News update for Mon 28 April 2025
Your trusted guide to the top independent news and views of the day...
5 days until the May 3 federal election
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 the news and views you need to know today…
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
BREAKING NEWS: Peter Dutton failed to disclose he was the beneficiary of a family trust, Four Corners reveals - ABC News
Amy Remeikis: The Coalition’s campaign has now become synonymous with fiasco - The New Daily
We have reached the point in the election cycle where the Coalition is claiming to anyone who will listen that the polls are wrong, that internally they just KNOW they are doing much better and if only people stopped demanding detail then everything would be going their way.
The Coalition’s campaign has been reduced to moaning ‘if you just remembered you hate Labor, then this would all be fine’ at any pensioner, Gen Zer or Millennial they encounter (everyone forgets Gen X).
Meanwhile Angus Taylor’s acolytes run around claiming they would never have run a campaign this way and he was always uncomfortable with the populist route Peter Dutton flirted with (ignoring of course, that he was just fine with it under Scott Morrison and indeed joined up to it under Tony Abbott).
Read more from Amy Remeikis for The New Daily
Also >
Election predictions with Amy Remeikis - Serious Danger Podcast
Albanese has been a ‘proficient and lucky general’. But if he wins a second term, we are right to demand more - The Conversation
“Blackouts and brownouts:” Peter Dutton hits the panic buttons - Renew Economy
Coalition desperate to slash the public service… and plunge our cultural institutions back to austerity - Ben Eltham for Crikey (paywall)
A strange, disjointed week in a campaign slipping away - New Politics
Newsroom edition: why a hung parliament may be good for Australia - Full Story Podcast
With the election campaign sputtering to the finish line, much of the coverage has concentrated on the two major parties, and most of their policy offerings have focused on the cost of living. Critics have pointed to the lack of substance and bold policy offerings from both Labor and the Coalition.
But polls show about a third of voters are expected to vote for an independent candidate or one from a minor party, with a minority government looking like a distinct possibility. Bridie Jabour talks to editor Lenore Taylor and head of newsroom Mike Ticher about why the trend away from the major parties may make the parliament more productive
Listen to the Full Story Podcast
Also >
Final dash: these are the seats Labor and the Coalition will target, with Greens and teals the X-factor - The Guardian
Independents may build on Australia’s history of hung parliaments, if they can survive the campaign blues - The Conversation
How do results vary between election day and early voting? - The Tally Room
Young women are among those who care most about the cost of living. It could be bad for the major parties - The Conversation
Mike Seccombe: ‘Devastating’: Inside the Liberals’ One Nation deal - The Saturday Paper
Over the decades since, the Coalition has largely kept its distance from Hanson and One Nation. There was an active conversation about not giving oxygen to the new racist party. At the 1998 and 2001 elections, One Nation candidates were placed last on Liberal how-to-vote cards.
In more recent times, Hanson’s party has been placed higher in the order of preferences – the Coalition parties now reserve bottom spot for the Greens – but still consistently below Labor.
Not anymore. Under Peter Dutton’s leadership, the Coalition has placed One Nation candidates second on scores of its how-to-vote cards across the country.
Liberals such as Jim Barron are appalled.
Read more from Mike Seccombe for The Saturday Paper (paywall)
Also read >
Preference deals can decide the outcome of a seat in an election – but not always - The Conversation
Dutton’s One Nation preference swap a new low aided by a feckless media -Crikey (paywall)
‘Treated like pawns in his political chess game’: Chinese voters unleash on Dutton - Crikey (paywall)
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Angela Priestley: Peter Dutton calls the ABC ‘hate media’. It’s dangerous and shows what he lacks for the job - Women’s Agenda
Peter Dutton launched a new attack line, six days out from polling day. The man in the race to be the next prime minister of Australia referred to the national broadecaster as “hate media” during a speech to supporters in Melbourne on Sunday morning.
Dutton listed The Guardian as also joining the ABC under the “hate media” umbrella, along with “the others” – unnamed media outlets that we can presume include those that scrutinise his record, his policies and his campaign tactics.
If the “hate media” line sounds familiar, it’s because it is. US President Donald Trump has long called out the “fake news media” as any outlet that fails to swoon over him.
Read more from Angela Priestley for Women’s Agenda
Australians Defending Democracy: Say NO to Voter Intimidation - Sue Barrett
Something changed in 2022.
When the two-party system was disrupted — when more Australians began supporting community independents and demanding real accountability — the tone at election time shifted dramatically.
Since then, the escalation in intimidation, aggression, and disinformation has been like nothing I have seen or experienced in a lifetime of voting.
Now, in 2025, it has reached dangerous new levels — and it threatens the very fabric of our democracy.
Also read > What political ads are Australians seeing online? Astroturfing, fake grassroots groups, and outright falsehoods - The Conversation
If Einstein spoke today, he would be accused of antisemitism - Pearls and Irritations
In 1948, as the foundations of the Israeli state were being laid upon the ruins of hundreds of Palestinian villages, Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the American Friends of the Fighters for the Freedom of Israel, condemning the growing Zionist militancy within the settler Jewish community.
“When a real and final catastrophe should befall us in Palestine, the first responsible for it would be the British, and the second responsible for it the terrorist organisations built up from our own ranks. I am not willing to see anybody associated with those misled and criminal people," he wrote.
Einstein — perhaps the most celebrated Jewish intellectual of the 20th century — refused to conflate his Jewish identity with the violence of Zionism.
Read more from Pearls and Irritations
Also read >
Even in sickness, Pope Francis reached out to Gaza's Christians - Pearls and Irritations
Ali Faraj Faraj miraculously survives Israeli missile strike in Gaza that kills his family - The ABC
Today’s cartoon by Matt Golding
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
TODAY IS TRUENORTH’S 300TH 5PM INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA UPDATE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
Climate change and the housing crisis are a dangerous mix. So which party is grappling with both? - The Conversation
Australia is running out of affordable, safe places to live. Rents and mortgages are climbing faster than wages, and young people fear they may never own a home.
At the same time, climate change is getting worse. Last year was Australia’s second‑hottest on record. Global warming is leading to more frequent and severe bushfires, floods and heatwaves.
These two crises feed each other. Energy-hungry homes strain the grid on hot days, and urban sprawl locks residents into in long car commutes. And dangerous, climate-driven disasters damage homes and push insurance bills higher.
Also read >
Can renewables and nuclear play nice in Australia's power grid of tomorrow - ABC News
The big issues Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton aren’t talking about this election - The Guardian
The seats that will decide the election - 7am Podcast
As we head to the polls this weekend, election analyst Ben Raue has been calculating the path to victory for the major parties. The Coalition needs to pick up 18 seats to win, while if Labor loses four seats, they lose their majority. But as the electorate shifts in all kinds of surprising ways, the path to victory is becoming increasingly complicated for the major parties. Today, analyst at The Tally Room Ben Raue, on the seats that will decide the election – and why Victoria matters more than ever.
Also > The incumbency factor • Karen Middleton for Inside Story
The MAGA threat. Is Australia’s democracy safe from Trump-style assaults? - Michael West Media
Peter Dutton likes to appear strong, DOGE-style, Jacinta Price vows to ‘make Australia great again’, Clive Palmer spends millions on his ‘Trumpet of Patriots’ campaign. Is our democracy safe?
Democracies must constantly work to maintain their health, so yes, all of what is occurring globally can also happen here. But there are four fundamental differences between Australian and US media use and political structure that serve Australia well:
The US does not have a well-resourced and established public broadcaster.
There is much more fragmentation of US media because of the high adoption of cable.
Voting in the US is not compulsory.
US voting districts are still being organised — in other words, gerrymandered — in ways that provide partisan advantage.
Read more from Michael West Media
Also read > Storm director funds hate group “Advance” - Anthony Klan for The Klaxon
TODAY IS TRUENORTH’S 300TH 5PM INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA UPDATE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
Ketan Joshi: Australia and Canada: Two fossil fuel giants where Trump has had stunning impact on election polls - Renew Economy
There is no longer any real doubt that Trump’s administration is having a material impact on a range of election campaigns around the world.
The German election was once expected to be a wipe-out in favour of the conservatives, but ended up with a relatively boring result that retained the status quo around moderates, and centre right / left parties.
Canada has seen an extremely dramatic and unprecedented flipping of party polling in direct response to Trump’s actions in his second term of office. Its election is coming up soon – Monday 28th.
The political, economic and physical proximity of the US to Canada, along with Trump’s casual threats to literally invade and take over the country, has had this effect.
Read more from Ketan Joshi for Renew Economy
Also read > ‘Nothing I can do about it’: Coalition’s nuclear website selectively quotes former chief scientist - Crikey (paywall)
Bernard Keane: From ‘hate media’ to ‘lock him up’, Dutton’s Trump tribute act is still reliably playing the hits - Crikey
We’re repeatedly told that Peter Dutton isn’t really like Trump. But he sure seems comfortable acting like him.
A staple of press coverage of Peter Dutton for many months now is the insistence that for all the superficial resemblances between the opposition leader and Donald Trump, he’s in fact nothing like the Mad King and is far more centrist in his political outlook. This is a variant of the “he’s not a monster” school of Dutton commentary, which has been around since his unsuccessful bid for the prime ministership in 2018: beneath that right-wing hard-man persona, we’re told, is a genial, smiling chap of far more moderate sensibilities than political events have made him out to be.
Read more from Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Also read > Dutton’s comments show we are back to punching down on Indigenous Australians for attention – and votes - The Guardian
Life and death: threats to Medicare are lethal - The Politics
Peter Dutton has history as no fan of our universal healthcare system, and the possibility of a Coalition government taking the axe to it is sickening.
Labor is not immune from making healthcare cuts but I shiver when I consider what a right-wing let-the-market-rip ideologue like Peter Dutton would do given the chance. He has form presiding over deep cuts to the system, including freezing Medicare rebates and proposing “co-payments” for patients visiting a GP when he was health minister in the Abbott government.
Read more from Nicole Chvastek for The Politics
Inspired by a local group of people in Sydney's north who were looking for t-shirts to wear on their regular walks, Democracy Walks champions, supports and actively engages in our democracy.
CLICK here to see Democracy Walks’ t-shirt designs - and join the democracy walkers today!
See a list of the 38 community independents - who have (so far) announced their candidacy in the upcoming federal election. Subscribe, volunteer, donate to support their campaigns.
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
Quick Links…
80 years after Benito Mussolini’s death, what can democracies today learn from his fascist rise? - The Conversation
Increasing Australia's defence budget requires answering tough questions - Laura Tingle for The ABC
Fake “threats”: How trans issues became weaponised - The Klaxon
Chinese president rallies neighbours as US tariffs imposed - Pearls and Irritations
'Cherry-picked': Dutton's $1300 power price increase claim misleads - AAP Fact Check
Young people must fight for democracy - Grace Tame for The Saturday Paper (paywall)
Muslim Australians are crying out to be heard. Will the major parties listen to us? - The Guardian
Foreign Minister Senator Penny Wong - in her first ever podcast!
Betoota Talks PodcastWhat Do "Left" and "Right" Actually Agree on? (Heaps!) - Punters Politics
Gina episode 5: The portrait - Full Story Podcast
We need a Minister for Food. The food insecurity crisis on women - The Women's Agenda Podcast
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
TODAY IS TRUENORTH’S 300TH 5PM INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA UPDATE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
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You’re up to date for Monday the 28th of April. See you tomorrow.
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - Amy Remeikis for The Australia Institute here - and through 6 News here
Join the new Boiling Point community - where we’re growing a group of politically informed Australians in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. See details and sign up here.
TODAY IS TRUENORTH’S 300TH 5PM INDEPENDENT NEWS MEDIA UPDATE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT
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