News update for Fri 21 Feb 2025

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

Feb 21, 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

WATCH THE SUNDAY SHOT - LIVE - THIS SUNDAY 23 FEBRUARY AT 9AM (AEDT) ON YOUR PREFERRED PLATFORM HERE - Hosted by Jo Dyer and Dave Milner with guests Jane Caro and Josh Bornstein and an interview with Sarah Schwartz

I looked at 35 years of data to see how Australians vote. Here’s what it tells us about the next election - The Conversation

In the 2022 federal election, two demographics were key to the final outcome: women and young people.

With another election fast approaching, will they swing the result again?

To answer this question, I turned to the Australian Election Study (AES) data spanning the period from 1987 to 2022, to investigate how different demographics have voted over time.

I found that, generally, Australian women and young people tend to favour left-of-centre parties.

However, specific election issues can have a substantial impact, making the political context of each election crucial. So what can we expect this time around?

Two-thirds of the Earth’s surface experienced record heat in 2024. See where and by how much – visualised - The Guardian

Two-thirds of the world’s surface was scorched by a month or more of record-breaking heat, Guardian analysis of satellite data can reveal.

In oceans and on land, from Colombia to China, and from the north to south pole, records for the monthly average temperature were smashed time and time again last year – in some cases, by as much as 5C (9F) hotter than the previous record.

The Guardian took the average temperatures for each month in 2024, as recorded by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), and compared them with the hottest month since 1979.

Peter Dutton’s nuclear accounting trick #2: Pretend petrol and gas are free - Renew Economy

This is part three of a five-part series of articles examining the four accounting tricks that the Liberal-National Party employed in the costing of their energy plan to slow the roll-out of renewables and rely instead on nuclear power. The first article, which provides the overarching context is published here. Part 2 is here.

These four accounting tricks act to mislead voters that the Liberal-National Party could lower energy bills through a shift to nuclear when in reality it is likely to increase power bills.

This article focuses on accounting trick two of four: Only model the cost of electricity while ignoring the cost of petrol and gas.

Laura Tingle: What role could the independents play in deciding the next government? - ABC 7.30 Report

Hanging over debate about the forthcoming federal election is the key question, which political party would the independents back in the event of a close result?

Watch Laura Tingle for The ABC’s 7.30 Report

“They’re Scared Shitless”: The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump’s Grip on Congress - Vanity Fair

With the president smashing norm after norm, even lawmakers within his party have feared for their personal safety, and at least one has told confidants that it has swayed his decision-making.

Senate and House Republicans know Trump will orchestrate the running of a primary challenger backed by Elon Musk’s unlimited resources if a member defies him. But this is not the whole story of Republican subservience to the president. In private, Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions.

According to one source with direct knowledge of the events, North Carolina senator Thom Tillis told people that the FBI warned him about “credible death threats” when he was considering voting against Pete Hegseth’s nomination for defense secretary.

Gaza: The deafening sound of silence in Western political and media circles - Pearls and Irritations

Western governments and media remain silent on Israel’s genocide in Gaza while cracking down on those who speak out.

Across Western countries, the allegedly rising tide of antisemitism is a bigger daily issue than genocide. As pushed by Israel’s lobbyists, the goal is clear: to divert attention from war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The tactic is old but tried and true – the deliberate welding of antisemitism and anti-Israel protests into one hate crime.

The targets are anyone speaking out or demonstrating against the genocide. Students, national broadcasters, and employees in the private sector are all being threatened, suspended, or sacked.

Sabotage, surveillance and state-sponsored killings: ASIO's warning
7am Podcast

Australia faces its most “difficult threat environment” in 50 years, with larger and more varied plots than ever before. That was the message from the director-general of ASIO, Mike Burgess, when he gave his annual threat assessment on Wednesday night, taking the extraordinary step of declassifying some of the intelligence behind the warning. According to Burgess, foreign interference and espionage are at extreme levels, with ASIO foiling five major terror attacks against Australians last year. Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis on how foreign governments are trying to interfere in Australia – from AUKUS to our elections.

Listen to the 7am Podcast

What went wrong at Whyalla steelworks and will it end with SA government in legal fight with UK billionaire? - The Guardian

Issues between GFG, Sanjeev Gupta and SA government grumbled along for years, before dramatic events forced company into administration.

Whyalla, a town about four hours north of Adelaide that is known for its steel industry and giant cuttlefish, became the centre of Australia’s political universe this week.

A surprise move by the South Australian government revealed a plan hatched behind the scenes with the federal government to save the beleaguered Whyalla steelworks.

Michelle Pini: 85 reasons why Peter Dutton is unfit to be PM ... and counting - Independent Australia

Independent Australia's catalogue of major reasons Peter Dutton should never be prime minister now numbers 85.

There is currently a consistent crusade by the legacy media to turn a “monster” into a credible contender for the top job but we’re not buying it.

Our contempt for this national disinformation campaign notwithstanding, if the polls are correct – and, as usual, we have our doubts – then enough voters are buying it and Australia may well end up with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as our next prime minister.

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Cam Wilson: YouTube’s out, Snapchat’s in: As tech companies squabble, inconsistent teen social media ban shows design flaws - Crikey

The first look at which platforms have to stop Australians under the age of 16 from making accounts shows how the plan ‘completely misunderstands the internet’, according to one expert.

The first look at which tech platforms will avoid being part of Australia’s teen social media ban has revealed some puzzling decisions and sparked an argument among tech companies over who should be exempt.

As first reported by Capital Brief and Guardian Australia last week, the federal government has circulated documents sketching out the draft details of the implementation of its Online Safety Act (Minimum Age Amendment) bill, which will force social media companies to take “reasonable steps” to prevent children under the age of 16 from having accounts on their platforms from December this year.

Jo Dyer: Dutton’s dangerous dance: decrying one form of racism while stoking all the others - The Shot

It was always going to be a challenge for Dutton to position himself as a builder of cohesion and healing when fomenting fear of non-White immigrants and First Nations’ Australians is his first and last political strategy. He is an equal opportunity advocate only to the extent that Chinese, African, Muslim, Lebanese and Aboriginal Australians have all copped it over the years in his persistent bid to Make Australia Freak Out and Vote Coalition Again.

Assuming he’s not trying out material for a new stand-up act, his audacious claim that it is Labor who is obsessed by culture wars and Albanese who is intent on dividing our nation rivals the chutzpah of Honest Johnnie Howard’s ‘trust’ 2004 election campaign, after a term spent lying through his Prime Ministerial teeth on matters notably including the illegal invasion of Iraq.

David Hardaker: Hell of a week — and the heat is on us - The Politics

Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch and Vladimir Putin: three stooges, but no-one's laughing.

This week it’s been all about Donald Trump and Rupert Murdoch. You can read our coverage here, here and here, a powerful piece by Stephen Long. As well, Nicole Chvastek took a sceptical look at National Party types bearing gifts this election. Don’t get fooled again.

If Rupert Murdoch is ever given to self-reflection, this week might give him serious pause. He has the unique distinction of burning down two houses. On a personal level, his family has been blown apart by his desire to play favourites with his children by attempting to install elder son Lachlan as head of his media properties. And on a political level, his man Trump has emerged as the vicious dictator he always promised to be, burning US democracy to the ground and acting for all the world as an agent of Russia.

Inspired by a local group of people in Sydney's north who were looking for t-shirts to wear on their regular walks, Democracy Walks champions, supports and actively engages in our democracy.

CLICK here to see Democracy Walks’ t-shirt designs - and join the democracy walkers today!

See a list of the 35 community independents - who have (so far) announced their candidacy in the upcoming federal election. Subscribe, volunteer, donate to support their campaigns.