs about his excellent new book, Slick: Australia’s Toxic Relationship with Big Oil, an entertaining and enraging look at how the extractive industries plotted to keep mining and polluting even as they knew of their disastrous consequences. A fascinating and forensic account of Big Oil’s successful strategy to run down the clock that continues to this day.
As trucking fatalities rise, the whistleblower finds herself under arrest - Michael West Media
What will it take to give whistleblowers the kind of protection they deserve? When will women like Roxanne Mysko be saved from “a pile-on by rich white men?”
Australia’s weak whistleblower protection laws claimed another victim this morning, when Adelaide grandmother and former truck safety compliance officer Roxanne Mysko turned herself in to police in Adelaide’s north. That followed an arrest warrant yesterday issued by the South Australian Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, fatalities in crashes involving heavy trucks are up by an average of 6.1 per cent per year over the three years to March 2023, but if Roxanne’s experience is any guide, the unwritten rule appears to be: “don’t talk about it, or else.”
Read more from Andrew Gardiner for Michael West Media
Newsroom edition: the media is in crisis, gambling ads are not the answer - The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
This week the Labor government is facing criticism for its proposal to put a cap on gambling advertising despite most people supporting an outright ban. But why water down legislation that holds such high community support? According to Bill Shorten, because the future of free-to-air TV depends on it.Gabrielle Jackson speaks to editor-in-chief Lenore Taylor and deputy editor Patrick Keneally about the current crisis in the media, and why we should be looking for answers outside the gambling industry
Listen to The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Also >
The push to ban gambling ads - The Daily Aus Podcast
Gambling is a pure distillation of capitalism. No wonder Labor is reluctant to act - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Today’s cartoon by Matt Golding for The Age
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Commercial Television: The Industry That #MeToo Forgot - Fourth Estate Podcast
It’s been more bad news this week for the already embattled Seven Network, with Four Corners airing a searing expose into the commercial broadcaster's workplace culture. The picture painted was one of bullying, harassment and misogyny. Four Corners Investigative Reporter, Louise Milligan joined Tina Quinn and Virginia Haussegger, who herself navigated a multi-decade career in television news and current affairs to discuss the allegations uncovered.
Listen to The Fourth Estate Podcast
Prof Raina MacIntyre: WHO has declared mpox a global health emergency. What happens next? - The Conversation
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern, after rising cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the potential for further spread.
This now triggers a coordinated international response to an extraordinary event and the mobilisation of resources, such as vaccines and diagnostic testing, to curb the spread of this infectious disease.
But WHO has not declared mpox a pandemic. Rather, the measures it has triggered are designed to prevent it from becoming one.
Government widely misses net migration forecast - Independent Australia
New data released by the Bureau of Statistics has revealed that net migration numbers have drastically exceeded the Government's forecast.
ON THURSDAY 15 AUGUST 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released Net Permanent and Long-term (NPLT) movement data for 2023-24.
At 469,140, this is the earliest approximation for net migration that the ABS publishes and compares to the Government’s forecast of net migration for 2023-24 of 395,000. But is it likely the Government forecast is that far out?
Read more from Abul Rizvi for Independent Australia
Labor's drift -Capital Brief
Whatever you think of Peter Dutton’s antics, it’s telling that Labor, over two years into its term, still often seems unprepared for the Opposition Leader’s attacks.
Coming into this sitting week after the long midwinter break, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese would have wanted to switch the conversation back to fertile ground.
He had a few levers to pull: a $3.6 billion pay rise for childcare workers, the wiping of $3 billion off Australia's collective HECS debt, and his flagship industrial policy, the Future Made in Australia Bill, up for debate. But these were all things that were flagged weeks or months ago, leaving a vacuum for something else.
And never underestimate the tendency of this government to unwittingly let Opposition leader Peter Dutton — a tough-talking conservative political warrior who has built his reputation on a hardline immigration stance — to set the agenda.
Read more in Capital Brief (paywall)
For Palestinian Australians, Peter Dutton’s comments on refugees fleeing Gaza come as no surprise - The Guardian
The government has failed to provide support, leaving us to shoulder the burden of trying to bring our family here, while the Coalition continues to dehumanise us
Aaron Smith joins SpinProof
This Friday Denise is joined by fellow Twitter traveller - Aaron Smith. They discuss the #auspol week from the NSW Liberal local Council election ‘debacle’ to Dutton’s current dog whistle on Gaza - to Labor’s back down on gambling advertising on free to air broadcast channels. As active Twitter users they also discuss the conflict of staying on a platform run by an increasingly concerning Elon Musk. Aaron then speaks about his deep dive into Victorian electoral guidelines and the major Parties using the loophole of nominated entities to fund their election campaigns. This discussion is of course in the context of proposed Federal electoral reform where Aaron points out that the detail of any reforms requires scrutiny as the expectation is that with a declining primary vote the major Parties will protect themselves from independents and minor Parties. Yet another good listen to wrap a busy #auspol week.
Listen to the SpinProof replay here
Paranoia and confusion reign as Liberals begin purge after election disaster - Crikey
Exclusive: At an emergency meeting last night, powerful members of the NSW Liberals debated who should replace a sacked top official.
The NSW Liberal Party is gripped by paranoia and confusion and has begun a purge of officials after this week’s nomination blunder.
At a hastily called meeting last night, the powerful members of the party’s state executive agreed unanimously to sack state director Richard Shields, who has been in the job since 2023 and was blamed for the failure on Wednesday to hand in nomination paperwork for up to 140 candidates for local council elections.
Party sources told Crikey both Shields and the man who has emerged as his nemesis, state president Don Harwin, attended the meeting in person at the Liberal headquarters on Macquarie Street in Sydney.
Read more from Anton Nilsson for Crikey (paywall)
Also read > ‘Mind-boggling’ nomination failure sparks sacking of NSW Liberal party state director Richard Shields - The Guardian
This week’s Democracy Quiz question…
Q. Last week ASIO raised the national terrorism threat level in Australia from ‘possible’ to ‘probable’, and ASIO boss Mike Burgess urged politicians to be careful with the language they used in relation to global conflicts. On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton called on the Government to halt visas for people fleeing which region??
1. Afghanistan
2. Gaza
3. Ukraine
Do you have a quiz question? Email us here.
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Quick Links…
Podcast #126: NT election preview - The Tally Room Podcast
Zali Steggall doubles down on calling Peter Dutton’s Palestinian visa ban stance ‘racist’ - The Guardian
Friday essay: is ‘wokeness’ killing comedy – or are ageing comedians crying wolf? - The Conversation
The potential US withdrawal from AUKUS must be an election issue - Pearls and Irritations
Linda Reynolds had ‘heated’ debate with staff about calling police after Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape, court hears - The Guardian
Change on way? ABC reviews ICJ ruling - Pearls and Irritations
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Jim Chalmers flags deal on Reserve Bank’s new structure is close - The Conversation Podcast
One of these men faces a huge dilemma in Palestinian migration issue - the other is Peter Dutton - InQueensland
Australia's global fossil fuel carbon footprint - Climate Analytics
‘Mind-boggling’ nomination failure sparks resignation - The New Daily
‘A nightmare’: 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied their right to education since 2021 - Women’s Agenda
The Power Of The Wind! - Lyrebird Dreaming
It’s too hard to make business decisions in the face of climate uncertainty – here’s how ‘storylines’ could help - The Conversation
NT2024 Election – Tracking the Early Vote - Antony Green
Australia is ignoring the evidence on age of criminal responsibility - Michael Bradley for Crikey
Gender pay gap drops to lowest level on record at 11.5 per cent - Women’s Agenda
RBA downplays role of government spending in stoking inflation - The Guardian
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 16th of August. 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