News update for Mon 17 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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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
Disastrous, dark shadow, destroys our economy: five climate elders on Peter Dutton’s emissions stance - The Guardian
From Peter Garrett to Lesley Hughes there is frustration, despair and ‘a towering sense of anger’ over the opposition leader’s shift on the 2030 target.
Any sense of a ceasefire in Australia’s fractious climate wars was blown away this week after the Coalition said it would not back the country’s 2030 emissions reduction target at the next election.
Speaking to Guardian Australia, veterans of international climate negotiations and public advocacy spoke of their anger and disappointment at the Coalition’s position, saying it would damage Australia’s economy and international reputation.
Read more from Graham Readfearn for The Guardian
Also read >
Dutton’s petrostate and the global far right - Lucy Hamilton for Pearls and Irritations
On Background wth Dr Joëlle Gergis: Are politicians failing the climate? - ABC’s Insiders Podcast
Then and now: what Peter Dutton and the Coalition used to say about a 2030 emissions target - The Guardian
Dutton’s energy plan to cost $97 billion as we wait for nukes to lumber into action - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Superficial coverage of Dutton’s nuclear policy does Australia a disservice - Pearls and Irritations
‘Nuclear energy won’t stop cows from burping’: Peter Dutton needs a plan that goes beyond the electricity sector - The Conversation
Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s talk of stepping back from Australia’s 2030 emissions targets has created confusion and concern on several fronts, and sparked vigorous political debate over our pathway to a carbon-free future.
Over the weekend, Dutton claimed Labor’s renewable energy commitment was behind steep electricity price hikes in recent years. His comments prompted a rebuke from Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described the claims as “mind bogglingly absurd”. Meanwhile, Dutton’s suggestion of an energy policy shakeup, should the Coalition win government, has caused consternation in the business community.
Amid all this, several points need clarifying. For a start, Dutton’s claim that renewables are responsible for electricity price hikes is just plain wrong.
Read more from Tony Wood for The Conversation
Karen Barlow: How Home Affairs became a scandal factory - 7am Podcast
Barely a week goes by when the Department of Home Affairs isn’t under the blowtorch of media or political scrutiny. In one way, the level of scrutiny is to be expected. When a department is so huge it takes in security, intelligence, immigration and policing functions, with some 14,000 staff under the one secretary – it’s inevitable. The question is, should one department have so much power?
Why does Anthony Albanese persist in trying to appease News Corp and the Coalition? - The New Daily
It is pitiful to think that a Labor government elected in its own right two years ago might be running scared of a depleted opposition party and its public relations arm, News Corp.
But that is what appears to have been happening on several fronts.
A Labor government might be expected to side with vulnerable minorities, but Albanese and Marles seem intent on identifying with the powerful, despite the powerful holding them in contempt and continuing through their media dominance to show it.
Amy Remeikis: Climate 200 names nine new Coalition seats where it hopes to replicate teal wave at next election - The Guardian
Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.
After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.
Read more from Amy Remeikis for The Guardian
Further NSW redistribution analysis - The Tally Room
Following the publication of the proposals for the Victorian and WA redistributions, I put together two posts analysing different angles at a deeper level than the original analysis.
Rather than fully revisiting the topics, I thought I would just use one post to apply the same analysis to the NSW proposal, and also zoom out to the national level.
Read more from Ben Raue for The Tally Room
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
Rex Patrick: AUKUS ‘JobGiver’: a non-recourse handout to overseas companies and workers - Michael West Media
The Morrison Government encountered Opposition scorn for failing to include claw-back provisions in its JobKeeper program. Yet the Albanese Government is making the same mistake with its ‘JobGiver’ submarines program.
On 23 November 2021, then-opposition Treasurer Jim Chalmers rose in the House of Representatives and delivered a fiery speech on the performance of the Liberal Coalition Government.
When he spoke about managing the economy, Chalmers mentioned ‘JobKeeper and declared it the “defining example” of Coalition economic mismanagement.
Read more from Rex Patrick for Michael West Media
An Australian-first to ban political donations - The Daily Aus Podcast
South Australia could soon become one of the first places in the world to ban political donations in state elections.
The announcement from the state government this week has reignited a national debate about how our political parties are funded, what donors want from their donations, and how else we could model the system.
In today’s podcast, we’ll look at what the South Australian Premier is proposing, but also how things work in the political donation hall of fame - the United States.
Listen to The Daily Aus Podcast
Pine Gap’s secret expansion - The Saturday Paper
The United States satellite surveillance base at Pine Gap, jointly run with Australia, has been undergoing its largest and most rapid expansion ever, with 10 new satellite antennas or dishes being constructed over the past few years.
Three large satellite dishes have been built in the west of the base, in Central Australia, along with another four smaller dishes in the northern section and three new dishes in the south.
Read more from Peter Cronau for The Saturday Paper
As News Corp rails against social media, the Oz becomes the ultimate troll - Crikey
Social media: where civil discourse gives way to personalised abuse, vendettas and hysterical comparisons with the Nazis.
Oh, wait — that’s The Australian.
Consider last Friday’s extraordinary effusion by Francis Galbally, a “former lawyer and now a Melbourne-based businessman and investment banker.”
In his piece, Galbally declares “alarming similarities between Adam Bandt’s Greens and Hitler’s National Socialist Workers’ Party of the 1920s and 1930s”.
He explains:
Bandt’s rant a few days ago has all the hallmarks of a Nazi rally. He accuses the major parties of ‘slandering this movement’. He calls on the Israeli ambassador to be expelled. He calls on sanctions against Israeli [sic] […]
Like Hitler, Bandt uses propaganda, discontent and fearmongering to gain support.
Read more from Jeff Sparrow for Crikey (paywall)
Also read > 6 News anchor Leonardo Puglisi slams bi-partisan under 16 social media ban - The ABC
States pour money into prisons - The Justice Map
A number of state governments have acknowledged slight rises in prison populations and responded with huge funding for prison expansions, rather than efforts to reduce incarceration rates.
The recent Queensland and South Australia budgets revealed huge new spending on expanding existing prisons and the construction of new ones, with both states acknowledging an increase in their prison populations and an apparent resignation that this will continue into the future.
Read more from Denham Sadler for The Justice Map
David Hardaker: Media watched - The Politics
The host of the ABC’s Media Watch will be on his way at the end of the year. After more than a decade – and some 500 episodes – the consensus is that Paul Barry has done a fine job exposing the bad and the ugly of Australia’s media.
For all this Media Watching, the sobering truth is that in 2024 the media has never been in worse shape.
What has the year yielded so far?
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Quick Links…
The failure of NACC and the return of the climate wars - The New Politics Podcast
Why are Europeans – including the young – being pushed to the far right? - The Conversation
Anthony Albanese open to Makarrata commission for truth and treaty for Indigenous Australians - The Guardian
When Push Comes To Shove: Costello’s Unseemly End - Fourth Estate Podcast
A new survey suggests the unlikeability of both Dutton and Albanese. It could spell one of the ugliest political campaigns in modern memory - Patricia Karvelas for The ABC
Offshore wind zone shrunk and pushed further out to sea to protect penguins, reefs and whales - Renew Economy
Australians say AI shouldn’t produce political news, but it’s OK for sport: new research - The Conversation
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 17th of June. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here