News update for Mon 16 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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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
‘Zero repercussions’: victims of robodebt ‘embarrassed’ to have believed justice would be done - The Guardian
Victims of the unlawful robodebt program say they feel “embarrassed” to have believed justice would be delivered following a royal commission into the scheme, suggesting “they could put all this into a Monty Python movie”.
Twelve officials, including former department heads Kathryn Campbell and Renée Leon, breached the public service code of conduct 97 times during their involvement in robodebt, an Australian Public Service Commission taskforce found on Friday.
But Campbell and Leon will not face sanctions, as they no longer work for the public service.
Albanese’s promise on family violence conceals multimillion-dollar cuts - The Saturday Paper
Phillip Ripper’s assessment is blunt. “Across Australia there are tens of thousands of women and children living in fear tonight who will be no better off,” says the chief executive of No to Violence, Australia’s peak body for organisations and individuals who work with men to end family violence. “If you’re reading the headlines and watching the news and some of the commentary, you would think that family and sexual violence is going to receive more funding. It’s not.”
Read more from Kristine Ziwica for The Saturday Paper (paywall)
Also read > Australia has spent 10 years trying to stop DV before it happens. Is that the best approach? - The Guardian
NSW Government criminal policies ensuring koala extinction - Independent Australia
Dire threats to koala survival in NSW are virtually guaranteeing the species extinction, all facilitated and approved by the Minns Government.
Many of the threats were created by the previous Coalition Government but voters expected the Labor Government would be pro-environment and take steps to correct the policies of extermination.
Mainstream media censorship of the impacts of industrial logging in the state’s native forests exponentially eradicating forest fauna is beyond understanding. The virtual abandonment of the Labor Party’s promised Great Koala National Park together with the massive urbanisation in southwest Sydney, eliminating the habitat of the state’s only significant disease-free koala population, joins forestry issues in the MSM closet.
Read more in Independent Australia
The Australian economy needs women but fails to meet the health and financial needs of women - Women’s Agenda
In 1907, the Harvester case determined that working men should be paid a wage that would allow them to support a family of five. This ruling became the basis for setting Australia’s minimum wage standard until the 1970s.
And then, women entered the workforce.
Women’s labour has more than doubled the Australian workforce since the Harvester ruling, creating new industries and expanding existing ones.
But in 2024, the idea of women being paid a wage that would enable them to support a family of five is nothing short of utopian. Today’s reality is that most working poor households include couples with children, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies.
Alan Kohler: The Reserve Bank is being politicised - The New Daily
The central recommendation of last year’s RBA Review has been chewed up and spat out by politics, and in the process the bank is being politicised.
The Coalition now seems to be against reforming its governance, for political reasons.
It took a while for shadow finance minister Jane Hume to get there in her interview with David Speers on Insiders on Sunday, but eventually she did: “We’re comfortable with the board that we have that are dealing with monetary policy as they are.”
Read more from Alan Kohler for The New Daily
Explosive FOIs – gas cartel conned Government, fixed high energy prices for all Australians - Michael West Media
It’s sickening to think Australian governments would put the gas cartel and foreign citizens ahead of lower electricity for Australians. But as Rex Patrick reveals from the latest FOI documents, sadly, that’s what they have done.
In October 2022, nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine, then West Australian Premier Mark McGowan gave some unsolicited advice to the federal government on how to deal with surging gas and electricity prices. They should look to his state to find a solution, he told the ABC’s 730 Report.
McGowan was primarily referring to the gas reservation policy that’s been in place in WA since 2006, whereby gas producers are forced to reserve 15% of the gas they produce for use in WA.
Read more from Rex Patrick for Michael West Media
Today’s cartoon by Jon Kudelka for The Saturday Paper
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Inside the secret world of an American militia - 7am Podcast
The militia movement in the United States has grown since Donald Trump praised those who attacked the Capitol on January 6. Members have since been patrolling the border, forming bonds with police and trying to influence elections.
Now, investigative reporter Joshua Kaplan has gained rare access to the secretive world of one militia, American Patriots Three Percent, to find out how they are preparing for the election and what will happen if Donald Trump loses.
Labor in the Multiverse: A journey through what might have been - Bogan Intelligentsia
If not in this universe, perhaps in some other far-flung branch in the vast expanse of better possibilities, the Australian public got the Labor government it expected, voted for, and deserved. This is their story.
The Albanese Labor Government won the election in May 2022. Initially keen to remain a small target in the months of campaigning, but in touch with the public revulsion of the Morrison government, and citing the lack of due diligence and sincerity by a wayward Coalition and its secret cabinet proto-authoritarian PM, party strategists chose two fairly reasonable positions: once in government -- Labor would review AUKUS and the Stage Three Tax Cuts.
Read more from Joel Jenkins for Bogan Intelligentsia
Paul Karp: Labor faces a fight on housing. Could negative gearing reform help it get its groove back? - The Guardian
Labor’s signature housing policy, a shared equity scheme called Help to Buy, will go to a Senate vote this week. The Greens have used the bill to push for cuts to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions but in negotiations the government has not budged.
In February, Anthony Albanese said: “the Greens can vote for it, or they can vote against it … it’s as simple as that.” Since then, nothing has changed.
Gone are the days of Labor offering billions more for social and affordable housing during negotiations for the Housing Australia Future Fund (Haff), a move which appeared to give Labor’s chief antagonist, Max Chandler-Mather, a major win.
Read more from Paul Karp for The Guardian
Ross Gittins: Our unending housing crisis will never get fixed without a lot more thought and effort - The SMH/Age
Contrary to popular opinion, the cost-of-living crisis will pass. But the housing crisis will go on worsening unless politicians – federal, state and local – try a mighty lot harder than they have been.
The cost of home ownership took off – that is, began rising faster than household incomes – about the time I became a journo 50 years ago, and is still going. Even the (unlikely) achievement of Anthony Albanese’s target of building 1.2 million new homes by 2034 probably wouldn’t do more than slow the rate of worsening affordability for a while.
Read more from Ross Gittins for The SMH/Age
The Murdoch succession drama kicks off this week. Here’s everything you need to know - Crikey
The future of a media company. A family trust. Sparring children. This isn't Succession — it's a Murdoch family legal stoush. Crikey explains what's unfolding this week.
This week, Rupert Murdoch will take his own children to court in scenes reminiscent of the hit HBO drama Succession. Reminiscent, perhaps, because the show was based on the Murdoch family itself (ironically, the show is only available to watch in Australia on the Murdoch-owned streaming service Binge). Much like the television saga, the family drama engulfing the world’s most powerful media conglomerate has taken many a twist and turn.
As the court case begins this week in the provincial gambling haven of Reno, Nevada, the future of the Murdoch empire hangs in the balance.
Read more from Daanyal Saeed for Crikey (paywall)
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Calls grow for total ban on gambling ads as Australia’s annual losses surge to $32bn - The Guardian
Labor pays the price in the fruitless quest for bipartisanship - New Politics Podcast
Australia’s decades of harmful policy will be repaid in intergenerational trauma, and inquiries can only do so much - Julianne Schultz for The Guardian
Truck safety whistleblower Roxanne Mysko dodges jail, slammed with legal costs - Michael West Media
Australians have lost trust in our major institutions, new survey shows - Mumbrella
The Stats Guy: Rise of far right in Germany has lessons for us - The New Daily
The cost-of-living question that could shape Australia's next federal election - ABC News
It's the cost of living, stupid! Labor falling further behind in polls, and here's why - InQueensland
Why Harris v Trump is the everything-but-climate election - Renew Economy
Australia’s new scam prevention draft is welcome – but it needs to be broader in scope - The Conversation
The rise of the Libertarians: ‘fringe’ party could win 15 NSW council seats after Liberals’ bungle - 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 Monday the 16th of September. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here