News update for Fri 27 Sept 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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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
Josh Butler: What’s really going on with negative gearing? Here are four paths for change - The Guardian
Negative gearing has a near-mythical status in Australian politics: reform attempts are viewed by some as an electoral landmine, others as a long overdue change for housing market equity.
During a frenetic 36 hours this week, changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax changes were mooted, tentatively backed by numerous Labor MPs and then seemingly snuffed out (for now) by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
Also read > News Corp warns millions of renters ‘crucified’ as Murdoch papers fan negative gearing hysteria - Amanda Meade for The Guardian
Inside the Greens' interest rate demands - 7am Podcast
The Reserve Bank should lower interest rates, and if they don’t, the government should make them, according to the Greens. Their spokesperson for economic justice Nick McKim has said he won’t support the government's reforms to the RBA unless the treasurer intervenes in the bank’s decision-making processes and tells them to lower interest rates. It’s a big demand: something that has never happened before and is unlikely to now, with Labor saying the Greens are “out of control”. And there is also unrest within the Greens about the position, with some concerned the demands go too far at a time when the party is looking to make itself a viable alternative to the two major parties at the next election. Today, national correspondent for The Saturday Paper Mike Seccombe on just how independent the Reserve Bank is and what the Greens are playing at.
US, not Israel lobby, driving Albanese Government’s Gaza policy - Pearls and Irritations
Notwithstanding efforts to censure and bully journalists such as Antoinette Lattouf, Mary Kostakidis, John Lyons and Sophie McNeill, as well as grossly exaggerating anti-semitism on university campuses in an attempt to shut down pro-Palestinian encampments (and divert public attention from the genocide), I think it is a mistake to explain the Albanese Government’s Gaza policy shambles and moral degeneration as a testament to the power of the Israel lobby.
Read more from Scott Burchill for Pearls and Irritations
Also read > A cautious optimism despite the savagery in Gaza - Sara Dowse for Pearls and Irritations
‘Concerning’: ACCC interim report on supermarket inquiry tells of supplier woes and ‘oligopolistic’ market - The Conversation
It hasn’t been a good week for Coles and Woolworths. On Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the national competition regulator or ACCC) announced it was taking legal action against the big supermarkets over alleged misleading pricing claims.
Now the ACCC has issued its interim report on the supermarket inquiry.
David Hardaker: Why is America so dumb? - The Politics
So how bad is it? Suffice to say that if you wanted to win a US election on facts it would be like taking a butter knife to a gunfight involving AK47s.
Exhibit one. Donald Trump made a ludicrous claim about immigrants stealing and eating pet dogs and cats in the town of Springfield Ohio. Laughable, wouldn’t you say? But guess what, according to a YouGov survey quoted in the New York Times, around 25% of Americans believe it. 25%.
Read more from David Hardaker for The Politics
Also read > Your take on why America is so dumb - The Politics
NACC covering for Robodebt Six with claims of "privacy" - The Klaxon
The Robodebt Six — the public officials most culpable over the entire $1.7 billion unlawful debts scandal — are being protected by the National Anti-Corruption Commission citing “personal privacy”.
The remarkable claims are made in a 24-page freedom of information decision in which the NACC has refused to release any part of five documents that detail conflicts of interest over Robodebt involving its most senior officers.
Read more from Anthony Klan for The Klaxon
Today’s cartoon by Matt Golding
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
How Musk threatens America’s national security, and what must be done - Robert Reich
Shortly after the apparent second assassination attempt against Trump, Elon Musk responded in a now deleted post: “And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala 🤔 ????”
Musk later said his post was intended as a joke. But it could be interpreted as a call to murder Biden and Harris — at least by one of the 198 million followers of Musk who initially received it. Presumably this is why the Secret Service is investigating it.
Underlying this is a broader question: When in history has one unelected individual held such sway over American national security?
Also read > Fox News: The Engine of Disinformation That Shaped and Shattered America - The Intellectualist
Media aids anti-trans violence now impacting non-transgender community - The Big Smoke
Anti-trans rhetoric in media is actively inflaming violence against members of the trans and non-trans communities. We need to call it out.
When the culture war takes another victim, the gears of media sensationalism interlock with a political apparatus to conjure mock flames to distract us from our common plight: those in power that wish to benefit from our suffering, without a thought to those who get chewed by the machine.
Dynamic ticket pricing: Aussie concert fans hit by Live Nation’s ‘In Demand’ cash grab - Michael West Media
Dynamic pricing has played its way into the Australian live music scene, courtesy of Live Nation and its subsidiary, Ticketmaster. But who benefits from the higher prices?
A well-known feature of pricing for air travel and hotel bookings, the practice of ‘yield’ driven pricing is now being applied to the sale of concert tickets. Apparently, bleeding fans dry just once isn’t enough. With Green Day’s 2025 Australian tour as the latest contender, concertgoers are now facing seat prices as high as $500, all thanks to Ticketmaster’s so-called “In Demand” pricing.
Read more in Michael West Media
Ronni Salt: The trouble with Albanese – what was it all for, Anthony? - The Shot
We all know the story – you know it, Speersy knows it, everyone warm and vertical in Australia knows it. Anthony Norman Albanese was born into a single parent family and raised in public housing by a mother battling on a disability pension. Some of us could probably recite the story line-for-line by now. As far as log cabin stories go, it doesn’t get any loggier.
But let’s not get our aim mixed up here. Albanese’s mother was clearly a phenomenal woman, single-handedly raising, not only a university graduate and a formidable backroom operator as cunning as a public servant escaping Robodebt accountability, but also, the Prime Minister of Australia. The actual Prime Minister of Australia, is however, a whole other target. Because, what was it all for Anthony?
Read more from Ronni Salt for The Shot
Jan Fran: Of course journalists described Israel’s possible war crime as the stuff of sexy spy thrillers - Crikey
I watched a James Bond film once. It featured the actor Daniel Craig in the titular role steering a car at speed through a tunnel while dodging heavy oncoming traffic. His driver window shatters, obscuring the vision on his left side, yet he deftly manages to whirl and twirl the vehicle to relative safety. As unfamiliar as I am with the laws of physics, I’m fairly certain Bond’s elaborate manoeuvres are in defiance of them. It simply is not real life. Two stars.
James Bond was forcibly brought to mind by The News™ this week as the world’s media sought to process Israel’s pager attack on so-called Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon.
Read more from Jan Fran for Crikey (paywall)
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Mirror-like offering by supermarket giants may be stifling vigorous competition, ACCC report says - The Guardian
In their plaintive call for a return to the office, CEOs reveal how little they are needed - John Quiggin
Local council candidates targeted with racial abuse in Victoria - The New Daily
Ocean Acidification: What, Why and When - Lyrebird Dreaming
The response to South Australia’s blackout started with a tweet and became a revolution on the grid - Renew Economy
A South Australian MP’s mad anti-abortion bill shows the culture wars are far from over - The Guardian
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
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You’re up to date for Friday the 27th of September. 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