News update for Thur 23 Jan 2025

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

Jan 23, 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

Peter Dutton’s plan to win back teal seats - 7am Podcast

When Scott Morrison’s government was swept from power in 2022 it was the Coalition’s worst election result in 70 years. The cities deserted them and they lost ground in every state, except Queensland. The conventional wisdom was it would take Peter Dutton two terms in opposition to turn the Coalition's fortunes around, with a strategy of focusing on Queensland and regional areas this election before recapturing city seats in the next cycle. But that long-term plan has disappeared, with Dutton sharpening his immediate focus on the inner-city teal seats he thinks the Coalition can win. Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on whether Peter Dutton can reclaim teal electorates with his brand of hardline conservatism.

Listen to the 7am Podcast

Also >

Greg Jericho: Misleading fear campaigns may kill Labor’s superannuation changes. But here are the real numbers - The Guardian

Australia’s superannuation is a broken system that works to give the richest 10% over $20bn a year in tax breaks, while nearly a quarter of retirees live in poverty due to the miserable level of the age pension. The government is trying to reduce some of the most egregious abuses of superannuation – and yet misleading fear campaigns look likely to win out.

Let me put some numbers in your head.

Australia is the ninth-richest country among the advanced economies of the OECD. We are richer on average than Sweden, Germany, Canada and the UK.

News Corp lies to Parliament in lobbying putsch to change media laws - Michael West Media

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has misled the Australian Parliament and is liable to prosecution, not that government will lift a finger to enforce the law.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has misled the Australian Parliament. In a submission to the Senate the company claimed “Foxtel also pays millions of dollars in income tax, GST and payroll tax, unlike many of our large international digital competitors”.

However, an MWM investigation into the financial affairs of Foxtel has shown Foxtel was paying zero income tax when it told the Senate it was paying “millions”. The penalty for lying to the Senate is potential imprisonment, although ‘contempt of Parliament’ laws are never enforced.

Extreme events, causation and politics - Pearls and Irritations

Climate Politics: Causation can be complex, often multi-layered, multi-faceted and with links between its elements. In the context of weather-related disasters, it has to be attributed with great care, and in recognition of the complicated thing that is the environment - whether natural or human.

And we need to note the motives of those who attribute causation; they can quickly politicise events and condition people’s views as to what underlies those events.

Are we smart enough for democracy? - Fifth Estate

From a voter’s perspective, today’s politicians are simply inept. A 2023 Pew Research Center survey of over 30,000 people in 24 countries found that “better politicians” was the overwhelming response for improving democracy, highlighting the need for greater competence, better representation, increased responsiveness, less corruption, and for politicians to be less influenced by lobby groups.

This raises more questions: if we can’t tolerate some incompetence and corruption, will there be enough competent and honest politicians to choose from? And does the fault lie with the electors, the elected, or the political system itself?

Tim Dunlop: O say can't you see - Concentrate on what is happening - The Future of Everything

The pillars of genuine authoritarianism are being shored up.

And at the heart of all authoritarianism is the creation of an enemy, the demonisation of some other, or others, onto whom the “good citizens” can project their fears and concerns. When Trump and Vance warn of immigrants eating cats and dogs, they are participating in this age-old ritual of demonisation and as I’ve said, this is not just a media strategy.

Also read > The Firehose Effect: Don’t let Trump’s deluge daunt you - Dan Rather

Today’s cartoon by David Rowe

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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HOW THE ISRAEL LOBBY TRIES TO SILENCE CRITICISM OF ISRAEL - Declassified Australia

The mainstream media is often called “the Fourth Estate” – supposedly the fourth power after the church, nobility and commoners – as its role is traditionally seen as a critical check on the actions of those wielding power in society.

Essential to its role is serving as a watchdog to hold to account their statements and actions (or inactions) of elected and other governmental officials and public figures.

The progressively increasing failure of the mainstream media to fulfill those obligations led to the recognition in the 1980s of the Fifth Estate, a loose expression for truly independent journalism.

Are culture wars and crime an election winning strategy? - The Full Story Podcast

As the opposition leader, Peter Dutton, warms up for the federal election campaign, he’s quick to tell voters he’s a strong man in politics who’s tough on crime – a message he’s kept consistent since his maiden speech.

Listen to The Full Story Podcast

Prisons don’t create safer communities, so why is Australia spending billions on building them? - The Conversation

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show prisoner numbers are growing in every Australian state and territory — except Victoria.

Nationally, our per capita imprisonment rate outpaces Canada, the United Kingdom and all of Western Europe. Annual operating and capital costs for the nation’s prisons have surpassed A$6 billion annually — more than double what they were a decade ago.

As of January, the Northern Territory hit a grim milestone.

Angela Priestley: The 71yo woman who stormed the Capitol and rejects Trump’s pardon - Women’s Agenda

More that 1500 people were pardoned by US President Donald Trump in his first hours in the job, having been convicted on charges for their role in storming the Capitol during the January 6 insurection.

Almost every person who participated was pardoned, including those who were violent, had destroyed property and even injured police officers — with around 140 police officers assaulted during the riot.

But at least one woman who was pardoned has rejected the move, accepting responsibility for her actions and expressing dismay for how the events of Jan 6 are being rewritten.

Also read >

US government reproductive rights website goes offline under Trump presidency - Women’s Agenda
Executive orders show Trump’s power and political theatre, but his honeymoon period may be short-lived - The New Daily
Incessant coverage of low-rating Trump plays into his tiny hands — again - Bernard Keane for Crikey (paywall)

How megafires and fake news are forcing information collapse - Crikey

With each new cataclysmic blaze around the world comes ever-worsening fake news and misinformation, left to fester and spread by the right-wing 'broligarchy'.

Through the smoke-hazed backdrafts of the worldwide megafires lighting up the climate emergency, we can see the scorched earth of another global crisis: information collapse.

From Australia’s megafires in 2019-20, to Siberia’s burning permafrost in 2020-21, to the Mediterranean alight, particularly in Greece, in 2023, and now to this year’s shocking winter burning of Los Angeles, each has been marked by a dramatic escalation of fake news and misinformation.