News update for Thur 20 March 2025
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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TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Rebecca Huntley: Australians have lost hope in the fair go, with profound implications for the election - The Guardian
The Australian electorate is fundamentally changing.
In more than two decades of social research I have seen economic ups and downs, trends come and go, and public opinion about leaders and issues rise and fall.
But overall I’ve always believed the character of our country remained mostly unchanged: that we believe in fairness and equality more than freedom; that we have a trusting obedience and respect for our institutions of democracy and government (albeit little regard for most of the political class).
Now I am seeing a shift that has caused me to rethink the way I view Australia.
Read more from Rebecca Huntley for The Guardian
Ross Gittins: Much argy-bargy on the way to next week’s off-again, on-again budget - Pearls and Irritations
According to the business press, Anthony Albanese was desperately hoping for an early election so he could avoid next week’s budget and the drubbing he’ll get when Treasurer Jim Chalmers is forced to reveal projections of a decade of budget deficits.
If you think that, you don’t know much about budgets. But, more to the point, nor do I expect to believe the budget’s forecasts for the economy in 2025-26.
The first reason I don’t believe Albanese was living in fear of having to reveal a decade of deficits is that, although the business press may be shocked and appalled by budget deficits, the voters have never been. That will be particularly so at a time when all they care about is the cost of living.
Read more from Ross Gittins for Pearls and Irritations
Also read >
Expect a lot of talk about Australia’s deficit, but remember the golden rule: budgets are always about choices - Greg Jericho for The Guardian
The Australian economy has changed dramatically since 2000 - John Quiggin
Fish out of water - Follow The Money Podcast
Chunks of dead salmon have washed up on Tasmanian beaches and the Maugean skate is at risk of extinction, so why won’t governments to more to rein in the salmon industry in Tasmania?
Listen to the Follow The Money Podcast
Also >
Albanese to rush through new laws to protect Tasmania’s salmon industry from legal threat - The Guardian
SpinProof speaks with Peter George - the community independent candidate for the Tasmanian seat of Franklin - SpinProof Independents Day Podcast Series
Rain gave Australia’s environment a fourth year of reprieve in 2024 – but this masks deepening problems: report - The Conversation
For the fourth year running, the condition of Australia’s environment has been relatively good overall. Our national environment scorecard released today gives 2024 a mark of 7.7 out of 10.
You might wonder how this can be. After all, climate change is intensifying and threatened species are still in decline.
The main reason: good rainfall partly offset the impact of global warming. In many parts of Australia, rainfall, soil water and river flows were well above average, there were fewer large bushfires, and vegetation continued to grow. Overall, conditions were above average in the wetter north and east of Australia, although parts of the south and west were very dry.
Greenhouse gas emissions. Winning slowly or losing the battle? - Michael West Media
With the election campaign already in full swing, what progress has Australia made towards emission reductions under Labor? Are we better informed and better prepared?
On an electricity grid-focused social media group, which is not generally frequented by the sort of brain-dead fossil trolls who will put a laughing emoji or inane comment on any post involving renewables or electric vehicles, I was recently accosted by a chap whose – apparently legit – profile identified him as a quality manager at an outdoor education provider.
Read more in Michael West Media
Also read > Meet the people behind the latest gas lobby group claiming to "educate and inform" consumers - Renew Economy
Ronni Salt: Chicken run - The Shot
Chooks, gallus gallus domesticus, chickens, hens, whatever; as someone who’s spent many hours observing them, I can confirm they’re deeply weird birds. If chook watching isn’t your thing – and let’s be honest it’s not something everyone’s putting on their CV – bear with me dear reader.
There’s a reason we use the word chicken to describe anything involving cowardice, largely because chooks aren’t exactly known for having the courage of a lion. Chooks can also be affectionate and beautiful birds, but for the most part, when left to their own devices in a flock, they become hysterical alarmists that will run for their lives, one after the other, after the other, their necks stretching, their wings outspread in panic at the merest hint of anything testing their mojos.
Read more from Ronni Salt for The Shot
Today’s cartoon by Matt Golding
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian 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.
PBS-listed medicine to cost no more than $25 a script if Labor re-elected - The Guardian
A re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script, in a major new election pledge to be included in next week’s budget that builds on Anthony Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure.
With the formal election campaign to commence within weeks, where Labor will focus strongly on health as a key issue, Albanese will on Thursday deliver a major speech promising that four out of five medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would become cheaper under the plan which would cost the government $689m.
Also read > Albanese says PBS ‘not up for negotiation’ after US pharma complains to Trump about scheme - The Guardian
The Catholic Church’s legal loophole for abuse - 7am Podcast
Are Catholic priests employed by the Church, or by the hand of God? This question was at the heart of a five-year legal battle between a survivor of child sexual abuse seeking compensation from the Catholic Church and Bishop Paul Bird of the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat. The High Court’s decision last November – that the Catholic Church does not employ priests and therefore is not liable – came as a surprise to lawyers and as a devastating blow to survivors seeking justice. Australia now stands alone among common law jurisdictions in taking this stance. Today, lawyer and advocate representing victims of institutional abuse, Judy Courtin, on the far-reaching consequences of this ruling – and how the courts continue to fail victim-survivors.
Dutton blames renewables for rising power prices, but bills would be much higher without them - Renew Economy
Australia’s shift to wind, solar and battery storage has shielded Australian households and businesses from much higher power bills than they would otherwise be paying, a new report has found, debunking Peter Dutton’s constantly repeated claim that renewables are to blame for rising electricity prices.
The report, released by the Clean Energy Investor Group on Wednesday, models counterfactual scenarios for 2024 where consumer demand is met by coal and gas plants, rather than firmed renewables.
The diary of Dutton’s disaster: How a cyclone exposed a leadership crisis - New Politics
The mismanagement of a natural disaster has seriously dented the Liberal Party’s chances of an unlikely win at the federal election.
Dutton also ignored a basic principle of crisis leadership clearly illustrated by his predecessor Scott Morrison. During Australia’s bushfire season in 2019/20, Morrison went off to a secret holiday in Hawaii, a profound political misjudgement that ultimately ruined his prime ministership. Morrison’s later mishandling of emergency funding during the 2022 Northern New South Wales floods – allocating aid selectively to politically sympathetic electorates – also highlighted the poor choice of mixing partisan politics with disaster relief. These recent examples are lessons in political mismanagement during a crisis, lessons Dutton should have understood deeply yet failed to take.
Rachel Withers: Who’s afraid of a hung parliament? - Crikey
It’s revealing who is putting in the most effort to avoid one.
It’s fairly obvious why former Labor MP Joel Fitzgibbon doesn’t want a hung parliament — at least not one where the crossbench has any sway.
“The crossbenchers are skewed to the left,” the former resources minister and longtime coal advocate tells me. “I think it’s out of balance.”
Fitzgibbon is talking about his recent op-ed in The Australian, in which he argued the major parties should team up in the event of a hung parliament, backing whoever wins more seats in order to sideline the crossbench.
Read more in Crikey (paywall)
Also >
Electoral fever dreams: Quick thoughts on the eve of election - Tim Dunlop
Labor, Liberal or Trump? Election Strategies in a Changing Political Climate -
Blue Red Green and Everything in Between Podcast
You’ll not see nothin’ like Trump’s mighty Flynn -The Politics
... until, of course, you get an eyeful of the mad, bad and dangerous Steve Bannon, king of the MAGA catastrophe.
One-time Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon is back, looking chipper. And why not? He’s the undisputed ruler of MAGA-world and there is no more powerful group in the US.
The jowly sidekick to Trump 45 has slimmed down courtesy of a stint in the slammer last year, time served because he refused to play ball with Congressional inquiries into the January 6, 2021, insurrection. His podcast, WarRoom, is a megaphone to the angry American mob who put his guy into the White House and who will never be pushed around again — or so he tells them.
Read more from David Hardaker for The Politics
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Former judges were once considered the bastion of integrity. The Sofronoff findings have upended that - Anthony Whealy for The Guardian
Australia is a military colony of the US. Now they want to spend billions making it worse - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)
Erdogan Arrests Top Opposition Politician - Ruth Ben Ghiat
Bringing back ‘golden ticket’ visas ‘a big mistake’, Magnitsky sanctions architect warns Dutton - The Guardian
Empathy: The Human Superpower Musk Wants to Erase - Sue Barrett
Homeless shelters are needed urgently - Pearls and Irritations
Australia’s Missing Growth Strategy and How to Find It - Sandy Plunkett
The fake terrorism plot and the real threats to free speech - Full Story Podcast
Former Liberal state minister Matt Kean on Australia’s climate action - The SMH/Age
Sydney caravan incident sparks inquiry into ‘who knew what and when’ before rushed hate speech laws - The Guardian
Geopolitics, Australia-China-US relationship and its impacts on Australian-Chinese voting priorities - Pearls and Irritations
In 2000, Australia was defined by the Olympics, border politics and reconciliation. So what really has changed? - The Conversation
"No brand has lost so much value so quickly:" Analysts take stock of Musk and Tesla - The Driven
Bob Carr says Aukus a ‘colossal surrender of sovereignty’ if submarines do not arrive under Australian control - The Guardian
What the ABC revealed about ECEC in Australia now - Women's Agenda
‘We call that social murder’: Five years on from COVID supplement payments, more of us live in poverty - Crikey (paywall)
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
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You’re up to date for Thursday the 20th 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
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.
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