News update for Mon 5 Aug 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
Climate change - government and media failure - Pearls and Irritations
People trying to change Australia’s climate policies face a huge challenge. A fundamental problem is that in a democracy such as Australia’s, governments don’t make policy changes if they think this will damage them politically. The Albanese government will do everything it possibly can to tackle the climate crisis, except address the core problem, the burning of fossil fuels, the root cause of climate change!
The power of the fossil fuel industry influences government policy, and clearly the government thinks it is in its political interests to continue supporting gas and coal extraction.
Read more in Pearls and Irritations
Also read >
‘The Adriatic is becoming tropical’: Italian fishers struggle to adapt to warm sea - The Guardian
Climate change: Livestock methane project spearheaded by Australian enterprise - The SMH/Age
EPA deals ‘major blow’ to Woodside’s multibillion-dollar gas drilling plan at Browse basin - The Guardian
Alan Rusbridger: Elon Musk’s misinformation machine made the horrors of Southport much worse - Prospect Magazine
It’s unlikely that Elon Musk has ever heard of Southport, far less visited it. He has five or six companies to run, after all, and has been busy this week sounding off about Venezuela, Kamala Harris, puberty blockers and why the legacy media lie to you.
So it’s probable that some ugly riots in a seaside town somewhere in northwest England will not have registered with the strange genius who may well be the richest man in the world.
Read more from Alan Rusbridger for Prospect Magazine
Also read >
Weird Sisters - Are doing it for themselves - The Future of Everything
Weird has become the bon mot of the US Presidential election, a linguistic weapon accidentally plucked from the lake of tired political vocabulary and now being wielded with fierce aplomb by the Harris campaign against the Orange manbaby.
The word has succeeded against the formerly invincible Trump campaign in ways that more obvious descriptors such as fascist, anti-democratic, white supremacist, misogynist and even rapist haven’t quite been able to achieve. It cuts through their defences like Excalibur and its deployment has Team Trump running around like headless chooks.
Read more from Tim Dunlop for The Future of Everything
Also listen to > USA 2024 ELECTIONS UPDATE 2 - The Transit Zone Podcast
US politics: What is Project 2025? And why is Trump distancing himself from it? - The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
Last week, Paul Dans, the leader of the controversial Project 2025, resigned and signalled in a company email that work on it was ‘winding down’. The project had become a manifesto of rightwing policies that would serve as a guide for the next Republican president. However, there is a significant stumbling block: Donald Trump claiming he wants nothing to do with it
Listen to The Guardian’s Full Story Podcast
The Verdict: some progress on the looming multinational tax dodging reforms but “enormous” task ahead - Michael West Media
Against stiff opposition from the Big Business lobby, Parliament is due to vote on the Albanese Government’s multinational tax avoidance reforms this month.
The Albanese Government came to office promising an ambitious reform agenda to address multinational corporate tax avoidance. It has made progress on some measures but has faced stiff resistance from multinational corporations, tax advisers, lobbyists and political allies.
An essential reform currently before the Parliament is legislation requiring large multinational corporations to publicly report revenue, profits, taxes paid, number of employees, and assets broken down by the locations where it has a presence for a list of specified tax havens.
Read more in Michael West Media
Also read > The G20 is considering a global billionaire tax. Australia is missing in action - Crikey (paywall)
Three things made abundantly clear from the relentless bullying of Imane Khelif - Women’s Agenda
White feminism tells us we are strong. White feminism tells us we are fierce. We are fighters. We are winners. Our world adores women who are tenacious, powerful, brave. When you’re a girlboss, doors open for you, the world is yours.
As long as you are white and cisgender, that is. Because when Olympian Imane Khelif entered the ring on Friday, to compete in a sport she’s been playing her whole life, to show the world how strong and fierce of a fighter she is, she was relentlessly bullied. She was questioned. She was discredited. The world weaponised its vile transphobia to shut the door on her.
Our world hates women of colour and trans people. If that statement makes you uncomfortable, I beg you to read it again.
Today’s cartoon by Jon Kudelka
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Australia made 9 changes to student migration rules over the past year. We don’t need international student caps as well - The Conversation
This week a Senate inquiry will look at the federal government’s controversial legislation to cap international student numbers in Australia from next year.
University-commissioned research predicts caps will cause a significant loss of revenue and jobs, including flow-on effects to the broader economy.
But my new report for the ANU’s Migration Hub, argues there are yet more reasons why the government’s international student cap is a bad idea.
HONEST GOVERNMENT AD | FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (FOI) LAWS - The Juice Media
The Government has made an ad about our freedom of information laws, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.
Watch The Juice Media’s latest Honest Government Ad
COMPULSORY VOTING AND AUSTRALIA'S DEMOCRACY - The Transit Zone Podcast
This year marks a significant anniversary in Australian political history. But few Australian citizens will be celebrating it mainly because they simply don’t know what it is. In 1924, as Australia entered its third decade of federation, our federal parliament passed legislation mandating compulsory voting. 100 years later, that innovation has been meshed into our political lives and democracy as utterly normal. The “democracy sausage” effect. Our turn out for elections is persistently high, unlike most other democracies we might compare ourselves with. How has compulsory voting shaped our democracy over the last century? What are the positives and negatives? What might we lose if we abolished it as has been tried relatively recently in Australia by the Liberal Party under John Howard.
Listen to The Transit Zone Podcast
Alan Kohler: The end of the tech bubble and the rise of the humanoid machines - The New Daily
Fears of a recession in the United States have brought the great artificial intelligence boom/bubble to shuddering halt.
The Nasdaq has dropped 10 per cent in a few weeks, the AI favourite Nvidia is down 20 per cent and on Friday, Intel, the incumbent chip maker fell 26 per cent, in one day.
Fears of a recession in the United States have brought the great artificial intelligence boom/bubble to shuddering halt.
The Nasdaq has dropped 10 per cent in a few weeks, the AI favourite Nvidia is down 20 per cent and on Friday, Intel, the incumbent chip maker fell 26 per cent, in one day.
Read more from Alan Kohler for The New Daily
Why I’m taking Vic Labor’s donation rules to the High Court - Crikey
When former Victorian premier Dan Andrews introduced the “strictest donation regime in Australia” in 2018, outlawing political donations larger than $4,320 and introducing a ban on foreign donations and a strict penalty scheme for those that did not comply with the rules, it looked like the epitome of a fair go. After all, giving every person an equal opportunity without discrimination or favouritism is what makes our country great.
I’m sure I was not alone when I cheered on these new rules, thinking that they would keep the Parliament from pandering to big donors with deep pockets. Wealthy people buying political influence through donations is basically as old as time itself, resulting in policies that don’t benefit regular folk but rather specific or niche interests.
And yet, upon close inspection, these 2018 rules are anything but fair.
Read more in Crikey (paywall)
Is the National Anti-Corruption Commission living up to expectations? - New Politics
The establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission in 2023 was heralded as a crucial step towards enhancing transparency and accountability within governmental operations in Australia, and this development came in response to long-standing public concerns about corruption and misconduct among high-ranking officials. However, the NACC’s operational efficacy has been increasingly questioned, particularly in light of its selective investigative processes and apparent reluctance to pursue high-profile cases, such as the Robodebt scheme and allegations surrounding former Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
What is makarrata and has Albanese broken an election promise? - The Guardian
There was a lot of talk on the weekend about the concept of makarrata and what it means to the future relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Australia.
It came into sharp focus at the annual Garma festival in north-east Arnhem Land, the first to be held since the failed referendum 10 months ago on enshrining an Indigenous voice to parliament in the constitution, where questions were asked about what the government plans to do to address that unfinished business.
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Punted: How media companies and big sport fought gambling reform — and won - Crikey (paywall)
Media exposure has forced the government’s hand on Centrepay. The contrast with robodebt could not be more stark - The Guardian
'Not in the hearts of the Yolŋu': Djawa Yunupingu says Peter Dutton ignored his invitation to Garma - NITV
A total cop-out’ if Albanese government refuses blanket ban on gambling ads, Pocock says - The Guardian
Australian interest rates: Will they be cut? - Ross Gittins for The SMH/Age
AFP must investigate Israel’s killing of Zomi Frankcom after quest for truth and justice goes nowhere | Rawan Arraf | - The Guardian
A new Cabinet, inflation up, corruption, and a real-life Succession going wrong
- New Politics PodcastAustralians shunning petrol-powered cars for hybrid vehicles as bowser prices rise - 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 5th of August. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here