News update for Thur 27 Feb 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
BREAKING NEWS: Follow the Lattouf/ABC final hearing - The Guardian
New report skewers Coalition’s contentious nuclear plan – and reignites Australia’s energy debate - The Conversation
Debate over the future of Australia’s energy system has erupted again after a federal parliamentary inquiry delivered a report into the deployment of nuclear power in Australia.
The report casts doubt on the Coalition’s plan to build seven nuclear reactors on former coal sites across Australia should it win government. The reactors would be Commonwealth-owned and built.
The report’s central conclusions – rejected by the Coalition – are relatively unsurprising. It found nuclear power would be far more expensive than the projected path of shifting to mostly renewable energy. And delivering nuclear generation before the mid-2040s will be extremely challenging.
Also read >
Dutton’s stuff-ups: Nuclear plan will blow up Paris and emissions targets, CCA says - Pearls and Irritations
New report skewers Coalition’s contentious nuclear plan - John Quiggin
BP to raise oil and gas spending to $10bn a year in pivot away from green goals - The Guardian
The Coalition’s attack on the climate authority is a cynical attempt to put ideology over facts – it must be called out - Kylea Tink MP for The Guardian
A phone call from Tony Burke and the sacking of Venice Biennale artist Khaled Sabsabi - 7am Podcast
When the country’s peak arts body, Creative Australia, decided to dump Australia’s representative at the Venice Biennale, it set in motion an existential crisis for the arts. The artist in question, Khaled Sabsabi, was removed from the role just days after his appointment – following an article in a News Corp newspaper, a set of opposition questions in the Senate and a phone call from the Arts Minister Tony Burke. Now, the boss of Creative Australia faces questions about why he decided to drop Sabasabi – and whether there was ministerial interference. Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper Karen Barlow, on the controversy at Creative Australia, and what it means for artistic freedom.
Israel agitator Birenbaum and the Creative Australia sackings - Wendy Bacon for Michael West Media
No apology, no backbone, not over yet - Nick Feik
Who Stands with the Arts? — Kill Your Darlings
Greg Jericho: It’s time we asked: what is the cost not just to the budget, but to society, when the richest are helped to get richer? - The Guardian
When the government announced it was going to spend $8.5bn over four years to fund an increase in bulk billing, it did not take long for journalists such as David Speers on the ABC’s Insiders to ask “what about the money here, $8.5bn, where will that come from?”
Never mind that we are talking an average of $2.15bn a year out of a budget which in four years’ time is expected to spend $826bn. It is hardly a big impost, more the question should be why, given how little it will cost, hadn’t it been done already?
Talk of how we will pay things always comes up when the government intends to spend money on things that helps low and middle-income earners.
Read more from Greg Jericho for The Guardian
Michael Sainsbury: Fleet delays the high price of Qantas soaring profits - Michael West Media
Qantas will unveil fabulous profits at its half-year results today while it continues to prioritise its share price over customers, staff and fleet renewal.
A Qantas customer recently told this correspondent, “I was in the Qantas First Class Lounge in Los Angeles and ordered a hamburger but was told there were no buns”. It’s an apt reflection of the razzle-dazzle of the airline’s profits which are again enormous but built on the backs of screwing down workers’ wages, illegal out-sourcing, under-investment in its fleet and a decline in its onboard experience.
Read more in Michael West Media
Dutton’s citizenship beat-up - Independent Australia
Dr Abul Rizvi puts paid to Dutton's "Trumpy" claims that visas for Gazans are being fast-tracked by Labor.
THE ALLEGATION that a party in government is trying to enable more immigrants, including ineligible immigrants, to vote for it is very Trumpy.
There should be no surprise Dutton is running the line the Labor Government is rushing to get more immigrants to become citizens. But how much of a factual basis is there for Dutton’s recent allegations about citizenship?
Read more from Dr Abul Rizvi for Independent Australia
Today’s cartoon by David Pope
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.
An unhealthy Mediconsensus - Inside Story
With the Coalition matching Labor’s promises, are vital Medicare reforms being dealt out of contention?
Healthcare was always going to be at the heart of this election campaign. Setting the scene at the National Press Club in January, the prime minister mentioned Medicare nearly a dozen times in a speech laying out what will clearly be Labor’s election platform. Then, last weekend, he declared that a “stronger Medicare is at the heart of our government and it will be the beating heart of our election campaign.” Capping it off was $8.5 billion to boost access to bulkbilled Medicare services.
Tom Rogers on helping voters spot election lies - Politics with Michelle Grattan
We're joined today by Tom Rogers, recently retired as Electoral Commissioner. As commissioner, Rogers oversaw three federal elections and the Voice referendum.
Listen to Politics with Michelle Grattan
What US wants for Ukraine must serve as a warning to Taiwan, Australia and others - Pearls and Irritations
So, US Secretary of Defence Hesgeth has made it clear that what most of us knew three years ago will come to pass.
Ukraine is getting no more support, Trump has declared he wants their mineral rights and Putin has declared he’s not giving up territory, Ukraine will not become a NATO country and half a million dead people are dead for no reason at all – everything Putin wanted this time three years ago, he’s going to get and everything Ukraine wanted at the same time, they have lost.
Read more in Pearls and Irritatins
Also >
Is Zelenskyy ready to cut a deal with Trump? - The News Agents Podcast
Your Questions Answered: We're Already in the Aftermath - Sarah Kendzior
Tim Dunlop: Move fast and fix things - Turning our back on Australia's oligarchs - The Future of Everything
Over the las thirty years, we have increasingly recognised this structural fault in our system of governance and have relentlessly been casting votes in such a way as to undermine the power of the two-party system. This began in the Senate where it is now taken for granted, by citizens at least, that the crossbench is a legitimate player in the decision-making process. It is increasingly regularised at the state level too, with minority governments being unexceptionable.
And now, the same logic is now taking hold in the federal House of Representatives, and almost all the turmoil you are seeing in the political class is driven by panic about this organic shift in our politics.
Read more from Tim Dunlop for The Future of Everything
Rachel Withers: Forget Teal, try Orange Peel: Is 2025 the year of the regional independent? - Crikey
From Forrest to Lyne, regional community candidates say the Coalition has neglected their seats, arguing the best way forward is to vote independent.
“Teal” has become a vexed term for those of us who follow Australia’s independents movement.
I advocate for a narrow use of the term, referring to climate-focused indies challenging Liberals in wealthy, urban seats, most of whom do run on blue-green.
But many outlets use “teal” as a lazy shorthand for community independents as a whole — never mind that such candidates run on a patchwork of colours in a variety of seats, many of them regional. In fact, the “Voices of” movement was born in the regions, in Indi, with a candidate who ran on orange — a colour rural indies continue to gravitate towards.
If community candidates win big this election, it presumably won’t be another “teal wave”.
Read more from Rachel Withers for Crikey (paywall)
NICOLE CHVASTEK: Visa rules cook up a storm of misery and despair - The Politics
Australia's immigration system can offer hope for a new and better life. But it can also break hearts and shatter dreams.
Last year the Albanese government tightened migrant intake numbers, largely targeting temporary skilled migration and international students while looking afresh at the occupations needed to plug skills shortages.
As it pushes through large-scale citizenship ceremonies to cut backlogs before the federal election, a political brawl has erupted over whether this is being done to stack seats being targeted by Labor with grateful voters.
Read more from Nicole Chvastek for The Politics
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Quick Links…
Marty Sheargold’s Matildas rant shows why visibility and representation for women in sport still matters - Women’s Agenda
Keep calm, Keir-y on? - Democracy Sausage Podcast with Mark Kenny
Intense heat changes our biology and can make us age significantly faster: study - The Conversation
Washington Post opinion editor departs as Bezos pushes to promote ‘personal liberties and free markets’ - The Guardian
That was then, this is now: The Washington Post on Trump, freedom and ‘values’ - Crikey (paywall)
Sam Mostyn’s mission to infuse care in high office - The Mandarin
Plibersek must not allow Woodside to destroy Burrup Hub - Green Left
DOGE days: Trump's war on the civil service - Follow The Money Podcast
The western Sydney cafe owner: ‘I don’t think any of the politicians truly represent us’ - The Guardian
In its fervour to attack Labor, is the Coalition set to repeat its NBN fumble? - Crikey (paywall)
Police and synagogue attendees shaken to the core by democracy - Pearls and Irritations
Women saying 'enough' and saving democracy - Women’s Agenda Podcast
We all live in a nuclear submarine: Aukus future on show as USS Minnesota docks in Perth - The Guardian
Peter Dutton Share Market Hero - The West Report
Labor’s billion-dollar splash in Victoria is a waste of taxpayers’ money - Crikey (paywall)
Jeff Bezos is muzzling the Washington Post’s opinion section. That’s a death knell - Margaret Sullivan for The Guardian
Five health priorities for voters – and politicians – in Western Australia – Croakey Health Media
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 Thursday the 27th of February. 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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