News update for Tue 10 Sept 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.
Please share with friends, family, colleagues - as good journalism is always worth supporting.
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
Niki Savva: The major parties could disappear if pollies and journos don’t tell the truth - The SMH/Age
The 2022 election, where Labor lost once safe seats to the Greens and the Liberals relinquished their heartland to the community independents, was described to me recently by Harris as a volcano erupting just below the surface of the ocean. Historians could pinpoint May 21, 2022, as the day Menzies’ party died, while delivering one last warning to Labor: do better or else.
There is no way of knowing exactly what will happen next, only that something will. The aftershocks will continue. There is no law that says political parties must survive. All badly run or led enterprises inevitably collapse. Sometimes it’s desirable. That organisation needs time out to consider its reason for being, to re-examine its values, to reflect on who it is meant to serve.
Read more from Niki Savva in The SMH/Age (paywall)
Also read > ‘Don’t run away’: Labor urged to collaborate with Greens and crossbenchers on environmental reforms - The Guardian
Inside Labor’s courting of the teal independents - 7am Podcast
Politics was changed at the last election in a way the major parties are still grappling with. Now, the record crossbench it delivered looks set to grow even more, with a hung parliament looking ever more likely. In the lead up to the next election, Labor is courting the teals, knowing the relationship could be crucial to forming government and keeping Coalition MPs out of inner-city seats. Today, chief political correspondent for The Saturday Paper, Karen Barlow, on Labor’s plan and the fight that could derail it.
Also read > It’s time for a better deal: Alex Dyson launches his campaign for #WannonVotes - No Fibs
VIDEO: Making Lachlan Murdoch | Blood - Australian Story for The ABC
In a three-part Australian Story special, journalist Paddy Manning examines Lachlan Murdoch, one of the media industry’s most enigmatic and least understood characters. He asks who is Lachlan Murdoch? And how has he been shaped by the family legacy, the years at his father’s side and those spent estranged from the media empire?
Episode one, Blood, explores the origins of the Murdoch media empire and the lessons learned by Lachlan as he watched his father’s voracious global expansion. It also exposes the roots of the rivalry between Lachlan, his older sister Elisabeth and younger brother James.
Watch Paddy Manning for The ABC’s Australian Story
Also read > Russian propaganda talking points would be very familiar to News Corp audiences - Crikey (paywall)
Josh Taylor: Australia plans to ban children from social media. Is checking and enforcing an age block possible? - The Guardian
Will it work?
In the South Australian review, a former chief justice of the high court, Robert French, noted compliance – and enforcing it on companies outside Australia – would be challenging.
Guardian Australia previously reported the UK’s regulator cast doubt on whether facial age estimation would be effective on younger people, but the facial estimation companies disputed this.
Documents uncovered by Guardian Australia include the communications department’s August 2023 survey of the international landscape of age assurance technology, released under FoI.
It said: “No countries have implemented an age verification mandate without issue.”
Read more from Josh Taylor for The Guardian
Social media is like sex – young people need education, not unrealistic bans
The federal government has committed to a national plan to ban children from social media.
Details are still scarce. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged that “no government is going to be able to protect every child from every threat, but we have to do all we can”.
But banning children from social media isn’t going to fix the problem of online harms faced by young people – it’s only going to put the problem on pause. That’s because when children reach an age when they can use social media, they are still going to face many of the same issues.
The best way to help young people safely navigate social media is by improving their social media literacy.
Also read >
Social media age limits to go before parliament ahead of next election, Albanese says - The Guardian
South Australia is proposing a law to ban kids under 14 from social media. How would it work? - The Conversation
Kids are digital natives. They have ideas to help protect children from being harmed online - The Conversation
‘Didn’t care enough’: here’s what the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide found - The Conversation
After three years of investigations, the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide has delivered its final report with 122 recommendations. The commission has carried much hope for veterans and their families – now we wait to see action.
The veteran sector, including families, had lobbied for this inquiry for over a decade. For a long time, the call fell on deaf ears. The Ex Service Organisation Round Table even rejected the idea, saying veteran suicide was roughly the same as the national average.
Also read > “But Now He’s Dead”: bittersweet reaction to Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide - Michael West Media
Today’s cartoon by First Dog on the Moon for The Guardian
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here
Another summer without aircon at Australia's hottest prison - The Justice Map
Nearly two years after the WA government promised to install air conditioning at Australia’s hottest prison, no date has been set for when this will happen with a sweltering summer fast approaching.
Situated more than 1550km from Perth in far-north Western Australia lies Roebourne Regional Prison, the hottest jail in the country.
Despite a state government promise nearly two years ago to finally install air-conditioning in every cell at the prison to combat the stifling and life-threatening heat, there is still no heat control across the facility.
This week alone, just a week out of winter, temperatures will reach the high 30s every day, and a sweltering summer is fast-approaching, where temperatures are likely to reach as high as 50C.
Read more from Denham Sadler for The Justice Map
Wendy Bacon: Right-wing astroturfers infiltrate local councils, fire up Labor v Greens unrest over Israel - Michael West Media
Israel’s war on Gaza and the West Bank is tearing apart local councils in Australia, on top of the angst reverberating around state and federal politics.
Inner West Labor Mayor Darcy Byrne has doubled down on his attack on pro-Palestinian activists at the Council’s last election meeting before the Local Government elections on September 14.
With Labor narrowly controlling the Council by one vote, the election loomed large over the meeting. It also coincided with a campaign backed by right-wing pro-Israeli groups to eliminate Greens from several Inner Sydney Councils.
In August, Labor Councillors voted down a motion for an audit of whether any Inner West Council (IWC) investments or contracts benefit companies involved in the weapons industry or profit from human rights violations in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The motion that was defeated had also called for an insertion of a general ‘human rights’ provision in Council’s investment policy.
Read more from Wendy Bacon from Michael West Media
Local papers are central to our democracy. We must do more to bring them out of crisis - The Conversation
Australians who are unaware of stories about social disorder and crime gripping Alice Springs must surely have been hiding under a rock as big as Uluru.
The town has been the focus of national media attention and (at times toxic) social media commentary, prompting many in Alice Springs to crave the return of an “old-fashioned” communications asset to help quell negativity – a local newspaper.
In 2023, the Mparntwe Alice Springs Community Foundation was established with a key mission of bringing back a local masthead after News Corp closed its long-running newspaper, the Centralian Advocate, in 2020. To the foundation, a newspaper was a way of helping to re-establishing a sense of community connection and have constructive conversations on issues that matter to people in town.
Jack Waterford: It’s now too late for Labor to fix its re-election problems - Pearls and Irritations
This week I was practising my argument about a feeling that Albanese Labor has by now left it too late to retrieve its position before the next federal election is due. This was after it was revealed that the economy is on life support and that Labor’s best argument about being a superior economic manager was that its skills had avoided the recession we did not need. It was, however, after it became clear that Bill Shorten was of the same view.
“But it may not be a bad thing,” someone said. “Labor would be forced into minority government and might learn from that how to gain some policy courage, given that even the Teals are to the left of it on many issues, such as the environment, AUKUS, immigration and corruption in government. And, of course, it would be a splendid opportunity to get rid of the leader, who has probably already shown the best of what he has to offer.”
If any of the government share this complacency, they should be looking for their ambassadorships and government patronage now. From the moment Labor contemplates how it could operate in minority government, its cause is badly lost.
Read more from Jack Waterford for Pearls and Irritations
Kevin Bonham: Polling on race: The secret is deniability - Crikey
Being too provocative on race issues is a career hazard for new major party candidates — but it’s been a while since a leader took electoral punishment for an approach seen as racially contentious.
John Howard’s 1988 support for reducing Asian immigration levels was followed by an eight-point drop in his already dire Newspoll net satisfaction rating, but didn’t affect the Coalition’s vote share. It did enable the Hawke government to expose splits in the Coalition with a symbolic Parliamentary motion, which probably contributed to Howard being rolled by Andrew Peacock the next year.
Peacock in turn spent much of the 1990 campaign railing against the Multi-Function Polis, a proposed Japanese high-tech planned community. His
Read more from Kevin Bonham for Crikey (paywall)
Inspired by a local group of people in Sydney's north who were looking for t-shirts to wear on their regular walks, Democracy Walks champions, supports and actively engages in our democracy.
CLICK here to see Democracy Walks’ t-shirt designs - and join the democracy walkers today!
Quick Links…
Tuesday’s rally for Australian farmers lists seven priorities – but the biggest two are nowhere to be seen - Gabrielle Chan for The Guardian
Government vows to cut funding for sporting organisations that don’t meet gender targets by 2027 - Women’s Agenda
CSIRO set to close only US-based office - Innovation Aus
Australia could be a smart nation that values education – instead it is riding the latest wave of dumb luck - The Guardian
Top consumer groups say 'it's time' for urgent action on strata industry, demand federal inquiry - The ABC
The contested politics of housing reform - Pearls and Irritations
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 Tuesday the 10th of September. See you tomorrow!
TODAY’S BREAKING NEWS: See all the breaking news of the day through The Guardian here - and through 6 News here