News update for Thur 15 May 2025

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

May 15, 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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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 - and through 6 News here

BREAKING NEWS:

Niki Savva: Marles is deluded. In a world where merit mattered, he would be shown the door - The SMH/Age

Difficult as it might be to believe, Marles has leadership ambitions. One possible reason he ignored the advice was that he was shoring up his defences to ward off the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who normal people see as the natural successor to Albanese thanks to his management of the economy and his communication skills.

In a world where merit really mattered, Marles would be the one to be dispatched. His performance has been so lacklustre that Peter Dutton ate him for breakfast on Nine’s Today whenever they appeared together.

Richard Di Natale’s advice for the next Greens leader - Full Story Podcast

The Greens were on a high – until they weren’t. This election left the minor party almost entirely wiped out in the House of Representatives and without its leader Adam Bandt. Ahead of a vote on who will take the party forward, the former Greens leader Richard Di Natale speaks to Nour Haydar on what lessons can be learned from the election result and where to now for the minor party.

Listen to the Full Story Podcast

Also > The Greens are about to choose a new leader. Here’s how it works – and who could be Adam Bandt’s successor - The Guardian

Ross Gittins: It was supposed to be the cost-of-living election. But then Dutton showed up - Pearls and Irritations

Talk about the dog that didn’t bark. Cast your mind back to the distant days of the election campaign, and you’ll dimly remember how often we were told that polling revealed the only subject hard-pressed voters were interested in discussing was the cost of living.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers stuck to this rule relentlessly, repeatedly assuring us the economy had “turned the corner” (a focus-group-tested line if ever there was one), but Peter Dutton had trouble keeping to the script.

He was supposed to keep asking whether we felt better off than we did three years ago and, knowing our answer would be “no”, put all the blame for this regression onto Labor. But he couldn’t resist reminding us of the supposed rising tide of crime and risk of invasion.

Am I the only person to have noticed that, in all the many thousands of words commentators have spilled in explaining Labor’s landslide win, there’s been nary a mention of the cost of living?

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Greg Jericho: Australia’s wage growth remains solid. But now the recovery needs to be sustained - The Guardian

The government must not let up on policies which enable workers to bargain for decent pay rises.

Labor swept to victory on 3 May after a campaign dominated by concerns about the cost of living. But the latest wage and home lending data should impress upon the government that, in three years, they may not be so lucky.

First the good news – wage growth remains solid. In the March quarter of this year, overall wages grew 0.9%, and for the past year wages were up 3.4%. That is a good result. We should celebrate wage growth and not submit to the spin of business groups who preach bankruptcy and recession whenever wages rise.

Rex Patrick: Transparency. Is Labor's large majority a threat to truth in government? - Michael West Media

Information is the currency of power in a democracy. It’s what allows informed debate and scrutiny of Government. So, how is transparency shaping up in the 48th Parliament?

Parliamentary power lies in the numbers. With 76 votes in the House and 39 votes in the Senate, a government is only limited by the Constitution.

In the 48th Parliament, Labor will have a clear majority in the House of Representatives with at least 93 members. Labor will only need to feign respect for others and then get on and do whatever they want. They will be able to push any legislation they want through the House.

The same is not true for the Senate.

Today’s cartoon by Matt Golding

TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here

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This 6-point plan can ease Australia’s gambling problems – if our government has the guts - The Conversation

Overall, gambling costs Australians more than $32 billion annually.

This has been fuelled by relentless promotion and marketing and the expansion of the gambling ecosystem: the network of commercial actors who reap a major dividend from gambling losses.

It includes the bookies, pub and club chains as well as sporting leagues, financial services providers, software and game developers, charitable organisations, broadcasters, and state and territory governments.

Of course, gambling comes at a cost: it is strongly linked to broken relationships, loss of assets, employment and educational opportunities, and crime rates. Intimate partner violence and neglect of children, along with poor mental and physical health, are also connected to gambling accessibility. As, unfortunately, is suicide.

However, there are ways to reduce gambling harm.

Can Sussan Ley rebuild the Coalition? - 7am Podcast

Three years ago this month, Sussan Ley stood beside Peter Dutton as his deputy, the newly installed pair projecting confidence about the contest ahead. Ley backed Dutton enthusiastically. But now, in 2025, she faces the public as the Coalition’s new leader after voters rejected the Dutton-Ley project and handed the Liberals its worst defeat on record. The task before Ley is threefold: unite the Coalition, reset its policy platform, and win back the city women and younger voters who deserted the Liberal Party. Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Barlow, on Sussan Ley’s uphill battle to rebuild the Coalition.

Listen to the 7am Podcast

Also >

The Liberal party’s appointment of Sussan Ley is a historic moment – but not the one that matters - Julia Banks for The Guardian
Andrew Hastie says he has ‘desire to lead’ the Liberal party in future - The Guardian
It’s civil war for the Liberals. Price — and a few others — want to be PM, but good luck with that - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Leying down the new order with Sussan: A Liberal Party fictional tale - Michelle Pini for Independent Australia

How 'energy poverty' could have changed the election outcome - The New Daily

Political leaders in Australia must find a way to balance the urgent need for climate action with the immediate economic realities we face. Failure to do so can lead to voter disaffection, where people feel the policies have failed them in terms of energy affordability.

How political leaders tackle this complex issue may influence Australia’s political landscape and policy directions.

Balancing policy that addresses immediate economic pressures and long-term environmental goals to combat climate change can only be successful if they do not inadvertently alienate vulnerable populations.

Tim Dunlop: Think like a citizen - Three years is a short time in politics - The Future of Everything

Our federal election was allegedly a rejection of such exhaustion, of Trumpism, and I hope that is true. The system handed Labor a landslide, but it also confirmed the shift away from the major parties. It showed us the problems of a two-party system, of party politics more generally, in both the decisiveness of Labor’s win and the concomitant collapse of the Liberal Party. It showed us the problems of trying to do politics without parties in a system that rewards them.

Rachel Withers: Minority government was not to be… this time - Crikey

At 12 seats, the new lower house crossbench remains impressive, though down on 2022’s record 16 — 19 following the defection of the Coalition’s Andrew Gee, Russell Broadbent, and Ian Goodenough (or 18 following the abolition of North Sydney). While Kooyong was a white-knuckle finish, Curtin, Mackellar, Wentworth and Fowler’s indies all received sophomore swings, joining Kennedy, Clark, Mayo, Indi, and Warringah as crossbench stalwarts. Gee comfortably retained Calare as an independent, taking Nats voters with him — a reminder that not all country folk are rusted on.

The losses are very Green — Adam Bandt, Max Chandler-Mather, and Stephen Bates account for half the fall, leaving just Elizabeth Watson-Brown. Zoe Daniel is the only “teal” loss (unless the funniest thing ever happens — I did say Tim Wilson’s return would be good content), while Broadbent and Goodenough’s seats were never really independent to begin with.

Also read > ‘I’m happy to lose’: Hannah Ferguson on why she’s running for the Senate - Crikey (paywall)

Mega-rich nuked as their millions blown on duds - The Politics

Australians didn't just boot Dutton. They also ditched right-wing nut jobbers, Clive Palmer with his bonkers spendathon, and the schemes and dreams of MAGA-mad Gina Rinehart.

In good news for Australia’s democracy, it turns out that money really can’t buy everything, and the Americanisation of our politics is not a one-way street.

Mega-rich people and powerful industry lobbies trying to buy votes and influence results to capture Australia’s environmental, energy and net-zero policy-making were among the biggest losers at the election. When the Liberal Party-led Coalition they were backing with their dollars, communications and networks went down hard on May 3 — condemned to at least three more years out of power — so did their schemes and ambitions.

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