News update for Fri 28 March 2025
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
36 days until the May 3 federal election
Welcome to your TrueNorth news update where every weekday afternoon we share curated articles from Australia’s independent news media sector.
Please share with friends, family, colleagues - as good journalism is always worth supporting.
Scroll down for the news and views you need to know today…
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 STREAMED - this Sunday morning at 9am - with Jo Dyer, Dave Milner, Nicki Hutley, Greg Jericho, Rick Morton & ACCOS CEO Cassandra Goldie. Subscribe to The Sunday Shot’s Youtube channel for a notification as the panel goes live.
Australia’s embrace of independent political candidates shows there’s no such thing as a safe seat - The Conversation
At the last federal election, Australia elected the largest lower house crossbench in its post-war federal history.
In addition to four Greens MPs, Rebekah Sharkie from the Centre Alliance and Bob Katter (with his own micro-party), there were ten independent MPs, seven of them new to parliament. These MPs have the freedom and flexibility to vote on every piece of legislation without having to adhere to any party-room pledge.
Also read >
Winning the election outright looks tough for Labor and the Coalition – their first goal is not to lose it - The Guardian
It’s an election between parties that have forgotten themselves — and the national interest - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
The federal election campaign: what are we likely to see? - New Politics
Jokes, data & election predictions with Ed Coper and Alex Fein - A Rational Fear Podcast
We calculated how much Dutton’s excise cut would save you on fuel – and few will save as much as promised - The Conversation
How much might people save at the fuel pump? Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor is touting savings of around $1,500 over 12 months for families who fill up (not just top up) two cars every week.
But few households consume anywhere near this much petrol. Households with electric cars – or no car at all – will get no direct benefit.
Dutton unveils plan to force more gas into Australian market and expand production in major pre-election pitch - The Conversation
Dutton’s plan to expand gas production is a folly. No new gas projects are needed to meet Australia’s energy needs. The best way to cut energy prices is to accelerate the shift to the cheapest form of energy - which is from wind, solar and storage.
Also read >
The Coalition wants to increase Medicare psychology rebates from 10 to 20 sessions. Here’s what happened last time - The Conversation
The next Federal Government has some big health matters to address - Croakey Health Media
Coalition cuts to public service jobs could push out social service payment wait times by months, Labor says - The Guardian
Election Watch: Dutton’s nuke and gas plan relies on the death of Australian industry, and its smelters - Renew Economy
Peter Dutton’s new energy plan sounds like a gas. In reality it means more emissions – and more profits for industry - Tim Buckley for The Guardian
Will Australia’s media do better at cracking down on lies this election? The signs aren’t good - The Conversation
Michael Pascoe: The alternative government: one good idea in a pit of Trumpiness - Michael West Media
It was called a Budget reply, but the name was meaningless. Peter Dutton’s Thursday night effort was his election campaign pitch. Michael Pascoe reports it did have one good idea – but only one.
If there was a prize for political hypocrisy, Peter Dutton emerged as the clear winner on Thursday in a crowded field. The Opposition leader who railed against Labor’s temporary energy rebates trotted out his temporary halving of fuel excise, which was effectively the same thing.
What’s been missed in coverage though is how much more tightly targeted, how much more politically fine-tuned this policy is and the implications for the LNP’s election hopes.
Read more from Michael Pascoe for Michael West Media
Also read >
Federal election ‘will be won or lost in the suburbs’, Chalmers says - The Guardian
Can Peter Dutton flip Labor voters to rewrite electoral history? It might just work - Mark Kenny for The Conversation
Labor’s in with a fighting chance, but must work around an unpopular leader - The Conversation
Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada - The Guardian
Jason Stanley, who says grandmother fled Berlin with his father in 1939, says US may become ‘fascist dictatorship’
A Yale professor who studies fascism is leaving the US to work at a Canadian university because of the current US political climate, which he worries is putting the US at risk of becoming a “fascist dictatorship”.
Also read >
Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts Student, Is Detained by ICE - The New York Times
Kristi Noem Uses Infamous El Salvador Prison in a Dystopian Photo Op - Zeteo
Is Australia in denial about Trump? - Full Story Podcast
With the prime minister expected to call the election at any moment, the impact of American politics on our security, economy and defence cannot be underestimated. Australian politics has been dominated by a pre-election budget, but has this overshadowed our ability to guard ourselves against a much more volatile geopolitical climate? Bridie Jabour talks with the editor, Lenore Taylor, head of newsroom, Mike Ticher and deputy editor Patrick Keneally about text leaks, tariffs, and Trump’s looming threat
Listen to The Full Story Podcast
Also > Mushmouthing reality: The old relationship we had with the United States is over - John Birmingham for Alien Sideboob
Today’s cartoon by Cathy Wilcox
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Gove and the native title revolution - Pearls and Irritations
The High Court’s judgment in March 2025 in favour of the Gumatj people has reaffirmed the centrality of the Indigenous peoples of Gove in the Northern Territory in the native title revolution that was conceived in a case against mining company, Nabalco Ltd, in the 1960s and continued with the High Court’s Mabo and Wik judgements in the 1990s.
Read more in Pearls and Irritations
Peter Dutton and the billionaires - 7am Podcast
While Peter Dutton’s electorate braced for Cyclone Alfred, the opposition leader flew to Sydney to attend a $25,000 dollar-a-head dinner at Justin Hemmes’ Vaucluse mansion. It was a choice that’s been pilloried in the media – and the government. But as Labor sets about to raise money in similar ways, it raises questions about who has the ear of our leaders – and what Australia’s wealthiest people are getting in return for their donations. Today, special correspondent for The Saturday Paper Jason Koutsoukis, on Peter Dutton, Anthony Albanese and the billionaires they court.
How many salmon farms are there in Tasmania — and who owns them - The ABC
If you have driven along Tasmania's coastline, you may have spotted collections of black circular pens floating just offshore and thought to yourself: 'what are those?'
They're salmon farms.
And there's a lot of them, dotted around the state's waters.
Tasmania's salmon aquaculture industry started in the 1980s — it's since grown to become a billion-dollar force in the state, producing almost 75,000 tonnes of Atlantic salmon for the 2022-23 financial year.
The state has become the largest producer of Atlantic salmon in the country, and according to the Tasmanian government, employs more than 1,700 permanent staff.
Ketan Joshi: Climate determined the date of the election, yet remains utterly absent from it - Crikey
More than 1,000 media pieces from major outlets mentioned climate change during the peak of the Black Summer bushfires. In February this year, there were just 250.
Australia’s election date was decided by climate change. Like every other major weather event of the past decade, Cyclone Alfred emerged in an atmosphere sweltering due to the heat-trapping effect of greenhouse gases. That made it hit harder and more unpredictably. Alfred tracked much farther south than cyclones normally do, so homes in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales were battered.
Albanese was forced to shift his election announcement, with both major parties having to deal with a surprise budget.
Read more from Ketan Joshi for Crikey (paywall)
Also read > No, Plibersek is not delaying a $30b project - Boiling Cold
Dave Milner: Israel is mass murdering journalists and Aussie media loves that s**t - The Shot
Globally, support for a free Palestine is the dominant perspective – just look at any UN vote on the matter – and yet here this is still an unacceptable position to espouse on Australian television. At the symphony orchestra. In a newspaper. On the radio. At an art show. In a major political party. At a university. Establishment spaces are clearly for Zionists, their shills, the willfully oblivious and an ever-massive throng of cowards. This is unnatural, anti-democratic, and at odds with the popular will. And it is consistently reinforced by hyper-wealthy self-interested assholes that pull the levers of Australian politics, media, and culture.
Read more from Dave Milner for The Shot
David Hardaker: Trump’s US crashes and burns as Australia prizes democracy - The Politics
The chasm between what the two former allies consider shared values grows wider and deeper by the week.
This week Elon Musk turned up at the White House wearing a red MAGA cap emblazoned with a new slogan. No longer “Make America Great Again”, it declared “Trump was right about everything”.
Meanwhile, this morning Anthony Albanese arrived at Government House to ask Governor-General Sam Mostyn to dissolve Parliament and issue writs for an election.
Such is the dissonant world we inhabit. Our closest ally, the US, with whom we apparently share values, has collapsed.
Read more from David Hardaker for The Politics
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 38 community independents - who have (so far) announced their candidacy in the upcoming federal election. Subscribe, volunteer, donate to support their campaigns.
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Quick Links…
The fascist aesthetic of Trump's team of dangerous buffoons - Lucy Hamilton
A mug’s game: Murdoch press’s anti-Labor budget coverage foreshadows election attacks to come - Amanda Meade for The Guardian
How realistic is the incel world of ‘Adolescence’? - The Daily Aus Podcast
Why voting in a fact-checking void should worry you - Pearls and Irritations
Muslim groups reject push for new Islamophobia definition at Australian universities - The Guardian
Michael Wolff: Cancelled by Trump attacks - Media Confidential Podcast
China or America. Who is the warmonger? - Michael West Media
25 years into a new century and housing is less affordable than ever - The Conversation
The Treasurer on Trump, taxes and a global trade war - Full Story Podcast
Are we losing the battle against urban development on floodplains? - Pearls and Irritations
Kyle & Jackie O Show breached decency standards with ‘vulgar’ sexual content, Acma finds - The Guardian
‘Stop the boats’, ‘continuity with change’: How sloganeering moulds our memory of politicans - Crikey (paywall)
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: 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 March. See you on Monday!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Discover independent news media. See the clear difference.
