News update for Mon 15 April 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 selected 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
BREAKING: Bruce Lehrmann loses defamation bid, judge finds he raped Brittany Higgins - follow live updates through The Guardian
What we know about the Sydney stabbings - The Daily Aus
Over the weekend, Australia was rocked by the killing of at least six people at the Bondi Junction Westfield shopping centre in Sydney’s east. At the time of recording, there are a number of victims who remain in a critical condition, and it’s possible the death toll could rise further. On today’s podcast, we’ll update you on what happened, how the community has responded, and the questions that remain
Listen to the Daily Aus podcast
Also listen to > How the Bondi Junction stabbing attack unfolded – the Guardian Full Story podcast
Also read > As Australia reels from the Bondi attack, such mass murder incidents remain rare - The Conversation
Also read > To get our Bondi reporting right, the media needs to learn these 5 lessons - Crikey
Also read > Attack on women an ‘obvious’ area of interest for police - Women’s Agenda
Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins saga: the night that spawned more than a dozen legal cases - The Guardian
More than three years after Brittany Higgins alleged on The Project that she had been raped, the defamation case stemming from that broadcast may be about to come to an end.
A judge is set to hand down his verdict in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson on Monday.
BREAKING: Bruce Lehrmann loses defamation bid, judge finds he raped Brittany Higgins - follow live updates through The Guardian
The Great Housing Disaster: Who’s to blame? - 7am Podcast
What happened to housing in Australia over the past few decades wasn’t by chance. It’s the result of decades of deliberate decisions that have turned us into a nation of landlords and property speculators. This episode uncovers who broke the housing market, and introduces one of the few people who saw what was coming and tried to warn us.
Listen to more in the 7am Podcast
Mundine’s $10m mining deal collapses - The Klaxon
Warren Mundine’s $10 million mining IPO has collapsed, with investors shunning his “minerals exploration” company Fuse Minerals — which had never earned a cent in revenue or conducted a single drill.
After extending the offer period by more than eight times — from two weeks to more than four months — the company has been forced to scrap its raising and planned ASX float after failing to raise a minimum $6m legally required.
Access, undue influence and the Constitution - Pearls and Irritations
The sponsored pass system for lobbyists to access Parliament House opens the door to undue influence and potentially corrupt behaviour. Facilitating such opportunities is both unwise and inappropriate.
Read more from Professor Anne Twomey for Pearls & Irritations
Cartoon by Mark David for Independent Australia
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
How to spot five of the fossil fuel industry’s biggest disinformation tactics - The Guardian
Increasingly sophisticated and better-funded disinformation is making climate coverage trickier both for journalists to produce and for the public to fully understand and trust.But telling the story, and understanding it, has never been more urgent with half of Earth’s population eligible to vote in elections that could decisively impact the world’s ability to act in time to stave off the worst of the climate crisis.
Also read > ‘Grownup’ leaders are pushing us towards catastrophe, says former US climate chief - The Guardian
Mable the “Uber of the NDIS”. Are digital care platforms keeping clients safe? - Micheal West Media
Digital care platforms like Mable are seeking to bring higher levels of efficiency, choice and control to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). But are they striking the right balance between those principles and client safety?
Zacharias Szumer investigates for Michael West Media
Are we really prepared for the climate crisis when it comes to infrastructure? - Crikey
It was a photo of the Sydney regional line at Bomaderry that got me thinking about Australia’s massive shortfall in climate adaptation.
Heavy rain in New South Wales last weekend washed out sections of the South Coast line between Sydney and the southern New South Wales coast. Transport for NSW identified problems at multiple locations, including Wombarra, Scarborough, Port Kembla, the Macquarie Rivulet, Lilyvale, Coalcliff, Bomaderry and Bald Hill.
A section of the track at Bomaderry was badly damaged, show photos from Transport for NSW.
Read more from Ben Eltham for Crikey
The Lion’s Den - The Politics
Perhaps the most alarming part of all this is that so many high-profile media commentators opted to “believe Bruce”, reflexively believing a man who told obvious, contradictory, “risible” lies, and was unable to keep his story straight. Lehrmann’s explanation when confronted with one such inconsistency was, to quote Justice Lee, as “disconcerting as it was unconvincing”.
Read more from Rachel Withers for The Politics
BREAKING: Bruce Lehrmann loses defamation bid, judge finds he raped Brittany Higgins - follow live updates through The Guardian
From the Weekend…
Labor’s interventionist industry policy aims big. But how can Australia compete with the US and China? - The Guardian
Should Australia bother competing in industries such as solar when Chinese firms have such gargantuan scale? And, as for joining what the Australian Financial Review dismissed as a “worldwide race to the bottom”, how can Canberra ever stump up more than a fraction of the US’s $600bn Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and equivalents in the European Union and elsewhere?The answers, though, aren’t as simple as “let the market decide”.
The major parties' policies on Israel and Gaza seem wildly out of step with the views of voters they must win - ABC
The Labor party machine has told the government that between five and seven seats in Sydney and Melbourne are currently under serious threat, including the seats of ministers Jason Clare, Tony Burke, and Ed Husic and MPs Anne Stanley (Werriwa) and Peter Khalil (Wills).
Read more from Laura Tingle for the ABC
Lost in the supermarkets, the housing crisis, factchecking the IPA and the war against the new Governor-General - New Politics
In this week's New Politics podcast, Eddy and David discuss the supermarkets inquiry and the housing crisis.They also factcheck the IPA and look at the war against the new Governor-General.
LIsten to the New Politics podcast here
Are wind farms really a threat? - ABC If You’re Listening
People don’t like wind farms. They say they’re bad for wildlife, they affect property values and they create pollution. But are any of these claims true?ABC's Matt Bevan looks at the wind farm debate and how it nearly tore the small Australian community of King Island apart. And what Donald Trump has to do with it.
Watch ABC’s If You’re Listening with Matt Bevan here
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Quick Links…
Critical Archival Encounters and the Evolving Historiography of the Dismissal of the Whitlam Government - Professor Jenny Hocking for AJPH
Gaza: The Conflict Raging Beyond The Battlefield - Fourth Estate Podcast
Plant suppliers say Bunnings pushed them 'into the dirt' with unfair, unprofitable contracts - ABC
Is Australia exporting weapons to Israel? - The Guardian
Australia and the question of Palestinian statehood - The Mandarin
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 Monday the 15th of April. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here