News update for Fri 16 May 2025

Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...

May 16, 2025

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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

Watch The Sunday Shot - LIVE STREAMED - this Sunday morning at 9am - with Jo Dyer, Rachel Withers, Redbridge’s Alex Fein and Leo Puglisi from 6 News. Subscribe to The Sunday Shot’s Youtube channel for a notification as the panel goes live.

Larissa Waters is the new federal Greens leader. Here’s five things to know about her - The Guardian

The former environmental lawyer made history when she became the first person to breastfeed in Australian parliament in 2017.

Larissa Waters is the new leader of the federal Greens, taking the helm after a somewhat disappointing May election result that reduced the minor party’s lower house share from four MPs to one, and saw former leader Adam Bandt unexpectedly lose his seat of Melbourne to Labor.

The Queensland senator was chosen for the job by consensus on Thursday against upper house colleagues, South Australia’s Sarah Hanson-Young and NSW’s Mehreen Faruqi.

So, who is the federal Greens’ fifth leader?

Did Advance sway the election? - Crikey's Electioncast

Surprise, Electioncast is back! In this bonus episode, Crystal Andrews and associate editor Cam Wilson dissect the campaign antics of right-wing lobby group Advance, who spent millions in advertising against progressive MPs like the Greens’ Max Chandler-Mather and independent Zoe Daniel. Advance is celebrating the loss of key Greens seats as proof of its influence, but how much of an impact did it really have? We analyse the group’s strategy and spend against the election result.

Listen to Crikey’s Electioncast

This election, young people held the most political power. Here’s how they voted - The Conversation

This election, a lot of focus was directed at young voters. With Millennials and Gen Z now making up a larger share of the electorate than Baby Boomers, this was deserved.

But for all the attempts to reach these cohorts, whether through TikTok, influencers or podcasts, how did they actually vote?

Preliminary analysis of electorates with high shares of young people suggests the youth vote was complex and nuanced. The voting bloc continued its unpredictability, with support fragmented across parties, candidates and age groups.

Dave Milner: The Prime Minister is lying to your face about selling weapons for Israel’s genocide - The Shot

It is not difficult to understand the darkness swallowing Gaza.

Like comfortable, educated, middle class Germans living in leafy Berlin suburbs with train stations that daily sent thousands of Jews to death camps in the 1940s, most of us are simply choosing not to comprehend the depravity encircling us. A shred of humanity, a modicum of media literacy and a functioning frontal lobe should be enough to make this compound atrocity clear. It has never been ‘complicated’.

You’ve just been lied to, over and over, whether you are capable of perceiving it or not.

Dan Rather: The Unthinkable is Now on The Table - Steady

White House aide suggests Trump wants to suspend due process.

With congressional Republicans marching in lockstep, Donald Trump has quickly demonstrated he can do whatever he wants, challenging the courts to stop him. That is a very dangerous place for anyone and everyone living in America.

While we all should remain focused and steady, let’s clearly remind ourselves of what’s now at stake: our fundamental rule of law. It is not hyperbolic to say that the democracy we love and cherish is being threatened like never before — this after the Trump administration suggested suspending habeas corpus, the constitutional right that protects us from being detained without due process.

Banning young people from social media sounds like a silver bullet. Global evidence suggests otherwise - The Conversation

Around 98% of Australian 15-year-olds use social media. Platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram are where young people connect with friends and online communities, explore and express their identities, seek information, and find support for mental health struggles.

However, the federal government, seeking to address concerns about young people’s mental health, has committed to ban under-16s from these platforms from later this year.

There is no doubt social media presents risks to young people. These include cyberbullying, posts related to disordered eating or self-harm, hate speech, and the basic risk of spending long hours scrolling or “doomscrolling”.

But is banning young people really the answer?

Three leadership contests and the future of Australian politics - Full Story Podcast

This week, the Liberal party elected its first female leader in Sussan Ley, but she’s already fighting to keep the factional sharks at bay. Same goes for the Nationals, who’ve re-elected David Littleproud in a leadership challenge that revealed deep divisions. The Greens also elected a new leader on Thursday, but will that mean a change in strategy after their stinging election loss? Reged Ahmad talks to head of newsroom Mike Ticher, national news editor Jo Tovey and chief political correspondent, Tom McIlroy, about whether changes in leadership could mean a change in our politics

Listen to the Full Story Podcast

Also > Sussan Ley and gender politics - Pearls and Irritations

Ketan Joshi: The climate wars won’t end anytime soon – and they shouldn’t - Renew Economy

It has felt a little telling to see the resurgence of a phrase that I have always really disliked. The new leader of the Liberal-National Coalition, Sussan Ley, declared in her first statement to media that: “There won’t be a climate war. There will be sound and sensible consultation and I undertake 100% to do that”.

Ah, the climate wars. I can’t quite figure out who coined it, but it was a phrase that the Labor party (and their supporters) loved using – largely because they saw themselves as the cure to climate policy conflict.

Wagging the dog: Do the Nationals need to dump the lifeless Liberals? - Crikey

While Liberals debate how to win back urban seats while shackled to the Nationals, perhaps the latter should reflect on the benefits of escaping the Liberals.

History suggests the Nationals ought to be careful about demanding an economic portfolio, especially finance, as part of any new Coalition deal.

It was Tony Abbott who, in an act both deeply foolish and profoundly irritating to his Liberal colleagues, handed Barnaby Joyce the shadow finance portfolio in late 2009. Joyce lasted barely three months in the job: he confused millions and billions in his first Press Club appearance, claimed Australia could default on its debt (debt that, under subsequent Coalition governments would increase massively, with nary a peep from him), confused

Sky sets the limit and rips into Sussan Ley - The Politics

Tell 'em they're dreaming. And delusional. Their influence has waned to the point of ignominy, as has that of their fellow travellers.

You’ve got to hand it to Sky News. It lives its principles. No fewer than three of its female on-air “talent” lined up to bash Sussan Ley. No warm embrace in this cold room for the first woman in 80 years to lead the federal Liberal Party.

“Malcolm Turnbull in a skirt,” spat Newsette #1 Rita Panahi. “She’s a seat-warmer,” scoffed Newsette #2 Prue MacSween, with the dagger that Ley would go for “woke” in Parliament. Newsette #3 Sharri Markson had seemingly compiled a dossier on Ley stretching back well over a decade.

Also read > Sky After Dark host launches furious spray at ABC for broadcasting ‘far-left activist’ spouting ‘partisan rubbish’ - Amanda Meade for The Guardian

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