News update for Fri 17 Jan 2025

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

Jan 17, 2025

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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Scroll down for today’s news and views…

TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here

John Lyons: The ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is welcome, but the world needs to find a way to stop the conflict from reigniting - The ABC

A ceasefire — but a Band-Aid also.

Donald Trump says on social media this is an "EPIC" ceasefire deal. So big that he put epic in capital letters.

It is nothing of the sort.

In the short-term, the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war is of course welcome.

People in Australian prisons are also fighting fires - The Justice Map

A huge chunk of the firefighters in Los Angeles are incarcerated people. In Australia, some people in prison are also helping to fight bushfires for about $7 a day.

Nearly a third of the firefighters battling wildfires in Los Angeles are incarcerated people working for well below the minimum wage.

The devastating Los Angeles wildfires have brought attention to the state’s practice of enlisting inmates to assist in firefighting duties as part of their incarceration, to earn small amounts of money and to have time shaved off their sentences.

It has also shone a spotlight on the wider prison services industries and the extremely low rates of pay for people working while in prison, including in Australia.

Labor’s attempt to reboot the NBN - Full Story Podcast

The federal government is promising $3bn to improve the national broadband network – but is this enough to fix Australia’s internet? Reged Ahmad talks to reporter Josh Taylor about why the NBN remains expensive and slow compared with many other countries’ internet and what can be done to make it better

Listen the Full Story Podcast

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Is it a cost-of-living election or a nuclear power election? Peter Dutton can't have it both ways - Renew Economy

The 2025 federal election is still some months away, but the unofficial campaign is off and racing, with the prime minister and the leader of the federal opposition both traversing the country this week to court votes on the issue of the day – cost of living.

The cost of energy – to business, industry and households – will be central to this and Peter Dutton, for his part, is betting the Coalition’s fortunes on a plan to introduce nuclear power into Australia’s mix for the first time in its history, in the midst of a market well on the way to 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

Dutton’s claim, based on much criticised modelling by Frontier Economics, is that his party’s nuclear plan will deliver power bills 44% cheaper than they would be under Labor’s plan for renewables.

How we get rid of the American oligarchy - Robert Reich

In what was billed as his “farewell address,” President Biden yesterday warned America that the nation is succumbing to an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy, and of the “dangerous concentration of power” they pose to democratic ideals:

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”

He’s right, of course.

Fascism starts with the Trump derriere-kissing we’re now witnessing by the wealthiest people in America, who own the biggest megaphones and thereby determine what information Americans get. What they get back from Trump is raw power to do whatever they want.

From One Macdonald To Another: The Changes Afoot At ABC Radio - Fourth Estate Podcast

After close to two months of speculation, Hamish Macdonald, the former Q+A host and current Radio National and The Project presenter has been confirmed as the new Mornings host on ABC Radio Sydney. Macdonald replaces Sarah Macdonald, who announced on air only days after being told that her contract would not be renewed, prompting public outcry from her very loyal listenership. It comes amidst concerns from the ABC audience, that its local radio stations are at risk of being commercialized by its new management. Joining Tina Quinn to discuss is Jenna Price, Columnist at the Sydney Morning Herald, and Daanyal Saeed, Media Reporter at Crikey.

Listen to The Fourth Estate Podcast

Human rights report lashes Australia’s ‘diabolical’ asylum seeker treatment and ‘appalling’ youth crime laws - The Guardian

Australia’s “diabolical” treatment of asylum seekers and youth crime has worsened, a global human rights advocacy body has warned, urging voters to push back on leaders politicising the issue for gain.

Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) latest world report has lashed Australia for going backwards on children in the criminal justice system in 2024, referencing the Northern Territory’s decision to reintroduce spit hoods for youth detainees and the continued use of watch houses to detain children in Queensland.

Peter Brent: Expectations matter - But not necessarily in the way pundits think they do - Inside Story

As we approach the 2025 campaign, the Albanese government is looking pretty shopsoiled. The cost-of-living crisis is the chief driver of dissatisfaction, but aspects of Anthony Albanese’s political personality have turned from strengths to failings. Slow and steady is now low energy, pragmatic risk-aversion now looks weak.

Why Albanese is in trouble - Nick Feik

Where’s the urgency from Labor? Unfortunately, Albanese doesn’t do urgent. In fact, it’s hard to point to any Labor achievements that haven’t been incremental, minimal, indexed or unavoidable.

Nicki Hutley: Australia is becoming an uninsurable nation. There may only be one solution - The Guardian

Even before Australia’s cost-of-living crisis, a combination of extreme fires and floods has left many households keenly aware of the high cost of home insurance and, in an increasing number of cases, the lack of insurance affordability altogether.

Many insurance companies will deny that they have withdrawn from covering specific disaster risks in specific areas but the anecdotal evidence is mounting.

Michael Pascoe: Ignore the galahs. The RBA should cut interest rates - Michael West Media

The monetary policy galahs are squawking their usual lines about a strong labour market preventing the RBA trimming rates next month, but Michael Pascoe argues the RBA’s integrity will be open to question if it doesn’t cut.

The labour market is actually saying the Reserve Bank has been woefully wrong.

The power of incumbency? Not so much… the Sliding Doors of election dates - Crikey

Australian political history is replete with examples of prime ministers who failed to use the power of dictating election timing for their own advantage.

We’re back in familiar territory with the growing speculation about when Anthony Albanese will call the 2025 election. The power to dictate election timing — within constitutional limits — is considered by journalists to be one of the most potent weapons in the arsenal of Australian prime ministers, a tool of incumbency exploitable in a way that is unavailable to the majority of political leaders in Australia, hemmed in by set terms.

The media loves it. There’s none of that boring certainty that attaches to state elections, when the timing is known years in advance.

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