News update for Mon 25 Mar 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 help to counter disinformation by sharing 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: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Red Dawn or Red Daze? Abetz and Hastie ‘Wolverines’ hurt Australia’s interests in attacks on China - Michael West Media
A cabal of neo-conservative, anti-China politicians who call themselves the Wolverines, a nod to the 1980s Patrick Swayze movie Red Dawn, have just spread their network to Tasmania, thanks to weekend's election of Eric Abetz, and are ramping up their presence in WA.
Read more from Robert Barwick reports for Michael West
Anjali Sharma on lobbying parliament from her dorm room - 7 am podcast
An Australian court once ruled that the federal government has a duty of care to young people, to protect them from harm the climate crisis will inflict during their lifetimes. That decision was overturned on appeal, but today there’s an inquiry looking into how that responsibility could be enshrined in law via the parliament.It’s been a long journey for the young woman who first brought that case against the federal Environment minister – something she did while still in high school.
Why we shouldn’t believe the Institute of Public Affairs - Pearls and Irritations
Net permanent and long-term (NP&L-T) movements data published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) was recently used by the far right Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) in a highly politicised analysis of the January 2024 data on NP&L-T movements. This ‘analysis’ was naturally picked up by the Murdoch press via the Daily Telegraph with very little scrutiny.
Dr Abul Rizvi for Pearls & Irritations
Draining entire superannuation savings wouldn’t cover most young couples’ home deposits, research finds - The Guardian
Research by the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia casts doubt on the Coalition’s plan finding young couples would struggle to scrape together a 20% deposit for a home in Sydney or Melbourne even if they were allowed to completely drain their super.
Also read > I knew the facts about millennials but I wasn’t ready to admit the life my parents had would never be mine - The Guardian
Also listen to > Who screwed millennials: a generation left behind – Guardian’s Full Story podcast
The plan to protect LGBT+ discrimination in religious schools - The Daily Aus
An independent legal body has advised the Federal Government on how to better protect LGBT+ staff and students at religious schools.The Government asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to review federal anti-discrimination laws in light of a years-long debate about religious freedoms.
Listen to The Daily Aus podcast
Cartoon by Alan Moir for The SMH
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
A Republican victory in 2024 will be a climate disaster - Pearls and Irritations
After the Super Tuesday results signalled Trump would become the Republican presidential candidate in November, a first promise was that “We’re going to drill baby drill.” One of the most important reasons to watch American politics this year is that a Trump victory will push the world faster towards catastrophic climate heating.
Read more from Lucy Hamilton for Pearls & Irritations
Labor dissent sees Plibersek’s veto on offshore gas project rules restored - The Guardian
The Albanese government has kept a lid on dissent over changes to the approval process for offshore gas projects, but a late internal push has seen the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, regain a power to prevent consultation rules being watered down.
Read more from Paul Karp for The Guardian
From the weekend Tasmanians have voted in a hung parliament. What now? - The Conversation
While the results aren’t likely to be formalised for a couple of weeks, the island state’s voters haven’t given Labor or the Liberals the 18 lower house seats needed to form a majority government. Overall, there has been a significant swing against the Liberal government, with the Greens and the Jacqui Lambie Network (JLN) likely to be the main beneficiaries.
The helter skelter race to form the next Tasmanian government is just beginning.
Also read > Liberal minority rule, Lambie alliance or Labor ‘traffic light’ coalition: where to now for Tasmanian politics? - The Guardian
Coalition of the unwilling - The Politics
Do the major parties really think this run of independent-minded voting is about to suddenly end? That their declining primary votes are about to magically turn around? Minority governments look to be increasingly likely in the coming years, as it becomes harder for either major party to secure more than 50 per cent of seats. But both Labor and the Liberals seem unwilling to heed the messages from voters who are calling for a more collaborative style of government.
Read more from Rachel Withers for The Politics
From the weekend…
‘Tourists ask a lot of questions’: Great Barrier Reef guides face up to bleaching tragedy - the Guardian
“You can see it on their faces,” says scuba diving instructor Elliot Peters. “There’s definitely some remorse and sadness.”
Peters works at a resort on Heron Island in the southern part of the Great Barrier Reef and, in recent weeks, he’s had to tell curious guests why so many of the corals around the island are turning bone white.
The reef is in the middle of its fifth mass bleaching event in only eight years – an alarming trend driven by global heating in a year that has seen record global ocean temperatures.
Read more from Graham Readfearn for The Guardian
USA increasingly protectionist, no matter who wins - The New Daily
Australia no longer has a car industry – take a bow, the Coalition, which, like Labor, prefers massive protectionism for inflated defence projects in key electorates, a policy that now extends to direct donations for jobs in the US and UK defence industries – $9 billion worth to keep our place in the queue for nuclear-powered submarines.
Michael Pascoe for The New Daily
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Quick Links…
Transport, housing and cost of living: how has Labor fared in its first year in power in NSW? - The Guardian
Remnants of the Coalition's horrific economic damage still linger today - Independent Australia
Is Peter Dutton or News Corp leading the Coalition? - Pearls and Irritaions
Towards deliberative Parliaments - John Quiggin's Blogstack
Climate-conscious investors put nuclear dead last on list of desirable Australian ventures - 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 Monday the 25th of March. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here