News update for Mon 27 Jan 2025

Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...

Jan 27, 2025

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

Don’t call me teal: meet the Climate 200-backed candidate set to take on Peter Dutton - The Guardian

Ellie Smith says the reason she decided to try to unseat Peter Dutton in his Brisbane electorate is simple.

“For me it was just about having a local MP who reflects our community,” she said. “It just kind of didn’t make sense to me that we had an MP that was so divisive.”

If she does it, it will be a first. Just seven Australian opposition leaders have lost their seat at an election – all of them at state and territory level.

Marcia Langton doesn't want Peter Dutton to stand in front of the Aboriginal flag - 7am Podcast

Peter Dutton’s announcement last month that he won’t stand in front of the Aboriginal flag got the exact reaction he was likely after – talkback minutes, headlines, private agreement from some quarters and outrage from others. Professor Marcia Langton saw something else. She knows the tactic: a toxic political circus in the lead up to Australia Day, centred on lies about Aboriginal people. And she knows Dutton’s record on Indigenous affairs. She doesn’t want him anywhere near the flag. Today, Professor Marcia Langton AO on what it would mean for Aboriginal people if Peter Dutton becomes the prime minister.

Listen to the 7am Podcast

Also >

Peter Dutton’s deliberate Australia Day cruelty - Marcia Langton for The Saturday Paper (paywall)
‘Keep moving forward’: Yunupingu leads Australia Day honours - The Guardian

3 reasons to fear humanity won’t reach net-zero emissions – and 4 reasons we might just do it - The Conversation

Within hours of taking office last week, President Donald Trump made good on his pledges to wind back the United States’ climate action – including withdrawing the US from the Paris Agreement.

This political show comes barely a week after 2024 was revealed as the world’s hottest year and following the catastrophic Los Angeles fires. The fires directly killed 20 people; potentially many more will die from toxic smoke and other after-effects.

Cover-up over: Scott Morrison's 'Sports Rorts' advice finally released - Michael West Media

After an epic five year FOI battle that involved two court cases and >$400K of taxpayer-funded legal fees, Christian Porter’s ‘legal’ advice to Scott Morrison on Sports Rorts has finally been released. Rex Patrick reports on what it says and why the Government has surrendered in the transparency fight.

The battle has finally been won. The Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet has released Attorney-General Christian Porter’s advice to Prime Minister Scott Morrison on the legality of Sports Rorts. MWM has reported extensively on the fight.

Lancet study finds Gaza’s true death toll from Israeli genocide exceeds 60,000 - Pearls and Irritations

A new study published in The Lancet estimates Gaza’s death toll at 64,260 in the first nine months of the war, 41% higher than official figures, highlighting the devastating impact of the ongoing genocide.

A recent study published in The Lancet estimates the death toll in Gaza to be 64,260 between October 7, 2023, and June 30, 2024, a figure 41% higher than the official reports from Gaza’s Health Ministry. The study, conducted by a UK-based team of researchers, analyzed data from multiple sources, including Gaza’s Health Ministry, online surveys, and social media obituaries, and concluded that the toll is significantly underreported by the official figures.

Professor Jenny Hocking: Mainstream media fails to mention positive Labor policies - The Echo

The new year in Australian politics, an all-important election year, began on a high with a host of Albanese government policy initiatives taking effect from January 1, 2025.

Among these, and there are many, are pay rises of up to 13 per cent for aged care workers, an increase in the Medicare safety net threshold, multinational corporation anti-tax evasion laws, mandatory climate reporting for businesses, new vehicle emission standards, and the criminalisation of wage underpayment as wage theft, just to mention a few, all of them opposed by Peter Dutton and the Coalition.

Chris Wallace: Is Albanese bigger than his ambition? - The Saturday Paper

The harshest critics imply the election is a Hobson’s choice – that is, no real choice at all.

It’s driving some rusted-on Labor voters to consider voting for Greens or independent candidates first and Labor second, to signal they want more action, faster, from the government on the epochal issues of our times.

If that happens in big enough numbers, the government will lose seats, improving the Coalition’s odds of forming minority government.

Also read > Where can Labor turn for ideas on how to win the Australian election? How about Mexico? - The Guardian

From DOGE to SMOGE, Peter Dutton’s Coalition is an eerie echo of Trump (and Musk’s) America - The Guardian

On 22 January, Gina Rinehart said: “If we are sensible, we should set up a Doge [Department of Government Efficiency] immediately, reduce government waste, government tape and regulations.”

Mere days later, on 25 January, Peter Dutton appointed Jacinta Nampijinpa Price as the shadow minister for government efficiency (Smoge?), describing her new job as to cut “wasteful spending”.

Correlation isn’t causation, but the political and narrative threads connecting Dutton’s Coalition opposition to Donald Trump’s American presidency and his mega-billionaire offsider Elon Musk grow more numerous by the day.

Lucy Hamilton: The Atlas Network talking about itself - The Australian Independent Media Network

The Atlas Network is a global interconnection of over 500 faux “thinktanks” (or junktanks), dedicated to reinforcing and propagandising the “free market” message. The Mont Pelerin Society (MPS) is considered its steering committee. The Atlas Network was designed from 1981 to metastasise similar bodies to sell “business” ideas. It finds local enthusiasts and donors around the world to eliminate obstructions to profit for American corporations and local fellow-travellers.

A stubborn Albanese goes quietly to his — and Labor’s — defeat - Crikey

Anthony Albanese remains committed to a business-as-usual political and economic strategy, while his opponents have ditched the rules.

Managing but not governing. In charge but not in power. Deciding but not leading.

That was the prime minister on display at Friday’s National Press Club address — unveiling another managerial tweak to the economy, denouncing his opponent, and promising voters more of the same that they’ve been given over the past two-and-a-half years.

Business as usual isn’t going to cut it. The drift in Labor’s support has been happening for 18 months, to the point where it’s impossible to see the government retaining its majority. But there are weeks, and likely months, until the election.

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