News update for Fri 28 June 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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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
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Phillip Adams farewells Late Night Live - Late Night Live - Full program podcast
In Phillip Adams' last Late Night Live, Laura Tingle turns the tables and interviews Phillip. They discuss how the political conversations and media landscape has changed since Phillip started at the ABC back in 1991, and what his hopes are for Australia.
Listen to Phillip Adams’ final Late Night Live here
Also read > ‘I am just a marionette’: ABC veteran Phillip Adams reveals what sets him apart ahead of final show - The Guardian
Kim Williams’s ABC - Inside Story
In his first major speech as chair of the ABC, Kim Williams showed a keen appreciation of the need for Australia’s media to take up the fight against populism’s assault on our democratic institutions. The central theme of his Redmond Barry Lecture last week was the need to support democratic institutions, including the institution of the media, in the struggle against what he called the rise of “dark forces” powered by digital technology.
This assault has taken many forms and has many symptoms.
The ABC chair wants to see the broadcaster standing out in a fragmented media landscape.
Read more from Denis Muller for Inside Story
Fatima Payman gives FIRST INTERVIEW since crossing the floor | 6 News
Labor senator Fatima Payman has spoken to 6 News in her very first interview since she crossed the floor to support Palestinian state recognition.
Watch Leo Puglisi with Senator Fatima Paymen
Nuclear more costly and could ‘sound the death knell’ for Australia’s decarbonisation efforts, report says - The Guardian
A nuclear-powered Australian economy would result in higher-cost electricity and would “sound the death knell” for decarbonisation effort if it distracts from renewables investment, a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) argues.
Even if they succeeded, the levelised cost of electricity – a standard industry measure – would be far higher for nuclear power than renewables. Taking existing nuclear industries in western nations into account, their cost would still be “at least four times greater than the average” for Australian wind and solar plants firmed up with storage today, Bloomberg said.
Read more from Peter Hannam for The Guardian
Also read >
A nuclear nothingburger - Greg Jericho’s Dollars & Sense Podcast
What’s next for the Climate Change Authority under Matt Kean’s leadership? - The Conversation
UNESCO calls on Australia to take more ambitious climate action - Pearls and Irritations
Best we Forget – Australia’s 70 year old nuclear contamination secrets about to be exposed - Michael West Media
While Peter Dutton gets headlines for his nuclear fairytale and the Labor Government presses on with its AUKUS submarines, the fallout from nuclear bomb testing in the Pilbara in 1956 finally reaches court.
In 1956, on the remote Montebello Islands off Western Australia, an atomic bomb was tested. It was supposed to be no more than 50 kilotons, but in fact measured 98 kilotons, or more than six times the strength of the bomb dropped over Hiroshima in 1945.
Ever since then, Australian and UK Governments have suppressed the facts and denied compensation to the victims. That may finally be about to change.
Read more in Michael West Media
Today’s cartoon by Fiona Katauskas for The Guardian
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Most aged care homes are falling short of minimum care standards – new report - The Conversation
New analysis has revealed many Australian aged care residents are not receiving the levels of care they need and are entitled to.
The UTS Ageing Research Collaborative, which we are involved in, recently released its 2023–24 mid-year report on Australia’s aged care sector.
A particular focus of this edition was on the level of direct care being delivered in aged care homes by nurses and personal care workers to residents. In sharing this analysis, we acknowledge there is a well-documented shortage of workers across the economy, with the unemployment rate at a near-historical low. And even given these workforce pressures, many aged care providers are delivering very high levels of care.
But a significant number are not.
Will whatever got Albanese elected get him re-elected? - Pearls and Irritations
Watching Peter Dutton deliver his nuclear power announcement at a press conference on June 19 was a reminder of two things. The first was a recent observation by former Victorian Liberal Party strategist Tony Barry that the Coalition commitment to nuclear energy “is the longest suicide note in Australia’s political history”. The second reminder is its contrast with the ‘small target’ strategy that Labor adopted when contesting the 2022 election.
The Labor Party strategy is credited in some quarters as a masterstroke that won Albanese the 2022 election. It was clearly designed in reaction to the 2019 big-target strategy of Bill Shorten, which was bold but not sufficiently nuanced. The Albanese campaign was fortunate, but not for the simple reason of it being based on a small-target strategy.
Read more from Paul Begley for Pearls and Irritations
Bernard Keane: Defence-Thales scandal heads for corruption watchdog. But a bigger inquiry is needed - Crikey
The billion-dollar Defence-Thales scandal — in which the French arms giant was handed a $1.3 billion contract to run munitions facilities despite spectacularly failing in a bid process it had helped design — belatedly caught fire yesterday when defence secretary Greg Moriarty told the ABC’s Andrew Green the process has been referred to the National Anti-Corruption Commission.
The scandal — unearthed by the auditor-general in the first of what will be two examinations of how Defence has handled munitions contracts — has rapidly gained notoriety due to a Defence official soliciting a bottle of champagne from Thales before heading off to join the company.
Read more from Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Tim Dunlop: Last week was a depressing week in Australian politics but it was also clarifying - The Future of Everything
The leader of the Opposition is aligning himself with the forces of the international right, the far right, in fact, who have recognised that state power is necessary for them to respond to the white grievance that is at the heart of their project. We can’t underestimate the extent to which the radicalisation of the conservative right—including the capture of the US Republican Party by the forces of Trump—is driven by a white, patriarchal and Christian grievance and the extent to which they are fighting for a post-democratic, white nationalist settlement. On the scale they imagine this happening, it requires the mobilisation of state power. And Peter Dutton wants himself a slice of that pie and no amount of handwringing about having abandoned traditional liberal, small-state values is going to keep him from trying to grab it.
Read more from Tim Dunlop for The Future of Everything
Fire ants could be spreading on Australian military bases due to ‘massive surveillance failure’, experts say - The Guardian
Defence bases pose a “huge risk” when it comes to stopping the spread of invasive fire ants in Australia, with experts suggesting there has been “a massive surveillance failure” on the commonwealth-owned properties.
Fire ants have been detected at eight defence sites in Queensland. Seven are within the state’s 700,000-hectare fire ants containment zone, which stretches from the Gold Coast to Caboolture.
But the eighth infestation is outside that zone – at Swartz Barracks in Oakey, 130km west of Brisbane. That infestation was discovered in April and at least 128 nests have been destroyed since then.
This week’s Democracy Quiz question…
Q. WA Labor Senator Fatima Payman crossed the floor to vote in support of a Greens motion for recognition of a Palestinian state this week. Crossing the floor is banned under Labor Party protocol. What penalty did the first term Senator receive for taking this action??
2. She has been barred from the party’s caucus meetings for the rest of the parliamentary sitting
3. She was expelled from the ALP
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Fire ants could be spreading on Australian military bases due to ‘massive surveillance failure’, experts say - The Guardian
Alleged threat to PM’s family by terror plot accused - The New Daily
Yes, Julian Assange is a journalist - Crikey (paywall)
Nine to axe 200 jobs due to Meta deal expiry and tough ad market - Capital Brief
The speech that shows just how radically Australia’s world has changed - Ross Gittens for The SMH/Age
Why would a university have a deal with Lockheed Martin? - 7am Podcast
Former Nationals staffer and oil-for-wheat scandal figure leads anti-wind farm pushback - Crikey (paywall)
A nation’s shame: Sexual assaults in Australia reach highest level on record - InQueensland
Revealed: the number of times Australian police have ‘breached the trust afforded to them’ - The Guardian
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Share your views on Australia’s media landscape through TrueNorth’s short survey
You’re up to date for Friday the 28th of June. 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