News update for Fri 18 July 2025

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

Jul 18, 2025

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Not just electoral, but ideological: the challenges facing a Liberal party in existential crisis - The Guardian

Sussan Ley was yet to officially put up her hand to replace Peter Dutton as Liberal leader when the dirt began to circulate.

A “scorecard” spread through Liberal circles on 7 May ranking Ley, Angus Taylor and Dan Tehan – who at that stage was yet to rule himself out of the race – against a series of metrics, some more unconventional than others.

These included whether the candidates were “beholden” to the factional powerbroker Alex Hawke (tick for Ley), had been sacked as a minister (another tick for Ley) and supported Israel (a cross for Ley, owing to past support for a Palestinian state).

Laura Tingle on the PM, Trump and Xi - Politics Now Podcast

The Prime Minister is wrapping up his six-day visit to China, following what he says was a "constructive" meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But Donald Trump made his presence felt from afar — so did this intervention hang over the trip? Laura Tingle joined The Party Room from a panda research base in Chengdu for some analysis (and panda chat). And back home, the Albanese Government is signalling legislation to strip funding from childcare centres will be a top priority when parliament returns. So, how different will the parliament look when it returns next week? Brett Worthington and Jade Macmillan are joined by Laura Tingle, ABC Global Affairs Editor on The Party Room.

Listen to the Politics Now Podcast with Laura Tingle

Also >

The geopolitical context of Albanese's China visit - Pearls and Irritations
Round up the usual Chinese suspects - Pearls and Irritations
Pragmatic engagement – what Albanese’s visit reveals about China relations in a turbulent world - The Conversation

Why a surprise jump in unemployment isn’t as bad as it sounds - The Conversation

New figures show Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 4.3% – its highest level since late 2021 – in June this year, up from 4.1% in May.

While this is bad news, it’s not as bad as it might seem. Higher unemployment came from more people looking for work. In the long run, that’s good for the economy.

And these figures also make it more likely we’ll see an interest rate cut next month – which is now looking overdue.

Tim Dunlop: What will it take for MAGA to abandon Trump? - The Future of Everything

In the first serious sign of the fragility of the movement Trump has built, the issues around the Epstein files have emerged as the one matter that Trump hasn’t been able to gloss over with a few well-placed social media posts.

Why is that?

The answer is completely fascinating I think, and it speaks to all the deepest issues about how a movement like MAGA springs into life in the first place and then maintains itself in the face of all opposition.

Also read >

Ronni Salt: None of this passes the pub test - The Shot

The purpose of the Special Envoy’s report is to restrict the words you use and restrict the palette you may think from until in the end, you are herded into a thought corner where a tiny minority with a persecution and an exceptionalism complex decide what you can say, and what your actions mean until in the end, Israel’s barbarism against the world will remain unchallenged. That’s the chilling sub-text of this shallow document. It’s not the nonsense that it spouts, it’s that it was ever given any credibility in the first place.

Coal Cover-up? Wilkie points to Glencore, Anglo, Peabody, MacBank - Michael West Media

The corporate regulator’s court loss against TerraCom and its former directors has raised serious questions about Australia’s commitment to tackling systemic fraud in the coal export industry.

Earlier this month, the Federal Court dismissed the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) case against current managing director Daniel McCarthy and former officers Nathan Boom, Wallace King and Craig Ransley.

ASIC accused the coal miner of misleading the market by failing to correct false laboratory test results that inflated the quality of its coal exports. Justice Jackman found that ASIC failed to prove that TerraCom had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct under the Corporations Act.

“Out of patience”: it’s time to fix the housing crisis - Follow The Money Podcast

Amy Remeikis and Matt Grudnoff preview the first parliamentary sitting week. On this episode of Follow the Money, Amy Remeikis and Matt Grudnoff join Ebony Bennett discuss the political relevance of the housing crisis, the storm-in-a-teacup over some Treasury subheadings, and #NotAllEconomists.

Listen to the Follow the Money Podcast

Rose Jackson labels Mark Latham a ‘pig’ after allegations he took covert photos of female MPs - Women’s Agenda

NSW Housing Minister Rose Jackson has labelled Mark Latham a “pig” following allegations he took photos of female colleagues in parliament, sharing them with derogatory comments about their looks.

“Mark Latham is a pig,” Jackson said at a press conference on Thursday.

“This man has attacked Rosie Batty, telling her to grieve in private. This man is well known on the record, multiple times as a bigot – one of the biggest bigots in the state,” Jackson said.

“It’s extremely confronting for me to think that in a workplace there’s someone who thinks it’s acceptable to take photos of you and to share them with derogatory comments.”

AI firm’s AUKUS approval proves Australia’s increasing military ties to US, UK - Crikey

Australia is welcoming defence and tech companies into the AUKUS club at a faster rate than the UK.

An Australian AI company has become the latest to be granted the right to licence-free trades with the US and UK under the AUKUS deal, highlighting the steady pace at which the submarine pact’s second pillar is advancing.

Maritime AI and autonomy company Greenroom Robotics announced in a media release on Thursday it had been granted AUKUS authorised user status by the Australian government, enabling it to “fast-track delivery of advanced technologies” to the other two AUKUS countries.

SA’s ‘underwater bushfire’ devastating marine life and threatening human health - Independent Australia

Dead fish and other marine life in the tens of thousands have washed up on South Australian beaches, and there have been multiple reports of people suffering respiratory problems after being exposed to sea spray.

The cause is an invasion of a harmful algal bloom (HAB) identified as Karenia mikimotoi that has been decimating marine life, shutting down fisheries and aquaculture, and affecting access to SA’s beaches for several months.

According to marine ecologist Dr Dominic McAfee, SA’s current event is akin to an underwater “bushfire”.

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